August 26, 2005

CityVoices readers,

The academic year is upon us and SCUPE has something new to offer. The Center for African-American Theological Studies (CAATS), a long-term dream, is now a reality with class offerings beginning in September. Directed by Dr. Yvonne Delk and Cynthia Milsap, CAATS will now provide some of the best options available in the field of African-American theological education.

Contained in this edition of CityVoices you will find:

• A case for CAATS, as expressed by SCUPE’s Dave Frenchak
• Interview with Dr. Yvonne Delk, director of CAATS
• Interview with Cynthia Milsap, CAATS coordinator and faculty member
• Fall and Winter CAATS course listings and registration information
• Book review: “Getting to Amen”

Read on, select your programs and classes, and call SCUPE for further registration information.           Roger Johnson – CityVoices / SCUPE, roger@cityvoices.com / (312) 726-1200

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The Case for CAATS

(Dr. David Frenchak is President of SCUPE and one of the founding forces behind the new Center for African-American Theological Studies.)

There is a well-noted and alarming trend reported throughout the world – a desperate shortage of good leaders. These shortages appear at a time when the world is reeling from years of failed leadership with abuses of power and profound disrespect for the human spirit. As this era grows more turbulent, we learn of greater corruption more extremes of abuse, and more belligerent behaviors on the part of leaders.

Many individuals, churches, denominations and mission organizations are attempting to intervene and resolve the most pressing problems of our time: health, human rights, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, environmental issues, racism and multiple divisions of hatred found within the human race. Far too many of these well-intentioned efforts are subverted by the lack of talented ethical leadership. In developing countries we say there’s a leadership vacuum and in developed countries we ask, “Where have all the leaders gone?”

Due to the pressing shortage of leaders informed and directed by Godly values, there is an urgent need to support, strengthen and nurture large numbers of new Christian leaders willing to pioneer new approaches, methods and ideas that will work. I believe this new generation of leaders will come from the African-American church.

There is, however, a need for a program of theological education based on the values and traditions deeply rooted in the African culture and the research done on both adult and experiential learning and on “communities of practice.” These understandings of how adults learn offer solutions to this leadership development challenge set before the African American church. The groundbreaking work of Paulo Freire (who while working among Brazil ’s poorest of the poor, developed the practice consciousness raising), demonstrates for all of us how quickly it is possible to raise up large numbers of leaders for our suffering world.

This pioneer in education has taught us that people learn quickly when they have a need for the skills and information. Complex competencies and knowledge can be learned in a matter of weeks, not months or years. We also know that people learn best in community, when they are engaged with one another. They learn best when each person is both student and teacher, expert and apprentice – engaged in an exchange of experience and learning. Such a learning community is an active demonstration of what Martin Luther King Jr. called the “Beloved Community.”

Our challenge, in building a totally new process and program of theological education called the Center for African-American Theological Studies (CAATS), is to build on a different set of cultural values and on the already laid foundation of radical ideas and understanding of theories of adult education in such a way that CAATS is known throughout the world as the place to be if one wants to be part of a beloved community of learners who weave webs of transformation throughout the world. Please pray for our success.

Contact: Dr. David Frenchak, Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education, 200 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 502 , Chicago , IL 60601 , (312) 726-1200, dave@scupe.com

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Dr. Yvonne Delk: Broadening the Context of Theological Education

(Born in Norfolk , Virginia , Dr. Yvonne Delk holds degrees Andover Newton and New York Theological Seminary. She was the first black woman to be ordained in the United Church of Christ, and has served that denomination in key leadership positions. During the 1990s, she served as Executive Director of the Community Renewal Society in Chicago . Now, following her retirement, she has accepted the opportunity to direct SCUPE’s new Center for African-American Theological Studies.)

Yvonne, what motivates you to take on leadership of SCUPE’s new CAATS program?

Almost 42 years ago I entered Andover Newton Theological Seminary. I didn’t intend at that time to become an ordained minister; that came a little later. I arrived there with some trepidation. Up until that time, my entire world had been an African-American community. My church, the community in which I lived, all the schools I attended, the college I attended had all been African-American. My world had been very much insulated with the nurture and support of the black church and community.

