Faith Without Works is Dead

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 41^st Annual Legislative Conference was held on September 21-24, 2011 in Washington, DC.  Gathered in one spot were some 10,000 folks from hip hop to high level corporate and small business leaders; from the church to politically savvy women leaders and community organizers, along with the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).  There were robust intergenerational dialogues and practical “how to” information sharing seminars, led by CBC Members, with some of the nation’s best and brightest thinkers, practitioners and opinion shapers, on every conceivable aspect of African American life, e.g.health care, wealth creation, job development, poverty elimination, and civic engagement.

One of the most popular of all the events was the Saturday morning Prayer Breakfast attracting about 3,000 of many of the same leaders who participated in issue workshops and seminars. I am humbled that 30 years ago, my late husband, Tom Skinner, and I founded the Prayer Breakfast as a sacred place for African American leaders to find spiritual renewal for the hard work of empowerment. The good news is that the faith of African Americans remains intact despite the weakening moral fabric of America. The bad news is that the faith foundation of African Americans in years past included less talk and more practical institution building than is now evident. 

The years following President Abraham Lincoln’s signing the Emancipation Proclamation saw the building of some of the most enduring African American organizations and institutions by folks who understood that “faith without works is dead”.  It is mind blowing that without access to technology, widespread political power, high level management positions, wealth, and the first African American President, Black people built such incredible institutions as Howard, Atlanta University, Fisk, Morehouse, Howard and Hampton universities. Believing in a God who could do anything but fail, they joined with progressive, White Americans to elect African Americans to high political offices, create sororities and fraternities, newspapers, service clubs, churches, banks, life insurance companies and other small businesses. This faith inspired work took place during a time when laws were passed that made Black life expendable with lynchings and terrorist acts against African Americans occurring regularly.

Given our glorious past, even in the midst of great dangers, I firmly believe that it will take the following faith-inspired actions for African Americans to re-gain a high level of political and economic momentum and turn our faith into community building work:  1) African American elders practicing a “lived faith”, reflected in life styles of moral excellence that can be modeled by young people;  2) Well educated African American middle class intentionally building connections and relationships with poor and working class African Americans in efforts to strengthen the total community; 3) Training of African Americans in wealth-creation and encouraging greater financial support of African Americans institutions like NAACP and National Urban League ; 4) Intentional efforts at civic engagement and mass demonstrations to protect civil rights, economic, and political gains made by African Americans, against actions to turn back the clock; and,  5) Mentoring of African American young people by older African Americans to provide the love, nurturing, core values, and support needed to build more stable African American communities. Faith combined with works is the key!