Cooper Katzel

The Black Church

In my class The Black Church, we were tasked to visit or attended three different

churches to get a feel for what it is like at a black Church. The Churches I decided to visit were

Ebenezer Baptist Church located in Atlanta, Georgia. I visited here on November 3 rd virtually for

their service. Then was Mt. Zion Church which is located in the greater Cleveland area. I

attended this one virtually as well on November 22nd. And the last church I watched was St.

John AME who is also located in the Cleveland area. Overall all three churches had a very

different feel but were all a happy and good time and I think a good experience for me.

The first Church I visited virtually was Ebenezer Baptist Church located in Atlanta,

Georgia. I choose this church to do first since it is quite the famous church. This was the church

that Martin Luther King, Jr., attended and was a pastor at until his death. His Funeral was also

held in the church. This made me feel as though this would be a good church to start at since it

would be my first church visit ever. With Martin Luther King being such a prominent figure

during the civil rights movement and knowing he was such a fantastic preacher, I felt as though

it would be the best experience for me for my first time. Ebenezer Baptist Church denomination

is progressive national Baptist and their congregation is over 6,000. This being virtual, there was

no congregation, but with that amount of people normally attending, I imagine there is a good

variety of age and gender. Ebenezer felt very with the times as well, taking advantage of the

online services by having ads for the church play while people waited for the service to start.
The ads consisted of different things going on in the church at that time for people of all ages.

This to me was a great use of the times since normal church goers may not have seen these

activities or meetings going on if they were just flyers on the wall of the church. It was also

interesting to me that they encouraged the use of social media which just is another way that

Ebenezer Baptist Church is keeping up with the changing world. The Services started with a

women reverend who was dressed in what seemed like casual church going clothing, but she

was also calling in from home so I could not see the entire outfit. Next came my favorite part of

the service. They showed a pre-recorded call to action video which was very modern and a take

on the BLM movement. As much as it seemed like a modern hip hop song, there was

background singers that made it feel like a church made video which is what the goal was I

believe. I feel as though if the song was done with a congregation, then it could have been done

as a call and response song. After that song, they had multiple reverends calling in being both

female and male. They all seemed to be in what I would call normal church going clothes.

Dresses or nice shirts since the videos were neck up. After each of the reverends spoke, they

then had a quick intermission which was more video of ads for what was going on around the

church. I thought this was interesting because I was not sure if this was a normal thing in

churches to have an intermission halfway through, but either way it was a nice tough to be able

to use the bathroom or anything else that people may have needed to do. After the

intermission, there were multiple people doing quick preaching’s which was then followed by

what I figured I was going ti hear more of. They had an older female singer who was actually in

the church singing. It was more of a church tone and more vocal based then lyrical based to me.

After her song, Dr Robert Franklin Jr came up to talk about the scripture Philippians 3:12-14. I
thought it was interesting that the preaching about scripture did not start until about 30

minutes into the service. Dr Franklin Jr. was very into his speaking and what he was speaking

about, which is what I expected. But he was also emotional and serious and even funny when

he needed to be during his preaching. After Dr. Franklin Jrs reading, they broke bread and then

had a video compilation of different people around the United states singing and dancing which

I thought was a fun way to end the service.

The second church I attended virtually was Mt. Zion Church which is the oldest church in

its community. Mt Zion. Church has been in existence since 1921 and is called The church in the

Village” to distinguish it from the other Mt. Zion churches in Greater Cleveland area. The reason

I chose this church was because it is actually the closest black church to my house. Mt. Zions

denomination is Baptist. This service started a little differently, thus being on YouTube it was

recorded and from what I could tell they start the service off quickly. They have people on the

stage with music playing and a Rev. Daniel talking to the crowd. They were dressed more

casually then Ebenezer except Rev. Daniel was in a full suit. He started off talking about how

god needs praise for him to show up in your life and how challenges may arise. Rev. Daniel

seemed very energetic and fun. He is on the younger side, and smiles as he talks. You can hear

the congregation in the background clapping after certain things he says. He also does a lot of

call and response, where he asks questions that everyone would want to say yes to or want. But

it also seems like it might be a small crowd since they clap and yells are quiet. They don’t pan

