In 2021, Lisa Fields, founder of the Jude 3 Project, released “Why I Don’t Go,” a video series of conversations between Fields and young African Americans who stopped attending church.
That’s right, the most spiritual group in America was hemorrhaging its young people and Fields wanted to know why. Ultimately, young Black people had lost confidence in what had been the pillar of the Black community.
At the same time, young Black planters have been exploring predominantly White denominations and networks to find opportunities and resources that weren’t readily available in their beloved Black Churches. When they arrived in the church planting promised land, they found out, like David wearing Saul’s armor, that the armor didn’t fit. Few processes or resources were contextualized to address the unique needs of Black planters. Combine that with a mass exodus of Blacks from White evangelical churches, and you find the Black Church with an urgent need to reimagine her missional ecclesiology.
Jordan, an urban church planter who planted a church in a predominantly Black community east of Atlanta, GA., gives us a glimpse into some Black church planters’ experience.
He grew up in and was nurtured by the Historically Black Church (HBC) tradition in a suburban context. He is indebted to HBCs, yet realizes that his context had complex issues that contemporary HBCs did not always address well.
Jordan wonders, “What will be the future of the institution that nurtured me and prepared me for a life of service as a socially engaged citizen of his community?” Additionally, at times, Jordan wrestles with whether he is Black enough to live up to the expectations of Black Church tradition. He struggles to fit into church planting spaces that cater to White middle-class suburban planters.
He further asks, “Am I too Black to be welcomed here?”
To create a church planting ecosystem that affirms Jordan’s concerns and effectively equips emerging Black planters, Black leaders need to collaborate for a reimagined missional impulse that celebrates the past, acknowledges the present, and prepares for the future. So let’s explore the ceilings, floors, and summits of Black Church planting in the U.S.
Ceilings: Rise of the Black Church in America
We’ll begin with the pioneering founder of the institution of the Black Church in America: Richard Allen. Born into slavery, Allen eventually secured his freedom, accepted his calling to the ministry, and he would later join St. George’s Methodist Church where he became the first Black man ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
While this was ground breaking for an emerging Black Church leader, there was a stained-glass ceiling. One day, after several Black church members were forcibly removed from St. George’s sanctuary while praying, Allen organized a walkout. This was the first act in the establishment of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, America’s first historically Black denomination and the start of a Black Church planting movement.
Allen founded Mother Bethel A.M.E. church in Philadelphia in 1796. Over time, Allen recognized the need to reproduce churches that would address the injustice Blacks faced in America through both the proclamation of the gospel and the demonstration of good works.
In 1816, the A.M.E. Church was chartered. It quickly multiplied through an intentional, contextualized, and strategic plan to establish new churches through the blacksmith trade in cities across the north. Through this strategy, the denomination grew exponentially! By 1880, total A.M.E. membership had grown to 400,000 and today the denomination has 7,130 congregations globally. The AME and other historically Black denominations grew, shattering the stained-glass ceilings constructed by structural racism and playing crucial roles in transitioning Black people from slavery to freedom.
The Rise of the Black Church through Church Planting
Church planting was instrumental to the rise of the Black Church. In the decade after the Civil War, thousands of churches were established to uplift those down trodden by the ravages of slavery. These church plants helped establish new towns, and created flourishing economies for Black people. These new churches also served as outposts on the underground railroad and helped secure the abolition of slavery. They were becoming equipping centers for those who would lead in local, state, and federal government positions.
Throughout U.S. history, this legacy of empowerment mobilized communities to resist systemic injustices such as redlining, predatory lending practices, and housing inequities to create pathways for Black people to establish generational wealth. The steeples of these churches stood as beacons of safety and progress. They created new ceilings that served as the ground floor for future progress in Black communities through church planting. Knowing this history can give confidence to emerging Black planters seeking to address the contemporary crises in the Black Church.
