She can't talk about her church without "lifting up" its founder, says the Rev. Lisa Davis. She has to lift him up for praise, this man named Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Allen was a slave living in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. A devout Methodist, he tried to convince the whites in his church that their slaves would not stop working if they were taught about Christ.
In the end, Allen's faith deepened the faith of his master, who came to see slavery as an evil and allowed Allen to buy his freedom. Then Allen traveled and preached widely. In 1787, he founded the AME Church.
The Rev. Davis came to the University of Utah to talk about history. But she is not actually a historian. Like most of those who spoke at the school this past week, she is a minister, a preacher by training and by inclination.
As they told their stories, these preachers just naturally found themselves giving thanks, quoting scripture and generally lifting up for praise. They lifted up the founders of
their churches and lifted up those who will spread the good news in the coming years. They lifted up Jesus, too. And said "Amen."
Their listeners could not help but say "Amen" back, right out loud.
"Move On Up A Little Higher: The African-American Church in the 21st Century" was the theme of Black History Month at the U. Over the course of three days, participants told the histories of their churches, which are inseparable from the history of civil rights. They concluded by describing the challenges facing their communities of faith.
The Rev. Davis came to Utah only three months ago, called to pastor the Embry Chapel AME Church in Ogden. She explained her church's name: Methodist is the denomination. Episcopal refers to the form of governance. African simply means it was founded by Africans. "It does not mean our church was founded in Africa or that it is only for African-Americans." Everyone is welcome in an AME service, she said.
Everyone is welcome in the church. That sentiment echoed throughout the week.
Bishop Bobby Allen of the Church of God in Christ said a Caucasian woman recently asked him if his church would fall down if she came inside. "We'll take our chances," he responded. His is one of the world's largest Pentecostal denominations. The Utah congregation was founded about 70 years ago when a woman named Alberta Jennings came from Texas, took her tambourine to Pioneer Park and started preaching.
Before his congregation had a piano, Bishop Allen recalled, "We made our music by clapping our hands and stamping our feet. We made our music on washboards, pie tins, anything people could carry." Many of today's accomplished local musicians got their start in his church. "We endured them when they didn't sound very good."
The Rev. France Davis of Calvary Baptist Church said black Baptists in Utah trace their history to 1892, when a group of women — wives of miners, hotel workers and of the black "buffalo soldiers" at Fort Douglas — started a prayer group. His church's responsibilities have been various:
First, for the spiritual development of its members. It has always been a place where people could "feel like they were somebody," he said.
Second, about politics. "Making sure we had some clout."
Third, the church has sponsored economic development. Calvary published magazines and newspapers and ran an employment agency. In those early days, the church owned barbershops and hairdressers' salons. Finally, he said, the church helped educate its people. Members belonged to book clubs and sponsored speakers. Among others, they brought Booker T. Washington to Salt Lake City.
"We too have a book club," said Darius Gray. Gray was raised in the Church of God in Christ and is now LDS and a member of Genesis. The group began as a support for African-American members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — who attend their own wards as well as weekly Genesis worship. Now, of the 200 or so who come to Sunday evening meetings, nearly 40 percent are white. Many of those are couples who have adopted black children.
"We didn't stop being black when we became Mormons," Gray added. They include gospel music and "raise a glad voice unto the Lord" in their meetings, he said.
Black Catholics are also few in number but strong in faith, said John Sparks. While there are 2.5 million black Catholics in the United States, in Utah "we are a minority within a minority." Sparks said the 200 or so black Catholics in Utah come together to do special projects for the diocese, usually on church history. "We have black saints, black popes . . . not many people know that."
Black Catholics also gather for days of reflection, to meditate on specific spiritual challenges. One challenge is to reach out to college-age youths who have stopped attending and to say, "The church cares about you."
Those who spoke agreed on another challenge facing black believers: The growing need for churches of all denominations to work together on social issues.
The Rev. J. Alfred Smith, pastor of Allen Temple Baptist in Oakland, Calif., is also a professor of Christian ministry at the Graduate Theological Union of Berkeley. He ministers to a congregation of 5,000 and oversees more than 25 social services outreach programs — from housing projects to counseling centers and a credit union.
The Rev. Smith reminded his Utah audience that Jesus promises there will be life after death, so what we should be concerned with is, "Will there be life after birth? And what will be the quality of that life?" His church has a partnership with a Presbyterian church in an affluent part of San Francisco. Thirty members recently joined together, white and black, to go to Alabama to rebuild a church that was burned out of hate.
At a recent Easter service, the Rev. Smith invited a rabbi and a Muslim to join him at the pulpit. Part of the church's mission is to be reflective and self-critical, he says. He learns from other religious leaders and also from lay people. Recently, a physician in his congregation told him that members of his church were dying without calling him to their bedside. They were dying of AIDS and they didn't call their minister for fear he'd be judgmental.
The next Sunday, the Rev. Smith gave a sermon, promising if any of his own five children ever got AIDS, he would still love them. AIDS will be an ongoing challenge, he said. "Sometimes the church is guilty of not loving the people Jesus loved."
Meanwhile, female ministers predicted they would become more accepted in their roles but said acceptance comes slowly.
The Rev. Ella Pearson Mitchell, a teacher at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, has a daughter, husband and father in the ministry. She graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1943, the second black woman to do so. It was another 35 years before she was ordained as a Baptist minister. This is how slowly Protestant churches came to accept women ministers, she noted.
In answer to a question about how it feels to be a female minister in Utah, the Rev. Lisa Davis said Utah is no different than other places. Within her own church, her faith has been challenged by men and women. They ask how she knows she's been called by God.
"We are all called by God," she said. And when men stand too close to her, as if to remind her she is a woman, she is not intimidated, she says. "I am a strong black woman, and I stand my ground." And her listeners said, "Amen."