“... black people used the Bible to put primary emphasis upon God’s response to the community’s situation of pain and bondage.”
Welcome to Empowering Congregations
Empowering Congregations to Heal Communities exists to support local churches in the Black Christian prophetic tradition. We provide knowledge and resources to help congregations morally, ethically, and effectively respond to the ecclesial and theological challenges, changing economic demographics, and public policy initiatives negatively impacting Black churches and the communities they serve.
Our congregational initiative invigorates and breathes new life into the ecclesial practice of Black churches with three areas of focus: theological imagination, ministry praxis, and adaptive leadership.
“Christians join the cause of the oppressed in the fight for justice not because of some philosophical principle of “the Good” or because of a religious feeling of sympathy for people in prison. Sympathy does not change the structures of injustice. The authentic identity of Christians with the poor is found in the claim which the Jesus-encounter lays upon their own life-style, a claim that connects the word “Christian” with the liberation of the poor. Christians fight not for humanity in general but for themselves and out of their love for concrete human beings. ”
Seminary Without Walls
Most seminaries fail to adequately prepare pastors to deal with the social and systemic realities that confront the congregations they serve.
The Seminary Without Walls fills in those gaps, helping pastors re-engage theological imagination as a resource in addressing modern social concerns.
Over the course of one-year, program participants will engage a course of study and praxis centering on four key areas:
Foundations of Ministry
Hermeneutics
Sociology in the Sanctuary
Homiletics
“We have to create a learning environment that balances the lessons that can be learnt [sic] through books and the insights of scholars, with the lessons that students have already learnt [sic] through their life and ministry. We have to balance the value that we place on the ‘expert’ knowledge, with that which we place upon their insights as practitioners.”
American Baptist College
American Baptist College (ABC) is a co-educational, liberal arts college offering bachelor’s degrees and 2-year associate degrees. Located on a historic 53-acre campus overlooking the Cumberland River, a few miles north of downtown Nashville, ABC provides global, 21st-century leadership as one of the nation’s 100+ Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). ABC was established in 1924as American Baptist Theological Seminary in an unprecedented collaboration between the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. and the Southern Baptist Convention. The first building, Griggs Hall, erected in 1923, was recently added as one of 10 Tennessee stops on the U. S. Civil Rights Trail. The College offers educational and programming opportunities which train predominantly diverse, first-generation students for impactful social justice leadership. While embracing the courageous spirit of our heritage, ABC’s focus today is on preparing students who will create a lasting impact at the community level and on an international scale.
