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To Educate, Equip, and Empower: Black Church Sponsorship of Tutoring or Literary Programs

  • Research Note
  • Published:
Review of Religious Research

Abstract

The Black Church has a long history of sponsoring youth educational programs. Yet Black students continue to lag behind their White counterparts in academic outcomes. This research note examines; (1) sponsorship of tutoring or literacy programs based on a national sample of 1,863 Black churches across seven denominations and (2) the forms of congregational cultural capital that influence such efforts. Results show denominational differences. Moreover, larger churches as well as those with formally educated leaders and members are more likely to sponsor tutorial or literacy programs. Churches that provide religious and religious-education programs, include gospel rap music during worship, and strive to increase members’ awareness of racial, social, and political issues are also more likely to sponsor these programs. Lastly, although the influence of spiritual dictates varies, churches that more frequently expose members to sermons about personal spiritual growth are also more apt to offer these youth educational programs. Best practices are provided to identify and harness the various forms of church capital found in Black congregations to improve educational outcomes for Black students.

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Notes

  1. Black Church is used to represent the institution as a collective and “Black church” for specific congregations.

  2. Average Sunday attendance is used rather than church roll as a measure of church size because inactive members are often maintained on roll and can unduly inflate the membership roster. The former variable captures involvement more consistently and represents a more conservative estimate of membership (Schaller 1990).

  3. It may also be possible that educational programs attract youth who are then retained via use of gospel rap music.

  4. Identifying the sampling frame and selecting the sample occurred in several steps. Lists of all the churches in the AME, AMEZ, CME, COGIC, Presbyterian, and UM denominations were initially provided by deans or denominational heads from the various seminaries at the ITC. The decentralized nature of the Baptist tradition precluded such a list. To create the sampling frame for Baptists, ITC solicited information from Tri-Media, an organization that retains lists of all churches nationwide that purchase Sunday school supplies. Tri-Media data were used to identify the population of Baptist churches affiliated with the three largest historically Black Baptist denominations (National Baptist Convention, USA, National Baptist Convention of America, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention). Tri-Media data were also used to augment the lists from the six other denominations; churches found on either source were included on the composite list for that denomination and duplicate churches were only included once. Unlike the six other denominations, the sampling frame for Baptist churches is an approximation with several limitations (Baptist churches that purchase Sunday school items at venues not listed with Tri-Media or those that do but that are not affiliated with any of the three conferences would not be included in the sampling frame). Thus the Baptist list is a lower bound of the number of Black Baptist churches nationwide, but it is a systematic attempt to identify these churches despite their lack of a national hierarchy. After the seven lists were compiled, a random sample was selected by Gallup from each denomination to meet the desired sub-sample sizes.

  5. Imputation is an option to respond to the missing cases here. Scholars provide some of the pros (i.e., simplifies presentation, reduces bias due to differential item nonresponse, eliminates database attrition, and allows more effective weighting options) and cons (i.e., can distort relationships among items, can generate inconsistent data, and can artificially reduce variance of survey estimates) of this approach (Fahimi et al 2011). Given the decision is largely researcher-based, I chose not to impute.

  6. The research team included Black churches that have historically been affiliated with predominately White denominations and that are typically included in research on the Black church (i.e., UM and Presbyterians). Blacks have historically been involved with the UMs and Presbyterians, but many churches and conferences were racially segregated as late as the mid-1900s. The Black Presbyterian churches were selected from the Presbyterian Church (USA) which, since 1983, includes the following two largest American Presbyterian denominations—United Presbyterian Church in the USA and Presbyterian Church in the US. Survey screening questions to identify whether the pastor was Black/African American and whether the congregation was predominately Black/African American were used to identify predominately Black churches from the lists of UM and Presbyterian churches (both criteria had to be met for inclusion). Focus on these seven denominations excludes Black churches affiliated with other White denominations and Black, non-denominationally affiliated churches. The sampling process is representative for non-Baptist denominations and provides a conservative, systematic attempt to approximate Black Baptists in light of the associated challenges. The use of these seven Black denominations is common in research on the subject and provides a comparative benchmark.

  7. Chaves et al. (1999) discuss the validity and reliability of relying on a single key informant to report church features. They are likely to over-estimate the extent to which their views correspond to their congregation’s views. Thus these data can be considered a best case scenario. However, the vast majority of respondents are senior pastors. Research shows that Black pastors tend to have a greater degree of influence over their churches than their White peers and thus greater possible influence over church programs (Billingsley 1999; McRoberts 1999).