Arriving at Andover Newton was like moving into a foreign land. I was not prepared to live in this majority white community. And, that white environment was not connected to the experiences I brought there. The faculty was all white and all male, and only 13 women in a student body of over 300. The women lived at the bottom of the hill, while classrooms, chapel and dormitories were all at the top of the hill.

It became clear that for me to find my way in that seminary, I was going to have to figure out how to adjust to the expectations that Andover Newton had of its students, rather than expect them to connect to me and my environment. The theological education I was to receive (which would enable me to move in many places that I hadn’t thought I’d move in) would be a Eurocentric theological education. It was not rooted in the faith affirmations that had shaped me, nor was it rooted in the faith experience of the black church, the faith of black people or the struggle for liberation and freedom from racism, sexism or classism. Dr. James Cone had not even begun writing about “black theology” at this point in time.

I remember calling my mother and saying, “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stay here. I don’t see anything like me. I don’t know how I’m going to connect to anything.” I was the only black woman at Andover Newton, while there were students from other countries, and some African-American men. I found myself dealing with both racism and sexism. My mother said, “Yes, you will be able to stay there. Open your mind and open your heart so that you can make the connections – connections that are rooted in your own experiences.” She reminded me of one more thing, that if the will of God had delivered me to Andover Newton, the grace of God would allow me to survive at Andover Newton.

Since those days, I’ve been on a journey. In seminary, I began raising the questions: How do I relate the gospel of Jesus Christ to the specific journey that I have been on, to the experiences of my people, brought in chains on ships, and to the prevailing issues of racism, sexism and classism? When I was eight years old, I walked the aisle of Macedonia Church and surrendered my personal life to Jesus Christ. I knew about a personal commitment to Jesus as my Lord and Savior. But the journey was now taking me to a deeper level. I wanted to connect to and figure out how to work with that gospel among systems, communities and with people. It’s taken a long journey to really become equipped. Now, over 40 years later, I’ve been invited to not merely critique a theological education system, but to help create a new system. That’s a major opportunity. And it’s very, very gratifying.

Give us the vision and rationale for beginning such a comprehensive program.

In a world where we continue to have powers and principalities that oppress people, the call is urgent for men and women to be trained and equipped for the full gospel and ministry of Jesus Christ. We need pastors who will be willing to respond to systemic as well as personal injustice. CAATS intends to equip men and women for prophetic ministry in those communities where people find themselves oppressed and struggling with systemic injustices.

Very practically, how do you hope to accomplish this vision?

My vision is to engage students, pastors, academicians and community leaders in designing a theological curriculum that includes African-centered principles, values and religious affirmations. The vision also includes black religious life, black theology, examination of call and vocation from the African perspective of community (“I am because you are and because you are, I can be also”), and resourcing students to build inclusive across the barriers of race, class, sexual orientation. Then we’ll wrestle with an understanding of prophetic witness that engages the powers and principalities in order to develop pan-African and global perspectives.

This model requires organizing partners, accreditation partners and support partners. As of this birthing moment, SCUPE is an organizing partner, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School in Richmond , Virginia is our accreditation partner and Trinity United Church of Christ (Chicago) is a support partner. We expect significant growth in all of these partnership areas.

Yvonne, who can benefit from CAATS initial class offerings?

We initially said it was a program for people who already have an undergraduate degree. But since we’ve begun talking about the program in churches, people are interested who haven’t yet completed their undergraduate degree. Right now, I’m saying the M.Div. program is our beginning point, but the vision for CAATS is much larger. It is for men and women who are already serving churches and want continued education as well as laity who feel called to prophetic ministries in their church and communities. I see revitalized clergy, laity and churches, empowered by the Holy Spirit taking the gospel to the streets. Individuals, churches, and communities will all benefit.

Give us a vision of how CAATS might progress and grow.

