Sunday Morning is the Most Segregated Hour in America for a Reason, but Probably Not for the Reason You Think

by John Ellis

Much is made of Sunday morning containing the most segregated hour in American culture. The handwringing isn’t necessarily based on a falsity. It’s true that church services, by and large, are segregated. Ironically, many of the white evangelicals lamenting this state of affairs fail to understand the reason for the segregation in church services.

In the South, after the War of Rebellion commonly called the Civil War, Black Christians carved out their own faith spaces. That makes sense. Why would they want to rub shoulders with those who had enslaved them and wished to continue to enslave them? Why should Black Christians share the sacrament of communion with those who scoffed at their full humanity and denied that they were equal image bearers of their Creator? The more pointed question is, should “churches” who viewed Black people as less-than be considered legitimate churches? Whatever you think of that last question, it’s undeniable that formally enslaved people had weighty reasons to distrust white “pastors” and white “Christians.” Establishing their own churches is not only understandable, it’s theologically justifiable.

Okay. But what about in the northern states?

The founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) Richard Allen and his friend and fellow pastor Absalom Jones separated from the previously integrated St. George’s Methodist Church in the late 18^th century because of overt racism. The pair founded two churches that created the Black church movement in Philadelphia and, by extension, the rest of the fledgling country.  

The two future pastors reached their decision to separate after a particular expression of egregious racism occurred. In the colloquial parlance of the 21^st century, St. George’s held a drive to raise funds for a building program. Many of the Black members contributed. After the new church building was completed, Allen and Jones attended the first worship service, praising God for his provision. However, they wrongly assumed that their participation in the worship of God was on equal footing with the white parishioners. In the words of Rev. Allen:

“We took [our] seats; meeting had begun, and they were nearly done singing, and just as we got to our seats, the Elder said, ‘Let us pray.’ We had not been long upon our knees before I heard a considerable scuffling and loud talking. I raised my head up and saw one of the trustees, H.M.. having hold of the Rev. Absalom Jones, pulling him off his knees, and saying, ‘You must get up, you must not kneel here.’ Mr. Jones replied, ‘Wait until the prayer is over, and I will get up, and trouble you no more.’ With that [H.M.] beckoned to one of the trustees, Mr. L.S. to come to his assistance. By this time prayer was over, and we all went out of the church in a body, and they were no more plagued by us in the church.”[1]

The segregation of churches isn’t owing to white people kicking Black people out. Black Christians willfully (and rightfully/justifiably) self-segregated from white churches because white churches, by and large, failed to view and minister to Black people as fully made in the image of God and refused to engage them as equal partners in the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, countering the patronizing perspective of many white evangelicals, an argument can be made that Black churches are positioned to be more faithful witnesses to the Resurrection than white evangelical churches.

It hasn’t escaped my attention that the calls for integration of churches tend to originate from white evangelicals. The call for diversity is a popular way to virtue signal our “biblical anthropology” as opposed to our racist forbears. Except the calls for integration often exhibit little difference from the integrated churches in the early years of this country’s history. Whiteness is still centered. Blackness is still suspect. In place of the explicit bigoted expectations of our ancestors, code-switching is the unvoiced yet very real expectation of Black and other BIPOC Christians who find their way into white evangelical churches.

The desire for diversity in white evangelical spaces is often merely a self-serving expression of an unhelpful white guilt that continues to center white experience. Until white evangelicals fully repent of our racism in ways that center Black voices and faith expressions, the desire for diversity on Sunday mornings is a shell-game that only serves white people. There’s little reason for Black Christians to integrate white evangelical spaces, unless it’s as missionaries.  

Soli Deo Gloria

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[1] Richard Allen, The Life Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen (New York, 1960). 55.