over the crowd much, but you can see people spread out. They are also standing with their

hands in the air. He then called for the praise team who were already on stage. It seemed to be
mostly females dressed nicely and ages ranged from 30s to 60s. They were dancing and seemed

to be enjoying themselves. The song was interesting because it had the hymns of a normal

church but also was a hippish tune. There seemed to be three main singers during it and

multiple background singers to repeat certain songs. They then went into a slower song which

the one man in the group was the main singer in that song. Rev. Macon then came out to speak

as light music came out. He talked about if you could praise God right now, that he could free

you and you can hear clapping after certain words. After his preaching they then cut to ads

about the church and the things they are doing in the community. After the ads, Rev. Macon

came back out to talk about Malachi 3:6-12. He also used a call and response before reading

the scripture. He asked a lot for the audience to say words like blessed, and different questions.

He seemed serious during most of the reading. But his voice seemed moving and happier then

he looked. He was dressed nicely and seemed to be around late 30s. After his reading they

played a song while asking for money for the church through a still screen with different ways

to pay. I thought this was interesting because it was a pause but not at the same time since it

was the people singing during it. After words Rev. Macon joined them in singing as well, which

was interesting since I hadn’t seen that before. Rev. Macon then continued to preach from an

ipad which I thought was interesting. Since I hadn’t seen that before either, although I know

many people who do have bible apps on their phone. The rest of the service was Rev. Macon

preaching and I enjoyed his preaching but I think he could have looked at the crowd more

where I felt as though he was reading off the iPad for the most part. But I did notice he did use

call and response a lot in his preaching’s even with a smaller crowd there. After his preaching

they showed a video of Dr. Larry L. Macon, Sr. speak from his home. He talks about having
thanksgiving at home but being safe about it and even zooming family. And lastly Rev. Macon

gives a small praise for the congregation and tells everyone how to leave safely.

The third church I visited was St. John AME which is in Cleveland, Ohio as well and their

denomination is Methodist. I tried to find out more info about the church, but their websites

about us only has a little paragraph on it. I watched their live stream on Facebook. This was an

interesting way since it started out with background music and the Rev. introducing himself. His

name was Henry f. Curtist the 4th. He also is the pastor of the church. He started his preaching

off with giving a quick overview of the day and then started with a song. There seems to be a

small congregation along with some background singers. It was a lady who you could not see

that was singing. Rev Curtist was dressed in more traditional church clothes. It was also

interesting because he would say lines which then the audience would repeat. This was

different from the Baptist churches and more like how my temple was. He then had everyone

close their eyes and he started to pray. They then moved onto the scripture which was Ezekiel

34:11-24. He didn’t seem super energetic but also seemed to be older and more into the wiser

stage where his voice was calming and seemed caring. They then brought out a man to sing,

who seemed dressed in a outdoor coat which was interesting to me since the pastor was in

more formal church clothing. He was a good singer and really got into his song. Rev. Curtist

then came back out and started to preach again from the same passage. He also talked about

how their subject matter was “look no further”. After this he completely turned into a different

preacher. He got much more energetic and almost yelling which took me by surprised but made

him seem more into the scripture and what he was preaching. This went on until they started a
slower song where he had the background singers repeating what he said in a more song type

wording. They then went into offering time where they have a bowl for the people in the

congregation but also they had people able to mail in their checks. They then finished with a

praise and slow song to finish the service and they actually did some shout outs at the end for

birthdays and a member being a fan of the Steelers. What I found interesting about this church

was, that with using Facebook live, the people not there could communicate with each other

and do call and response as well. Even though the pastor could not see it, I feel as though it was

a nice touch for the people using it.

After visiting these churches, they had a different feel yet all conveyed a very strong

message for loving god and the people around you. If I had to pick a church to attend a second

time, it would most likely be a Baptist church and of the three churches, I feel as though I would

pick Ebenezer. The Ebenezer church felt much more connected through social media and the

younger generation and I really enjoyed some of the things they were trying to do for their

community.

Links

St.John http://stjohnamechurchcle.org/

Mt. Zion https://www.mtzionoakwood.org/

Ebenezer https://www.ebenezeratl.org/