In the case of The Gathering, A Womanist Church, the co-pastors received a New Church grant after being in ministry without compensation for eight months. This grant enabled them to split a very modest salary for a year and a half. At the writing of this book they have five months of grant money remaining, and do not know if the grant will renew. Whether it renews or not, The Gathering will continue listening to the Spirit and use creativity to develop strategies for economic thriving. The North American Church also has a responsibility and a challenge to provide strategies for these much-needed ministries to attain economic sustainability.
Guidance for Creating Womanist Churches
As Irie’s study clearly demonstrated, many people are discovering the power of a womanist ecclesiology. A womanist ecclesiology empowers Black clergywomen to partner in shaping communities that resist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy and liberate the oppressed. Many people in our country and around the world are looking for places like The Gathering, a community fully practicing a womanist ecclesiology. There are millions of churches in the United States alone, but The Gathering is distinct as the only church founded and identified as a womanist church. The Gathering co-pastors and ministry partners hope to inspire the creation of many more womanist churches. They offer guidance for creating a womanist church:
1.Begin by praying about creating a womanist church. Planting a new church takes a great deal of work and commitment. Do not try to plant a womanist church just because it sounds good; plant a womanist church only if called to do it. Kamilah, Irie, and Yvette felt called to create The Gathering; they could no longer wait for others to give them space. They had to create the table where they wanted to sit.
2.Create a womanist church in partnership with others. The Gathering has been a model of partnership, begun intentionally with three Black clergywomen. Each wanted other gifted women to carry the load with her and to show the world that Black women can work together. In 2019, Yvette left The Gathering to work on food justice issues and other ministries in her denomination. Irie and Kamilah continue to co-pastor, believing this is the best model. They also work with ministry partners to fulfill the mission of The Gathering. They know that Jesus did not work alone, and neither should they.
3.Create a womanist church with clearly stated womanist beliefs and priorities, and stick to them. Stand strong in these beliefs to bring the vision to reality. When the co-pastors started The Gathering by stating social justice priorities of racial equity, LGBTQIA inclusion, and elimination of patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism (PMS), they knew they would turn many people away, but they took this stand anyway.
4.Be open to a variety of creative modes of worship and to diverse spiritual and religious expressions, and be artistically expressive in liturgies. Engage womanist preachers as the primary proclaimers, informed by Black women’s experiences of trauma and resistance to oppression.
5.When creating a womanist church, define “success.” For The Gathering, success did not mean having a big crowd of people, but helping to transform people and to create an equitable world.
6.Explore many funding options and develop creative strategies for the economic thriving of a womanist church. Listen to the Spirit and have faith in God’s guidance.
7.Claim the vision of womanist churches bringing liberation and wholeness to all people. Believe that creating a womanist church will contribute to bringing this vision to reality in order to transform church and society.
24. The Seven Last Words or Seven Last Sayings of Christ Good Friday Service is a tradition in the Black Church that brings together the community to commemorate the final words of Jesus Christ while nailed to the cross. Seven preachers, typically men, proclaim the seven last sayings spoken by Jesus from the cross.
25. Watson, Introducing Feminist Ecclesiology, 55.
26. Coleman, Ain’t I A Womanist Too?, 79.
27. Watson, Introducing Feminist Ecclesiology, 54.
28. In late 1990, Lilly Endowment Inc. (an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation) launched the Louisville Institute, based at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The Pastoral Study Project (PSP) awards pastoral leaders up to $15,000 to pursue a pressing question related to Christian life, faith, and ministry.
29. Watson, Introducing Feminist Ecclesiology, 1.
30. Flunder, “A Womanist Ecclesiology.”
31. Flunder, “A Womanist Ecclesiology.”
32. Flunder, “A Womanist Ecclesiology.”
33. hooks, “bell hooks: Cultural Criticism,” para. 16.
34. Hayes, Digging Deeper Wells.
35. Irie Session first heard the term “practical womanism” from Lyn Norris Hayes when Lyn contacted Irie about using Murdered Souls, Resurrected Lives as a source in her dissertation. The term adds nuance to this work on developing a womanist ecclesiology. In early April 2020, Irie contacted Lyn for permission to use the term in this work. Lyn said she was honored to give permission.
36. Sampson, “Going Live,” para. 1.
37. Turman, Toward A Womanist Ethic, 157.
38. Benbow, “While More Black Churches Come Online,” para. 3.
39. This is a saying attributed to Katie G. Cannon, the progenitor of womanist theological ethics. She was the first Black woman ordained in the United Presbyterian Church and the first woman to earn a doctorate at Union Theological Seminary.
40. Liddle, “Trauma and Young Offenders,” 5.
41. Alexander et al., “Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma,” 1.
42. Regina Bell-Battle is an R&B and Gospel recording artist. She and her husband co-pastor New Shield of Faith Church in Atlanta, Georgia. They provide nesting space for Rize Community Church.
43. This quote was in the introduction of a sermon preached by Dr. Melva Sampson during the 2019 Festival of Homiletics in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
44. Douglas, Black Bodies and the Black Church, 35.
45. Malcolm X, “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?” para. 3.