There is already a hunger and expressed need for what CAATS is about. Many people across the country have met to discuss new paths for theological education. And here in Chicago African-American men and women are seeking paths for theological education that will be relevant to the issues we are facing in our communities. Even before we have officially launched CAATS, we have 17 students enrolled. We are now getting ready to move into the churches to preach and teach CAATS. This will allow us to increase the accreditation and support partners. I am predicting that once the word gets outs we will have doubled our enrollment by spring, and by September 2006 100 students will be enrolled.

Why should a young person consider contacting SCUPE about this program?

In the Old Testament, Queen Esther is reminded that she has been called into the kingdom for a time such as this. I believe that the black church and black community need women and men who believe that they have been called into ministry for a time such as this to heal the brokenhearted and to be builders and repairers of our church communities, as well as the city’s walls and streets. If you feel this call in your heart, mind and spirit, then CAATS is the place for you.

We offer you an Afrocentric journey that will ground you culturally and globally in the African and African-American theological experience, history, culture and ministry. The passion for the center continues in the affirmations of black theology which call for affirming our identity as sons and daughters of God, empowering others to work for the beloved community embodied in love, justice and liberation. In this way we enable our children, youth, women and men to live with respect, honor, dignity and freedom. If you are willing to be led by the Holy Spirit in a theological process that calls for remembering, resourcing, retooling and re-equipping yourself to fully live out your call with your whole mind, heart and soul, then the center for African-American Theological studies is for you.

Contact: Rev. Dr. Yvonne Delk, Center for African-American Theological Studies, 200 N. Michigan Avenue, Ste. 502 , Chicago , IL 60601 , (312) 726-1200, yvonne@scupe.com

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Cynthia Milsap: Grounding Seminary in the African-American Experience

(Cynthia Milsap coordinates SCUPE’s Center for African-American Theological Studies [CAATS] as well as directs Nurturing the Call – a program for undergraduate students. She is well-versed in the African-American theology and history, with an emphasis in educational theory in relation to the African-American church.)

Give us a brief vision or purpose for the Center for African-American Theological Studies.

We have many African-American students who go off to seminary with a passion for ministry. But when they get to seminary they’re taught a language that begins to distance them from their community and their passion for ministry. Students are taught theological concepts that don’t really come from or connect back to their history or social context. They take church history classes and may never really study the history of African-American churches – which is a big gap. A church history class that doesn’t include the impact of the African-American church is incomplete. It misinforms, by omission, both black and white students by only presenting one group’s role and perspective. How can you discuss the shaping of religion in America without including issues such as slavery, segregation, racism and civil rights?

If students don’t understand the part that racism has played in shaping the Christian church, then they will not understand the differences in how Christianity is perceived and used in black and white communities. Many of the current denominational structures exist because churches left denominations or started new ones over the issue of slavery. Although its roots are in Africa, the black church emerged as a response to the un-Christ like activities of the white Christian church in America .

For most black students, the seminary has become a foreign land. They’re constantly asking, “How does this connect with my ministry each Sunday?” They’re not able to make the connections. Again, they’re not seeing themselves in biblical and theological classes. The absence of African-Americans throughout seminary studies has made many black students feel that seminary education is irrelevant. CAATS seeks to ground itself in the African-American experience. It hopes to give students the tools they need to compare and bring in other experiences and perspectives. While American society and “integrated” churches classified and treated African-Americans as property, the black church – those congregations led by and for the African-American community’s determination to affirm its humanity and role as children of God. The CAATS program seeks to help students value this tradition and to connect them with African religious traditions worldwide.

How do you see CAATS adding to SCUPE’s overall impact?

SCUPE has always been an educational catalyst. It adds a practical piece to seminary education, or to community education. CAATS will continue that role of educational catalyst by challenging existing schools to look at how they are structured. When you talk about Afrocentric models, you’re talking about something targeted to African-Americans, but not exclusively for African-Americans. A key component will be a return to the history of Africa, without stopping in the middle at Europe . But we’ll also be adding the component of American church history through the lens of the black church.

SCUPE provides that face for something new like CAATS to grow. It’s hard to be nurtured in an institution that doesn’t really want to change. But SCUPE has always been less bound by the rigidities of educational structures. It has always sought to breathe life into those structures – making them vibrant and relevant.

