Can we look forward to a day in our society when we can truly say that there is no black church, white church, etc.? I believe we can, but only if we’re willing to admit that Sunday morning is not “the most segregated day of the week” as much as it is simply a reflection of the kind of society that we have chosen to build, nurture, and hold on to.

This article addresses a very good question asked in response to our first article. The question is why black churches are known as “black” whereas evangelical churches—even if they’re mainly or all white—don’t refer to themselves as “white” churches. Here are a few reasons (in no particular order) why the black church came to be known as such.

The Impact of Segregation
To begin, we must note that for much of history segregation (whether legalized Jim Crow in the South or de facto John Crow in the North and West) affected every aspect of life for black Americans and this of course included the church. Consequently, it shouldn’t be a surprise that African-Americans began to organize in their own churches when they were either refused membership in white (evangelical) congregations or, even when admitted, were still treated as second-class citizens.

In fact, up until 40 to 50 years ago many evangelical congregations refused to admit black people as members. So, at the risk of being over-simplistic, just as American society produced black grade schools, black neighborhoods, black water fountains, and black restrooms, it produced black churches—where blacks would be welcome and not excluded or discriminated against.

Of course segregation wasn’t the only factor. Recent history reveals that as new immigrant groups embrace the faith they set up and operate their own distinct churches even though they’d be welcome at most evangelical churches.

The Role of Demographic Patterns
General demographic patterns are another factor that explain why most churches contain a majority of one ethnicity. Several factors contributed to whites being able to leave large cities to move to newly developed suburbs post WWII. For the most part African-Americans were excluded from these enclaves of the American dream, and that—coupled with the continuing migration of blacks from the South into the North and West—resulted in neighborhoods that were almost exclusively black.

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[Editor’s note: Original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid, so the links have been removed.]