National Baptist Convention facing turbulent times

On the surface, the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention USA, which wrapped up the first week of September in Baltimore, was the picture of unity and fellowship.

Thousands of members of the nation’s largest Black Protestant organization worshiped, sang, heard guest lectures and even rolled up their sleeves for a blood donor drive. 

Beneath the surface, the NBCUSA, whose history includes a historic gathering in St. Louis in 1886, is grappling with a leadership crisis.

Critical issues have divided the church and brought simmering tensions into the open and laid bare structural challenges that could threaten the organization’s influence.

…many member churches with aging, dwindling congregations, while others — in a post-pandemic era, where in-person worship is declining — are struggling to fill their coffers as well as their pews. 

The stakes are so high for the organization that Dr. Jerry Young, the outgoing, two-term NBCUSA president, didn’t sugar-coat his feelings in remarks opening the conference. Young spoke of perilous times, “when we have knowledge without character; when people want to worship but don’t want to obey.”

The NBCUSA, he says, has “preachers who want theology, but no doxology.”

It was a stark reminder of the scope of issues before the Nashville-based organization, which counts between 5.2 and 7.5 million members nationwide — and wields such political clout that it has become a must-stop for aspiring politicians. 

The organization’s largest, most immediate issue is its presidency: NBCUSA bylaws prevent Young from running for a third term. But only one candidate, Rev. Boise Kimber of Connecticut, has been approved as a presidential candidate.

Yet rank-and-file members have not coalesced behind Kimber, for various reasons. Opponents are organizing for a majority “no” vote against him, but the move would create an extended leadership vacuum for the nation’s oldest Black religious organization, with no clear path forward. 

At issue are new restrictions, based largely on congregation size and financial status, that determine which churches can submit NBCUSA presidential nominees. But many member churches with aging, dwindling congregations, while others — in a post-pandemic era, where in-person worship is declining — are struggling to fill their coffers as well as their pews. 

That includes several churches which nominated presidential candidates, but saw their favorites disqualified because of the financial and membership restrictions. The election will be held before the end of the conference and the outcome is likely to pit the NBCUSA membership against itself.

“In a season where denominations are more needed than ever, we’re more divided,” Rev. Breonus Mitychell, Nashville pastor and NBCUSA board member, told USA Today “And because of our division, people are feeling like you’re not essential anymore.”

The presidency vote was scheduled to take place Thursday. 

Leadership issues aside, NBCUSA attendees heard from a variety of notable speakers, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, the state’s first Black governor and a rising star in the Democratic Party. Given the NBCUSA’s strong record on social justice, Moore, an Army combat veteran, touted the state’s aggressive plan to create affordable housing, but he also talked about his faith. 

“Before I left for Afghanistan, my grandparents gave me a little Bible and on every mission I put that Bible in a pocket over my heart,” he said. “In it, my grandfather wrote, ‘Have faith, not fear,’” an inscription that has guided his life. 

Conventioneers also heard from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. 

The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. traces a history of growth and achievements to Saturday, November 22, 1880 when 151 persons from 11 states met in Montgomery, Alabama and organized the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention.

According to the organization’s website, its founding was “A yearning to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached on the Mother Soil of Africa” drove this organizing. The Rev. W. H. McAlpine of Alabama was elected as its first president.

Six years later in 1886, 600 delegates from 17 states gathered at the First Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri and formed the National Baptist Convention of America. Seven years later in 1893, the National Baptist Education Convention was formed.