What will be the relationship between Nurturing the Call and CAATS?

Nurturing the Call is designed for African-American students (and students from other ethnic groups) who are engaged in ministry but for various reasons have not pursued seminary education. For these students, the goal is to equip themselves for ministry in whatever area they may be working. Some students may be thinking about seminary, so it becomes the experimental phase for them to test out seminary. These students take courses especially designed for them along with SCUPE’s urban theology classes (Graduate Theological urban Studies) rather than CAATS classes.

You and Yvonne Delk have already talked a lot about Afrocentric Theological Education. What is the particular need for such an approach?

The heart of the Afrocentric model is that it’s community-centered, as opposed to the individualization of goals and accomplishments. In an Afrocentric model, your identity is intrinsically connected with your community, and your achievements are connected with your community. The community is important to your development, and you have an obligation to give back to your community. It’s human-connected and it’s very relational, not esoteric. You have to deal wholistically: mind, body and spirit. I can’t teach you if I don’t first try to get to know you.

If you have that kind of environment, then the classroom is cooperative rather than competitive. The relationship between teacher and students is not hierarchical. It becomes a place that builds relationships between student and teacher, as well as among students. It’s a learning partnership. While I am responsible for shaping your learning experiences and environment, I find ways to tap into the knowledge and experience that you bring to the class.

What kinds of classes will CAATS initially offer to students?

Our plan is to create a dedicated CAATS curriculum. But we are also considering where it makes logical sense to connect (and cross-register) with the current SCUPE curriculum. (Some existing classes do meet the priorities of the CAATS program.) Dr. Yvonne Delk’s “Dimensions and Dynamics” class (taught in January) makes logical sense to be connected. We’re dealing with urban issues, racism, culture change, and injustice. Our curriculum committee is designing classes with a focus on developing ministry leaders who are committed to academic excellence, Afrocentric values, the black church tradition and social justice issues. Course topics include: Introduction of an Afrocentric Theological Inquiry, Pastoral Care and the African-American Community, African-American Leadership, African Christianity, Black Theology and Womanist Theology.

Will courses be taught entirely here at SCUPE in Chicago ?

Most of the courses will be taught throughout the city and right at local churches. We’re trying to be church-based and we’ll involve many black churches in the program. We want to see churches host classes, send students and become financial sponsors of the program. As we gain a deeper level of local church involvement we become a more responsible educational institution.

When can students start registering?

Many students have already begun registering for our fall classes beginning in September (see following “Class Listing”). Simply contact Dody Finch at the SCUPE office, (312) 726-1200, or dody@scupe.com .

Contact: Cynthia Milsap, Center for African-American Theological Studies, 200 N. Michigan Ave., Ste. 502 , Chicago , IL 60601 , (312) 726-1200, cynthia@scupe.com

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Fall Courses and Registration: Center for African-American Theological Studies

Required Courses:

Introduction to Theology: Faculty: Howard Wiley and Dwight Hopkins, Tuesdays: 6 - 9 pm, Sept. 14 – Dec. 14 (no class Nov. 23), Location: to be announced

Introduction to African-American Pastoral Care: Faculty: Lee Butler, Wednesdays: 6:30 – 9:30 pm, Sept. 13 – Dec. 13 (no class Nov. 22), Location: Third Baptist Church , Chicago

Introduction to Afrocentric Theological Inquiry: Faculty: Jeremiah Wright, Iva Carruthers, Cynthia Milsap (with Yvonne Delk and others as guest speakers), Fridays: 6 – 9 pm; Saturdays: 9 – 4 pm, October 7-8, 14-15, 21-22, 28-29, Location: Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church , Chicago

Fall Elective:

Public Issues in Ministry: Faculty: Cynthia Milsap, Fridays: 1 – 9 pm; Saturdays: 9 – 5 pm (Nov. 4 & 5, 11 & 12, 18 & 19), Location: SCUPE office and various community sites

Other information: Black Theology / Womanist Theology Conference (October 31-November 4) CAATS professors are planning to have students attend this conference during their class session that week and will be giving an assignment which incorporates material from the conference. Conference organizers are Dwight Hopkins and Linda Thomas.

