Current:Home > ScamsNation's largest Black Protestant denomination faces high-stakes presidential vote-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Nation's largest Black Protestant denomination faces high-stakes presidential vote
View Date:2024-12-23 20:01:22
The nation's largest group of Black Protestants is meeting this week for a high-stakes gathering that could thrust the denomination into an unprecedented leadership crisis — just as it faces major challenges in attracting a new generation of members.
The National Baptist Convention, USA, is one of four major Black Baptist denominations in the U.S. and is the oldest and largest of the four. The denomination, with between 5.2 million and 7.5 million members nationwide, has long been active on a host of high-profile issues — from affordable housing and health disparities to education and criminal justice.
It has a long legacy on civil rights issues and invested in voter registration and voter rights initiatives in recent years, a focus that has drawn the attention of national political leaders. President Joe Biden visited the Mississippi church of the denomination's president during the 2020 primaries and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at its annual session in 2022. Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee in the November election, is affiliated with a church aligned with the denomination.
The denomination, often known as the NBCUSA, faces major challenges in attracting young people to replace a largely aging membership, both in the pews and behind the pulpit. These difficulties have only worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic, an event that disproportionately affected historically Black congregations.
Now, a controversial election for a new president this week in Baltimore could add to the challenges.
The NBCUSA will decide at its annual session on Sept. 2-5 whether a sole candidate in a presidential election will succeed the Rev. Jerry Young, a Mississippi pastor who served as the denomination’s chief executive for 10 years.
But a mounting protest over a controversial decision on which churches can nominate presidential candidates has led to uncertainty. Although there is only one candidate on the ballot, Connecticut pastor Rev. Boise Kimber, if those pushing for a majority “no” vote succeed, it could restart a potentially two-year-long nomination and election cycle.
Either outcome is expected to leave the denomination in a weakened state to deal with the bigger challenges of diminished enthusiasm and participation.
“In a season where denominations are more needed than ever, we’re more divided,” said the Rev. Breonus Mitchell, a Nashville pastor who serves as chair for the NBCUSA's board of directors, which manages denomination business outside the four-day annual session. “And because of our division, people are feeling like you’re not essential anymore.”
The board of directors recently finalized a decision to restrict certain churches from nominating candidates for the presidential election, rendering four candidates ineligible for the ballot. Those four candidates — Chicago pastor Rev. Alvin Love, Detroit pastor Rev. Tellis Chapman, San Fransisco area pastor Rev. Claybon Lea, Jr., and Florida pastor Rev. James Sampson — then organized a joint campaign “to fight for the soul of the convention” and have argued the board deprived the full convention of an opportunity to weigh in on important leadership decisions.
“Our biggest challenge is not Boise Kimber. And at this point, it’s not even the shenanigans of the board,” said the Rev. Alvin Love, a Chicago pastor and aspiring presidential candidate. “Our challenge now is building up enough excitement among our people to even want to come to Baltimore.”
The unity campaign emerged in response to board's special called meeting in March, when the board voted 46-11 to tighten restrictions for churches that nominate candidates.
“Our great convention has not and should never convene conclaves to choose its leaders. However, that’s exactly what happened,” Sampson said in his Aug. 21 open letter. “The recent decision made to choose our next leader was unethical, unwise and unholy.”
Critics of the joint unity campaign say the protest is undermining the four candidates’ desire for progress by potentially delaying a presidential appointment. But to those four candidates, any potential change is futile if predicated on unresolved governance disputes.
“If we don’t function according to what we already have,” Lea said, “then we’re actually self-sabotaging.”
Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media @liamsadams.
veryGood! (998)
Related
- ‘I got my life back.’ Veterans with PTSD making progress thanks to service dog program
- Gwen Stefani receives massive emerald ring for Valentine's Day from Blake Shelton
- 'I just went for it': Kansas City Chiefs fan tackles man he believed opened fire at parade
- Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf
- John Krasinski Details Moment He Knew Wife Emily Blunt Was “the One”
- Championship parades likely to change in wake of shooting at Chiefs Super Bowl celebration
- First nitrogen execution was a ‘botched’ human experiment, Alabama lawsuit alleges
- More kids are dying of drug overdoses. Could pediatricians do more to help?
- Democrat Cleo Fields wins re-drawn Louisiana congressional district, flipping red seat blue
- Public utilities regulator joins race for North Dakota’s single U.S. House seat
Ranking
- Will Aaron Rodgers retire? Jets QB tells reporters he plans to play in 2025
- Delay tactics and quick trips: Takeaways from two Trump case hearings in New York and Georgia
- Steph Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu to face off in 3-point contest during NBA All-Star weekend
- The Best Luxury Bed Sheets That Are So Soft and Irresistible, You’ll Struggle to Get Out of Bed
- New Mexico secretary of state says she’s experiencing harassment after the election
- Georgia Senate passes plan meant to slow increases in property tax bills
- Angela Chao, shipping business CEO and Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law, dies in Texas
- Scientists find water on an asteroid for the first time, a hint into how Earth formed
Recommendation
-
Prosecutors say some erroneous evidence was given jurors at ex-Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial
-
Texas man killed in gunfight with police at central Michigan café
-
Los Angeles firefighters injured in explosion of pressurized cylinders aboard truck
-
Tribes in Washington are battling a devastating opioid crisis. Will a multimillion-dollar bill help?
-
Massachusetts lawmakers to consider a soccer stadium for the New England Revolution
-
Before Russia’s satellite threat, there were Starfish Prime, nesting dolls and robotic arms
-
Jury convicts Iowa police chief of lying to feds to acquire machine guns
-
MLB power rankings: From 1 to 30, how they stack up entering spring training