John Wesley, founder of Methodism, fiercely denounced slavery and required Methodists to fight against it. But many American Methodists came to approve of slavery, then Jim Crow, then continued segregation, and completely segregated their churches. Black Methodists refused to submit to this treatment, and founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, among others. Now the Methodists have split over LGBTQ issues.
William B. Lawrence tells several interwoven stories in When the Church Woke.
- The history of enslaving Native Americans and then Africans in the Americas, and then inflicting violence on free Blacks
- The history of Methodism in England and America as it first woke over enslavement, then became progressively less woke, all the while being overtly White Supremacist, and then starting to be more woke
- Christianity, race, sex, and gender
- A prophetic vision of When the Church Woke and what it will do as a result
Throughout, there is an assumption that the mythology and fan fiction of the Bible are history, and that one can pick and choose texts and interpretations to support one’s own opinions, while denying that it is valid for others.
The author admits that his usage
When the church woke, it will…
a refrain that appears throughout the book, may be unsettling for some, but he persists.
When the church woke,
- it will act in the manner that the risen Lord has revealed
- it will rediscover Wesley’s teaching on being perfect in love
- it will address the sins of the past and the circumstances of the present
- it will know the truth
- it will act in every way to show trust in the Lord, who is coming to be our redeemer and our judge
Methodists in US history have ranged from John C. Calhoun to Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson. Ex-Methodists who left the church over its White Supremacy included Stokely Carmichael of SNCC, and James Farmer of CORE. Williams did not include Methodist Hillary Rodham Clinton, who went undercover to bust segregated “Christian academies” and of whom segregationists have vowed
We hates it forever!
United Methodists could not understand why their cross and flames logo
seemed to many Black Methodists an evocation of KKK “cross lightings”.
Some United Methodists woke and are acting to change that. They insist that the official symbol of the denomination should not be a terrorist threat.
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