Purpose
Commitment means that
it is possible for [a person] to yield the nerve center of his/her constant to
a purpose or a cause, a movement or an ideal, which may be more important to
[that person] than whether he/she lives or dies.
Howard Thurman
At the organizational meeting of
the AACCMM, bidding Christian Education scholar, the Rev. Carolus Taylor
recalled the history of previous mid-Missouri/Columbia clergy associations—four
such attempts to be exact—that started and are now defunct. He closed his
remarks with a poignant question, “What will make this organization different
from past attempts??” In response to the question several remarks came forward
from those gathered. Some suggested that the difference is that this attempt is
comprised of new people with a new desire for action and fellowship. Others
stated that this group is different because of the social, political, and
spiritual urgency before us evidenced by Ferguson, MO. While I think these
comments are helpful and on point, I offer the following as a response—a
commitment to the purpose will make a difference. A commitment to its purpose
will make this attempt to organize qualitatively different from previous
attempts. Purpose will sustain its efforts to be an effective and transformative
coalition. Knowing the purpose moves an organization towards being an organism
of action as opposed to being a mere organization. Purpose guards against
focusing on personalities and personal agendas and motivates the living
organism to grasp as much as it can out of the infinite.
The African American Clergy
Coalition of Mid-Missouri is dedicated to being intentionally purposeful in the
following manner.
1) Our
purpose shall be to position ourselves in such a manner that we may speak ‘truth
to power’ for the wounded and weary who are inside and outside our church walls
that cannot speak for themselves. We must renew relationships with God’s people
and in doing so, we begin to know, instead of knowing of, the people for which
we speak. No longer may we assume that we have permission and authority because
of our titles. This is the crux of the Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr. critique
of the article by Dr. Eddie Glaude entitled, “The Black Church is Dead.” Dr.
Smith was pointing to the fact that the life and vitality of the Black Church
is found not in the observational position of the academic, but the
ontic—lived--position of the front-line, Marine Corp-type, Christian cleric who
stands like a soldier in battle against the enemies of the people: racism,
sexism, homophobia, economic disenfranchisement, and systemic
alienation/dehumanization. On the front lines it is clear that the Black Church
is alive and as African American clergy we realize that our prophetic work is
of vital importance.
2) Our
purpose shall be to further equip the clergy to better equip the people of God.
Contemporary circumstances demand that to be a faithful proclaimer of the good
news requires more than a sense of “calling.” Christianity in the 21st
Century desperately needs trained clergy to meet the needs of God’s people. Our
purpose will be to better equip the clergy for the task at hand. We will help
clergy by insisting that academic institutions in Mid-Missouri start to take
seriously the educational needs of African American clergy by providing
opportunities to acquire theological training at a reasonable cost. We will
assist clergy in acquiring 501c3s for their churches, expose them to mental
health resources, avenues to obtain financial expertise to better their people
and the wider community, just to mention a few tasks. Our people need us to not
only know how to ‘whoop’ and dance, but also how to make substantial and
qualitative differences in their lives.
3) Our
purpose shall be to tear down the walls that divide us. The fact is that the
oppressor has fooled us into thinking that there is more to divide us than to
unite us. The Black Church is one house with different rooms: Baptist, Methodist,
Non-denominational, Interdenominational, etc., etc. We all share a faith born
in struggle, bruised by racism, and battered by the dark forces of economic
prejudice, social exclusion, and political xenophobia. Yet we are still here.
Jesus warned us that a house divided against itself cannot stand. We must come
together and be one house with one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. The Evil
One knows that if we come together we are an unconquerable force. Let our battle
cry be—“we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.”
The Rev. Clanton C.W. Dawson,
Jr., PhD
President, the African American
Clergy Coalition of Mid-Missouri
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