Register soon, by contacting Dody Finch in the SCUPE office, (312) 726-1200, dody@scupe.com .

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Must Read!

“Getting to Amen: Eight Strategies for Managing Conflict in the African-American Church ,” by Lora-Ellen McKinney, Judson Press, 2005.

According to Lora-Ellen McKinney, tensions related to women in leadership, non-denominationalism, suburban migration, homosexuality, and politics and preaching have weakened the status of the African-American community’s strongest institutions – its churches. This book provides a set of practical tools based on Christian principles, psychological theory, and cultural research to help churches move beyond disputes to a renewed harmony.

Lora-Ellen McKinney is the daughter of a third-generation minister, and an expert in community health, social services, social justice and education. She heads her own consulting firm, specializing in dispute resolution. With degrees from Harvard University and the University of Washington in Seattle, McKinney has also written, “View From the Pew: What Pastors Can Learn from Church Members,” and “Christian Education in the African American Church: A Guide for Teach Truth.”

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Celebrating the Life and Work of William Stringfellow

A mini-school – Celebrating the Life and Work of William Stringfellow – will be held October 6-9, 2005 at University Episcopal Center, Minneapolis , Minnesota . For detailed information, including registration, contact Kate Foran or Steve Borla, interns@wordandworld.org , (336) 230-0330. Faculty Include: Liz McAlister, James Breeden, Anthony Dancer, Neil Elliott, Joyce Hollyday, Bob Hulteen, Scott Kennedy, Uncas McThenia, Ched Myers, Bill Wylie-Kellermann. Courses and Bible Studies Include: Empire and Resistance, Romans 13 and Revelation 13, Biography as Theology, The Law: Master or Servant?, Gender, Identity, and Justice, Ethics as Vocation and Sacrament, Worker Justice and Corporate Powers, and Acts and the Politics of Resurrection.

William Stringfellow was a theological critic of imperial America , a reviver of biblical theology and ethics with reference to the “principalities and powers” and a civil rights activist helping goad white mainstream Christianity into the black freedom struggle of the 1960s. As a participant in post-WWII ecumenism, Stringfellow helped shape the worldwide student Christian movement. A Harvard Law School graduate, he practiced street law in New York 's East Harlem and was an early critic of the Vietnam War visiting there in 1966. As both theologian and lawyer, Stringfellow wrote 16 books, including “Parable of the Word of God.”

Contact: http://www.wordandworld.org/events/index.shtml , or Bill Wylie-Kellermann, SCUPE Graduate Theological Urban Studies, (312) 726-1200, (313) 841-7066, bill@scupe.com

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Thanks for Reading CityVoices!

With next month’s CityVoices, we will again focus upon some of the very helpful academic resources that SCUPE has to offer both students and practicing pastors alike. Through the Graduate Theological Urban Studies program, Bill Wylie-Kellerman reaches a wide number of seminary campuses, engaging both students and faculty in critical thinking. Look for a wide-ranging interview as we speak with Bill.

Once again, we feature these books (among many others) at great prices. (For a full listing, go to our website’s “Bookstore” at http://cityvoices.gospelcom.net/pages/cvshop.html .)

“Boundary Leaders: Leadership Skills for People of Faith,” by Gary Gunderson, Fortress Press.  Gunderson weaves instructive stories of people who lead from the margins. $15

“Voices From the City: Issues and Images in Urban Preaching,” by John Nunes, Concordia. While using classical motifs, the author brings preaching into street-level communication. $12

“Tell Me City Stories: A Journey for Urban Congregations,” by Phil Amerson, Wipf and Stock. Phil Amerson takes provides city church leaders with a practical journal approach to ministry. $12

* To purchase these, and other great city church resources, contact CityVoices at (312) 726-1200 or roger@cityvoices.com . VISA and Master Card accepted.

We look forward to hearing from you and meeting any of your urban ministry needs,                            Roger Johnson – CityVoices / SCUPE (Chicago) (312) 726-1200, roger@cityvoices.com , www.cityvoices.com