Born a child of protest, struggle and Black excellence, the African Methodist Episcopal Church is a unique and peculiar institution.
So naturally, the AME birth narrative reads like a folk tale or an Old Testament story. On a chilly and brisk Sunday morning in November of 1787, Black members of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were worshipping in an area of the church that was segregated and separated from them by the white leaders who governed the church.
Those Black members of St. George got up and went to the altar for prayer. As they began to pray, a white trustee pulled several of the Black members off their knees, as Black members were not allowed to be in certain areas of the church.
The Black members resisted the white trustee, which caused another trustee to assist with the enforcement of the forced segregation of the Black members. When the white trustees pulled and tugged at the Black members, the Black members told the trustees that if the trustees just allowed the Black members to finish their prayers, they would leave the church and not trouble them again.
Those Black members of St. George’s left the church on that day, and eventually created what we now know as the AME church — a church built on the foundation of truthful and complete understanding of the sacred scriptures, fervent prayer, and yes, resistance.
This foundation laid the blueprint for how the entire institution of the Black church in America would operate, and it is a blueprint gifted to me by my grandfather, to my mother, to me.
So imagine my surprise to hear that this very same church does not operate as a church that has access to either God or salvation.
Let me explain. In recent theological discourse, a profoundly alarming claim has emerged: that 95 percent of Black preachers and the churches they lead are “heretical,” untrained, or biblically unsound.
This assertion, driven by a troubled and erroneous, Eurocentric definition of orthodoxy, is not merely a critique of doctrine — it is a dangerous oversimplification that ignores the rich, resilient history of the Black Church.
To deem the vast majority of a demographic of pastors as heretical is to misinterpret Black theology, ignore the contexts of suffering, and overlook the vibrant, life-giving orthodoxy that has sustained millions of folks of color.
The wacky pastors and others who say that we are heretics wholly conflate theological difference with doctrinal heresy. The Black church tradition has historically focused on a liberation theology, viewing God as a liberator who stands with the oppressed.
When Black pastors emphasize justice, deliverance, and survival in a hostile society, it is not in the least a abandonment of scripture, but a contextual and accurate application of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who himself declared his mission was to “set the oppressed free.”
Equating the desire for social justice with heresy ignores the reality that for many, theology is shaped by lived experience. The Black church has a different emphasis than white evangelicalism, but our focus on the Exodus story in the scriptures or prophetic justice as a guide to our faith is hardly a deviation from historic Christianity in the least.
The claim that 95% of Black pastors are living and preaching in error is wildly arrogant and ignores the immense diversity within the Black Church. The Black church is not monolithic; it includes Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, and increasingly, non-denominational congregations with vast differences in preaching style, worship, and theological emphasis.
The accusation of heresy against Black pastors often functions as a gatekeeping mechanism, where only a specific, often conservative Anglo, interpretation of scripture is considered orthodox. If a pastor does not adhere to specific political or social beliefs favored by a particular subset of American Christianity, they are labeled “unsound”.
What’s more, if we are to look at studies of “biblical worldview” among American pastors, the crisis is not limited to one racial group. Studies have indicated that a significant majority of all U.S. pastors — regardless of race — struggle to hold a consistent biblical worldview. To isolate Black pastors for this criticism is to act with implicit racial bias.
The Black Church has served as the anchor of Black life in America for centuries. It has survived slavery, Jim Crow, and systemic injustice, producing leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Howard Thurman, and countless others. To declare that 95% of these ministers are heretical is to reject the tangible fruits of the spirit that this institution has produced.
The Black Church is not in need of a top-down rescue from external, judgmental critics. It is, like all traditions, in need of continuous inward and respectful study and discipleship. The notion of 95% heresy is not a call to reformation; it is a divisive, unproven, and racist attack that ultimately undermines the body of Christ.
