| abstract |
The Black church has played a vital role in the history of the United States as a center of social, political, and spiritual empowerment for African-Americans. However, as Millennials and Gen Z are the rising generation for leadership in the church, there is a need to integrate culture, finances, and vocation into the life of the church. In response, this paper outlines a co-vocational framework for the Black urban church that supports the inclusion of all people and their gifts, so that the work of ministry can be seen throughout the marketplace and culture. This co-vocational framework produces a goodness (tov) culture, a new integration of emotional and spiritual health, and a shared leadership model, to encourage congregants to feel that they are essential to the work of Jesus in and out of the church.
The work is informed by my lived experiences as a Black millennial person, preacher, and teacher. The contextual understanding of the current landscape of the Black urban church is discussed, alongside an overview of the history of the Black preacher, to understand how we've arrived where we are today, and a review of a co-vocational ministry framework, each of its contributing parts and the culture that it creates.
Overall, this paper suggests that a co-vocational ministry framework can help the Black urban church to address some of the challenges it faces, including burnout, a lack of leadership development, and ineffective mission mobilization. The co-vocational ministry framework in practice presents a methodology to assess the missional culture of a Black urban church, understand and implement tov habits, engage and enact emotionally healthy spirituality, and present a model for a shared leadership style. This assessment and implementation process includes questionnaires, meetings, workshops, courses, sermons series, internal ministry changes and empowerment for all congregants. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the ongoing conversation about the Black urban church's role and inspire further research and innovation in the area of co-vocational ministry frameworks.
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