Columbia church works to educate community on Black church history

By Rachel Henderson

Click here for updates on this story

    COLUMBIA, Missouri (KOMU) — In light of Black History Month, Second Baptist Church is using a documentary screening to launch an educational initiative for the community to explore the role African Christianity has played in world history.

“We really want to just give people in the community an opportunity to not only learn new things that oftentimes aren’t taught, but also to be able to ask questions,” said Kristin Hetherington, a young adult leader at Second Baptist.

The documentary, “Unspoken,” is being shown as a partnership between Cru, a campus ministry, as well as other local entities like Second Baptist Church and the William Woods Black Student Union.

Second Baptist plans to discuss the documentary’s topic, “Is Christianity the White Man’s Religion?” all weekend. On Friday, the documentary will be shown at 7 p.m. for college students, and on Saturday, it will be shown at 2 p.m. for the general public.

“During Black History Month, everybody’s remembering key moments and key people that were a part of Black history, especially in America,” Hetherington said. “But what often gets forgotten is the Black theologians, Black authors, Black pastors, who have played such a vital role in overall church history, but also in Black church history in America. And so we really want to give voice to that, and shed light on different aspects of church history that have oftentimes been forgotten, or have not been taught correctly.”

Each documentary screening will be followed by a question and answer session led by St. Louis-based Dr. Vince Bantu, an associate professor of church history and Black church studies at Fuller Theological Seminary and Meachum School of Haymanot. The school provides theological education for ministry leaders in the Black church and Black community. Bantu will also be the guest preacher at Second Baptist’s 10 a.m. service on Sunday.

“Christianity is not the property of any one culture,” Bantu said. “It is a movement, and it is a community of faith. And it’s a family of faith that includes every nation, tribe, and tongue and that is for everybody.”

Bantu says in the research he does, he often finds an overlap of church history with African history written in ancient texts and primary documents.

“If you really want to understand and study African history, then you’re going to encounter a whole lot of Christianity, because the majority of African archaeology from the first millennium is churches, and the majority of African literature and books, some of the first African books written in Sub Saharan Africa were translations of the Bible,” Bantu said. “And so I think that, you know, for non-believers, honestly, but especially as for believers, that there’s a whole wealth of primary sources of ancient theological texts, that that tell us so much, but they’ve just so under studied, and so on, you know, under known.”

That’s why Second Baptist youth leader Jessica Mosely says the entire dialogue boils down to acknowledging history.

“People need to know the truth, like facts,” Mosely said. “No one’s trying to paint anything a certain way.”

Mosely says her church’s efforts in the community are a reflection of what Black churches have done for years.

“There wouldn’t be any civil rights and everything like that without the church, which is another reason why it’s important, the Black church,” Mosely said.

As youth leaders, Mosely and Hetherington understand the impact educational efforts like these can have on Black youth they lead in Bible study, but also in the broader community.

“Where else are you gonna learn it?” Mosely said. “I mean, let’s just be real.”

That’s why she said this screening is less about converting people to Christianity and more so about sharing knowledge that can give people a broader understanding of what it means to practice allyship and promote diversity.

“A lot of times, people just need those resources available to them,” Mosely said. “Some people who are curious, they do want to learn more, but they might be afraid to speak up or feel like it’s not their place.”

Both screenings will be at Second Baptist church, which is located at 407 E. Broadway Boulevard.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.