The Lord Gave Me This: Understanding Historic Leadership Development Practices of the Black Church to Prepare Tomorrow's Leaders

When it comes to learning necessary ministry leadership skills, African Americans are unique in their view towards traditional theological education. They have a historical educational experience that requires anyone attempting to teach them ministry skills to acknowledge the differences in how blacks and whites have learned leadership skills through the history of the United States. Those who seek to teach these pastors and leaders must be supported by a creative learning process and delivery system that incorporates the felt needs of leaders, acknowledges their long held distrust towards traditional white theological educational processes, develops a way to have a regular presence and relationship with black churches, offers learning experiences that are provided through multiple formats, and is taught by instructors who have similar life experiences as the pastors and leaders being taught. There are opportunities for traditional seminaries and universities to help meet the needs of African American ministry leaders through the development of programs that take these points into account and create opportunities that make these potential learners feel welcome and accepted as brothers and sisters in Christ whose experiences within ministry are valuable and contribute to the building of God's kingdom.

Terrell Carter is Assistant Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Contextualized Learning at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas. He is the author of Walking the Blue Line: A Police Officer Turned Community Activist Provides Solutions to the Racial Divide (2015) and Machiavellian Ministry: What Faith-filled Leaders can Learn from a Faithless Politician (2015).