(RNS) After a historic meeting, three black Methodist denominations plan to launch a series of “Saturday academies” to train black youth on study skills and job preparation.
The Great Gathering, a three-day summit of thousands of black Methodists that concluded Wednesday (March 3) in Columbia, S.C., saw the creation of a “Male Investment Plan” and a pledge to create a new nonprofit organization to support it.
“We were able to come out of the meeting with some very concrete directions, particularly as it relates to the plight of the African-American male,” said the Rev. Staccato Powell, chairman of the summit.
Participants from the three denominations — the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Christian Methodist Episcopal Church — agreed to work on other joint projects in the future, but immediately pledged to raise $10 million, and seek 1 million volunteers for Saturday academies.
“That issue for our community is what civil rights was for our community in the `60s,” said Powell, pastor of an AME Zion church in Raleigh, N.C. “We have to do something about that.”
The academies will begin with a pilot program in May in Washington, D.C., and spread to 13 other cities across the country. They will be held at churches and will offer mentoring and other opportunities to black males ages 5 to 25 throughout the community.
“All of these are our children, not just those that are sitting in the pews,” said Powell. “Because the reality is they aren’t sitting in the pews. We have to do something to get them into the church so that we can instill some core values and principles with them.”
The program’s six-week curriculum will include mentoring and discussion of health issues such as anger management and the dangers of alcohol and drugs.
President Obama, in a video-taped message, noted that the Methodist denominations have long worked to address the problems facing African-Americans. “In the face of overwhelming odds, you’ve always known that together we have the power to build a better world for the next generation,” Obama said.
He called the meeting “the next chapter in that incredible legacy” and promised that his administration “will continue to work with you to address the serious challenges that confront us.”
The three-day meeting marked the first time the three denominations — who all trace their roots to John Wesley’s Methodist movement — have come together in at least 45 years to address social ills affecting African-Americans.
The three churches — with a combined total membership of more than 5 million — expect to work on extended vacation Bible schools and other training in the future.