Floors: The symbolism of the floor in the Black context
There are two proverbial floors on which Black church planters find themselves. One floor is actually the ceiling of the founding fathers and mothers of the Black Church. Today’s planters stand on the shoulders of leaders like Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and Jarena Lee, who endured unimaginable conditions to ensure the future generations would have it better. Additionally, Black church planters find themselves on the ground floor of a church ecosystem that was originally built for middle class suburban White planters. Until recently, this system was largely unaware of the inherent barriers Black planters face when seeking to join this system. One of the most significant barriers is economic – Black planters often serve in communities that experienced significant economic injustice, while leading church plants that are expected to reach financial sustainability in the same time frame as their wealthier suburban counterparts.
The Stained-Glass Ceilings of the Black Church
There is a parallel reality that Black church planters must navigate – what I call the “Blessing of the Bishop.” Black communities were built around the church, which functioned as the central hub of the community. Founding pastors (church planters) were often the most educated people in town. Black communities would often send aspiring ministers to Historically Black Colleges and Universities to get trained to serve not only as the pastor, but as the relational and intellectual center of the community. Power in the hands of anyone, regardless of their color, invites control. Unfortunately, over time, power dynamics in the Black Church began limiting the opportunities of emerging leaders.
Youth pastors seeking to start their own ministry without the pastor’s blessings run the risk of being labeled as trouble makers or rebels. The desire to cling to power has often stifled church planting in the Black Church. Furthermore, Black planters who leave the Black Church often forego the relational support of those who nurtured them in the faith. There needs to be a rethinking of the hierarchical structures that causes faithful Black leaders to see emerging church planters as an extension and continuation of their ministry and legacy.
If the Black Church is going to remain relevant into the future, it must find a vision for Black church planting that addresses both Black and White barriers. It’s time to meet God at the mountaintop again. It’s time for a summit experience.
Summits
A summit is the highest peak of a mountain. The word summit is also used to describe the gathering of key leaders to discuss strategic collaboration for the greater good. Martin Luther King Jr. made the famous statement that he had been to the mountaintop and he had seen the promised land.
Dr. King was casting a vision of hope for future generations to run with. In like manner, the Black Church needs to cast a vision of hope for the next generation of Black church planters. As part of the Exponential West conference, the Black Church Planting Summit that is being held on October 28-30, 2025 in Oakland, California seeks to be a mountaintop experience.
The Black Church Planting Summit
This summit seeks to convene leaders from historically Black denominations, independent and non-denominational Black Church networks, Black-led multiethnic church leaders, and non-black church planting allies to meet with God on the proverbial mountain top so that we can cast a vision for a Black church planting movement. Such a movement will strengthen the emerging multiethnic church planting ecosystem that recognizes the importance of both ethnic specific and multiethnic churches as equal parts of one church ecosystem.
During the summit, we hope to celebrate the ceilings of the Black Church, its traditions, and its legacies. We also plan to engage in adaptive leadership by getting on the balcony to reflect on Black church planting. We will assess the current state of Black church planting and how through prophetic collaborative imagination we can create a sustainable Black Church planting ecosystem.
I want to end this article on a personal note. When I was growing up, there was a trendy new clothing line called FUBU. This clothing line was designed to create clothes that embodied the creative expressions of Black culture, while also providing the practical need of clothes that fit the unique contours of Black bodies. FUBU stands for “For Us By Us.” I want to expand this term in a way that creates Kingdom unity in the spirit of John 17 and Psalm 133: FUBUWO, which stands for “For Us By Us With Others.” This is a term of mutuality that still empowers Black voices while inviting all of God’s people into the process of bringing hope and healing into Black communities through church planting.
There is a common Black hymn that says, “We’ve come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord.” Truly, the Black Church has come a long way from the days of the invisible church and secret hush harbors on slave plantations, to massive megachurches in urban centers. Yet, the Black Church must continue its legacy of advocacy and empowerment. Church planting is going to be key to creating new missional communities that address modern day challenges that are causing Black people and Black communities not to flourish as God has intended. The inaugural Black Church Planting Summit is an opportunity for church planting leaders to come together and dream of a promised land for the future. If you are interested in attending this historic event, spreading the word, or even sponsoring a Black leader to attend, click here for more information. Meet us at the summit where we can reimagine the future of Black Church planting together.
