Description
Men and women, young and old, telling stories of God intervening in their livesthis is the Christian story alive in flesh and blood! For the black church steep in oral tradition, "telling the story" is the hallmark of a distinctive evangelistic lifestyle.
Describing tradition as a "womb for the creation of new ideas," Stallings challenges today's black Christians to recapture the power and vision of their rich evangelistic heritage. In a concise overview of religious movements in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, he highlights social, political, cultural, and religious influences through which the black churches of America emerged as separate and independent entities. He explores how religious experiences of Afro-Americans, who saw themselves as a chosen people, created an evangelizing-caring, supportive family that uses storytelling and story listening as a primary evangelistic method. He also examines the influences of urban life and television on the future ministries of black churches and their story.
Stallings urges churches to reflect on how they now do ministry, how they can empower and equip persons to renew the living traditionand to tell their stories.