  8. Cooperation rate can be used as a reasonable proxy. The figures represent the CASRO Standard calculation for the response rate and the cooperation rate reflects the percent of churches that participated once contact was made. The data were weighted during model to reflect the current denominational estimates to correct for the disproportionate sub-sample sizes (Billingsley 1992; Lincoln and Mamiya 1990). Sample margin of error was ±2.3.

  9. The causal order for most of the variables is evident. For example, denomination, pastor’s education, and stances on social/political issues are most likely in place before tutorial/literacy programs are sponsored. Yet it is possible that offering educational programs result in increased church size or children’s attendance. Gospel rap music use could take place before or after educational programs are begun. I cannot confirm causal ordering relative to use of rap music, yet literature suggests that church size, stance, pastor’s profile, and sponsoring religious programs tend to shape other program offerings (Billingsley 1999; Cavendish 2001; Lincoln and Mamiya 1990). While conceding other potential causal alternatives, existing research generally supports the causal ordering used in this analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human and Organizational Development, Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Sandra L. Barnes

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  1. Sandra L. Barnes
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Correspondence to Sandra L. Barnes.

Appendix: Survey Questions and Variable Definitions

Appendix: Survey Questions and Variable Definitions

Control Variables (5 Variables)

  • 1. Sunday Attendance (continuous, 0–6,000+): Q: What is the total attendance for all services on a typical Sunday?

  • 2. Attending Children (continuous, 0–6,700+): Q: Of those associated with your congregation, what is the number of children under 18 years of age?

  • 3. College Graduates (continuous, 0–100): Q: Of your total number of regularly participating adults, what total percent would you estimate are college graduates?

  • 4. Pastor’s Education (1 = none, 6 = post Dr. Ministry/PhD.): Q: What is the highest level of (your/your pastor’s) ministerial education? None, apprenticeship with senior pastor, certificate or correspondence program, Bible college or some seminary, seminary degree, post-minister of Divinity Work or degree.

  • 5. Paid Pastor (0 = volunteer, 1 = paid): Q: Are you/is your pastor paid or a volunteer?

Denomination (6 Variables)

  • 6.–11. Denomination (coded into seven 0–1 dummy variables, Presbyterian is the reference category):

  • Q: What is your church denomination? Baptist, Church of God in Christ (COGIC), United Methodist (UM), Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME), African Methodist Episcopal (AME), African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ), Presbyterian.

Religious and Religious-Education Programs (1 Variable)

  • Q: During the past 12 months, did your congregation participate in any of the following programs or activities in addition to your regular Sunday School?

  • 12. Bible study other than Sunday school, theological or doctrinal study, prayer or mediation groups, or spiritual retreats (sums total number of programs, values 0–4).

Contemporary Efforts (1 Variable)

  • Q: During your congregation’s regular worship services, how often is rap music included as part of the service? Use a scale from 1 to 5 where “5” means always and “1” means never.

  • 13. Gospel rap music.

Church Racial, Political, Social Capital (2 Variables)

  • Q: How well does each of the following statements describe the sermon focus? Use a scale from 1 to 5 where “5” means always and “1” means never.

  • 14. References to the racial situation in society.

  • Q: For each one, please say whether you strongly disapprove, somewhat disapprove, somewhat approve, or strongly approve (coded such that “1” means strongly disapprove and “4” means strongly approve).

  • 15. Churches expressing their views on day-to-day social and political issues.

Church Spiritual Capital (4 Variables)

  • Q: How well does the following statement describe your church? Use a scale from 1 to 5 where “5” means very well and “1” means not at all well.

  • 16. Your congregation is spiritually vital and “alive”.

  • 17. Your congregation helps members deepen their relationship with God.

  • Q: How well does of the following statement describe the sermon focus? Use a scale from 1 to 5 where “5” means always and “1” means never.

  • 18. Personal spiritual growth.

  • Q: How important are the following in the worship and teaching of your church? Use a scale from 1 to 4 where “4” means extremely important and “1” means little or no importance.

  • 19. The presence of the Holy Spirit.

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Barnes, S.L. To Educate, Equip, and Empower: Black Church Sponsorship of Tutoring or Literary Programs. Rev Relig Res 57, 111–129 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-014-0173-2

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