For Where Two or Three (Thousand) Are Gathered in My Name! A Cultural History and Ethical Analysis of African American Megachurches

Abstract

African American megachurches are part of a larger trend in American Protestantism reflecting the ecclesial shifts that have taken place in America during the final quarter of the previous century. There are, however, historical and religious distinctions that differentiate African American congregations from this broader, largely evangelical phenomenon. The purpose of this article, then, is to introduce and analyze African American megachurches in such a way that they are historically situated, racially located, and ecclesiastically differentiated. This article addresses the precipitous rise of black megachurch congregations in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries and ethically examines shared institutional and ideational values. And it argues that the professional identity, mass culture compatibility, and theological creativity that broadly define black megachurches represent creative fusions and internal tensions that pose ethical challenges to their congregational missions.