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PREACHING TO DIASPORIC CARIBBEAN CHRISTIANS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY MICHAEL P.L. FRIDAY OCTOBER 2006 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements … … … … … … … … … … iii Dedication … … … … … … … … … … iv Abstract … … … … … … … … … … v Chapter One Preaching to Diasporic Caribbean Christians: Is There Any Song In A Strange Land? 1 Chapter Two Preaching to Diasporic Caribbean Christians: Is There Any Scriptural Revelation? 7 Chapter Three Preaching to Diasporic Caribbean Christians: What May Be Discovered About It? 67 Chapter Four Preaching to Diasporic Caribbean Christians: What New Literature May Be Introduced About It? 127 Chapter Five Preaching to Diasporic Caribbean Christians: Could The Discussion Be Made Clearer? 220 Appendix I … … … … … … … … … … 229 Appendix II … … … … … … … … … … 235 Appendix III … … … … … … … … … … 245 Bibliography … … … … … … … … … … 246 Vita … … … … … … … … … … 254 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A course of study such as this one ordinarily requires that the student- candidate be engaged in a station of ministry. During the years I was enrolled in this program, I was unassigned pastorally. During that time, I was privileged to do short-term interim assignments at a number of congregations, which facilitated the practical aspect of this course of study. Consequently, I am indebted to the members of Grace Baptist Chapel, the Bronx, New York, and their pastor, Delroy Reid-Salmon; to the members of Bronx Baptist Church and their pastors, Samuel Simpson and Frank Williams; to the members of Grace United Methodist Church, Brooklyn, New York, and their former pastor, Kirton Lashley; to the members of Parkway Baptist Church, Miami, Florida, and their former pastor, Samuel Vernon; and to the members of the Metropolitan Baptist Church, Hollywood, Florida, and their pastor, Clinton Chisholm. These saints have helped me in no small way. I deem it appropriate also to acknowledge the invaluable partnerships I shared for three years with Paul Burton, Lorna Graham, Omar Soto, and Christine Wright. They were more than peer-mentors – they were friends and teachers. Finally, it is a signal honor and privilege to be among those who have “sat at the feet” of Haddon Robinson. I may never reach those heights he has, but I can dream! iv DEDICATION For Vivienne – Stabilizer, Ambitious, Lovely, Exciting, Faithful, Peaceful, Home. For Davewin, Rhaema and Jeremy – Deepen in faith, or nothing. For Clara and Rochford – Ready, on the other side, to rejoice with me. For the Jamaica Baptist Union – Incubator, Catalyst, Home. For the Baptist Union of Trinidad and Tobago – Waiting to exhale. For New Life Baptist Church, Bellevue, Nebraska – Possibility, Productivity, Peace, Permanence, Home. For Vivienne – (Yes, again!) You deserve double portion in every good thing! For Jesus – Here are Five Chapters and Two Projects! Home! v ABSTRACT Caribbean immigrants to the USA, who are Christians, encounter challenges to their dual identity as immigrants and as Christians. If they are to maintain their faith, values and identity, they need a preaching ministry that recognizes their identity and the challenges they face daily. This study explores aspects of Caribbean identity, Caribbean Christian thought (known, commonly as Caribbean Theology), aspects of immigrant realities and the biblical message in First Peter, written to persons he describes as “aliens” and “strangers.” The study seeks primarily to derive, from First Peter’s message, a perspective for preachers who will minister to “Diasporic Caribbean Christians.” The study finds that “Diasporic Christianity” is valid. It finds that First Peter does address Diasporic Christianity issues. It finds that Christians in the US, in general, even if not immigrants, may experience a kind of diasporic reality. It finds that preachers should think intentionally about diasporic issues as they prepare to preach to Caribbean Christians in diaspora, other ethnicities in diaspora, and Christians, in general. 1 Chapter One Preaching To Diasporic Caribbean Christians: Is There Any Song In A Strange Land? The average Caribbean immigrant to the United States lives in a kind of “no-man’s-land.” No Caribbean immigrant resident in the United States would ever be mistaken for a European-American – not if the person is of African extract. And virtually no Caribbean immigrant with a strong sense of “Caribbeanness” would want to be considered African-American. This is more than sentiment – it has to do with identity. Victor Price (Self-Determination: Ministering to West Indians in a Land of Social Change and Cross Cultural Conflict) appears to be chomping at the bits in his eagerness to emblazon this sense of Caribbean or West Indian identity before the world. He declares on page ii, I do not consider myself Black, nor could I ever be African American. I am West Indian, to say the least; I am St. Lucian at best. And, pressed further, I could not tell you anything else that I am. Yet I change, but that change still finds itself rooted in the seedbed of a St. Lucian mentality. Price is not alone. Ninety-seven percent of persons he interviewed declared themselves to be West Indian, Black or “Other”; only 3% considered themselves African American. And this, even though more than 66% of his sample had already been resident in the United States for more than 15 years (115)! This strong sense of Caribbean identity marks out Caribbean immigrants as a people, 2 noticeably distinct from any other immigrants to or residents in America. At the same time, this Caribbean identity prompts tremendous challenge to and results in several problems for these immigrants. The importance of this sense of identity multiplies exponentially when the consideration shifts from Caribbean immigrants in general, to Caribbean immigrants who are Christians. Apart from their strong Caribbean sense of identity, those Caribbean immigrants who are Christians also possess a strong and distinct faith. This faith, so distinct and so strong, has produced thinkers who in turn, from their reflection, have produced documents on Caribbean Theology. Among these thinkers are both immigrants to the United States and those who have remained at home.1 Caribbean people are migrating to the United States in significant numbers. In 2003, of 33.5 million (foreign born) immigrants resident in the United States, 10.1% were from the Caribbean, behind only those from Asia, Central America and Europe (US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Bureau, The Foreign-Born Population in The United States: 2003, p.1). In 1999 it was 10.5% of 26.4 million. This seems to represent a growing trend. It follows therefore, that any problems or challenges that accompany immigration 1 Noel Leo Erskine, Lewin Williams, William Watty, Ashley Smith, and other Caribbean theologians, are cited in this work, below. 3 are also growing – and there are many. When Caribbean people migrate to the United States problems and challenges arise. There are problems related to the family, problems related to identity, problems related to employment, problems related to economics and problems related to immigration. Some also encounter problems related to the expressions of their faith. Who can sing a happy song with such problems? Caribbean immigrants who are Christians, and the rest, who are fairly familiar with the values of Christianity, find that in America, they are in a strange land – a kind of Babylon – where they might think they are unable to sing the Lord’s song. There is a significant population of Caribbean immigrants in American pews every Sunday bearing the marks of these, and other problems, in their bodies, their minds, their souls, their emotions, and in their theology. The churches in “Babylon” have a unique ministry opportunity. The churches that would do cutting-edge ministry to persons with “headaches”, such as these problems mentioned above, need to be aware of who these persons are and what their “headaches” are. This study will address that. These issues clamor for attention and answers in the sermons Caribbean immigrants hear, as much as they clamor in their minds and heads. Preaching is a ministry that may “fly below the radar” while other cultural, ethnic and special needs are addressed. But preaching is a primary ministry of the church. If preaching, to address the cultural and other needs, is ignored, then all other culture-focused ministry will 4 be weakened or even arguably misplaced. The church, as it does its ministry of preaching – or imparting spiritual truth (Price 3) – must be mindful of the core values and elements that create immigrants. “The church in its attempts at ministering to West Indians must focus on affirming their sense of identity in Christ and provide the congregation as the context within which the new immigrant redefines himself” (Price 108). The church that will deliver a serious and fulfilling pulpit ministry to Caribbean Christian immigrants in America must begin on the premise that both the identity and the Christian faith of the Caribbean immigrant are worthy of affirmation and sustenance. It may be a reasonable assumption that preachers in churches that minister to people in the Caribbean Diaspora in America are interested in doing relevant ministry to them. If this is true, then the intention of this study is to enable them to realize this goal. Immigrants – Diaspora people, especially those who are Christians – are in need of a kind of preaching that enables them to retain their special identity, both spiritually and culturally. The aim of this study is to offer an opportunity for the American pulpit to adequately address and answer the special questions and challenges that Caribbean immigrants, in the United States, are facing. It may, where applicable, also extend whatever principles are derived, to other ethnic peoples in diaspora. 5 The biblical and theological under-girding for this focus, to be pursued in the next chapter, will be the First Letter of Peter. Peter wrote to Christians who possessed both a distinct faith and therein, a distinct cultural identity. It appears that these “Diasporic Christians” encountered certain problems and challenges. Diasporic Caribbean Christians would encounter many of these same problems and challenges twenty-one centuries later. The issues from that time are applicable to these times. Chapter four of this document would produce a significant outline of a book. The book will be aimed primarily at preachers who preach to Caribbean immigrants. It will outline at least briefly, major and significant problems and challenges Caribbean Christian immigrants in America experience. It will locate the parallels for those problems and challenges in the theology of Peter’s first letter, his audience and their issues in first century Asia- Minor. It will answer the questions related to the problems and challenges. It will frame those answers in homiletical terminology and concepts so that preachers may be better equipped to preach messages that meet the significant needs of immigrants. It will relate the relevant principles to any other disaporic people to whom the principles can be applied. The study will refer to some Baptist congregations, primarily in New York and Florida and a handful of congregations of other denominational persuasions elsewhere in North America, which consist mainly of Caribbean immigrant membership, and are led by Caribbean immigrant pastors. That study will be the basis of this thesis-project.