ARCHIVES OF LEAD STORIES
October 28, 2004
New president expands scope
of Black Ministerial Alliance
Jeremy Schwab
When Gilbert Thompson came to Boston in 1972, he
joined a support group for ministers called the Black Ministerial
Alliance. Back then, the BMA held regular meetings to help pastors
tend to themselves as well as their flock. The ministers learned
how to be better husbands and fathers and how to manage the stress
of administering to a congregation.
Today, the BMA oversees millions of dollars in federal grants
that it disperses to local nonprofits doing youth outreach and
education work. The BMA also brings local black congregations
together to coordinate the social programming they offer, such
as tutoring, and to advocate for expanded parental involvement
in the public schools.
Thompson, now bishop of the New Covenant Christian Church International
in Mattapan, has stuck with the BMA. In June, his fellow pastors
elected him president of the organization.
Thompson sat down with the Banner Monday to discuss the past,
present and future of the steadily more-ambitious BMA.
“There are benefits that come when churches are not competing
with each other,” said Thompson. “We have increasingly
seen the importance of seeing ourselves as one church, not letting
denominational walls divide us.”
Before becoming president, Thompson brought leaders from different
black congregations together as the BMA’s inter-church relations
head. Church leaders agreed to sign a covenant affirming that
they will not squabble over membership. Instead, pastors now aim
to inform each other when a member of one congregation switches
loyalties to another, according to Thompson, keeping the lines
of communication open and territoriality to a minimum.
“In every inner city, one of the ways pastors fall out with
each other is in the exchange of members,” said Thompson.
“We committed ourselves to not letting that happen.”
Some of the BMA’s estimated 80 member churches in the Boston
area also work together to improve their communities. For instance,
the BMA’s Victory Generation After School Program brings
together nine congregations to tutor 450 youngsters after school
hours.
The BMA also acts as a way station for federal and foundation
money destined for churches and other nonprofits in the black
community. Through the Black Church Capacity Building Program,
the BMA gives grants to black churches conducting homeless outreach,
providing transitional housing for ex-prisoners or involved in
other areas of community enrichment.
Meanwhile, the BMA administers the Boston Capacity Tank, spending
$2 million in federal grants over a three-year period to fund
organizations involved in helping “at-risk” youth
and other needy segments of the community.
Thompson and BMA Executive Director Harold Sparrow have a vision
for an even more far-reaching BMA. They have convened a task force
to look into the possibility of forming a communal banking entity
to pool the resources of BMA member churches and congregants.
“It could be a credit union, or a collective bank or a revolving
loan fund,” said Sparrow.
“We want to provide the kind of atmosphere where churches
could come together to purchase land in the neighborhood,”
said Thompson. “We believe God wants us to purchase property,
to develop it economically and socially. If churches owned property,
they could pre-determine the kinds of things that go on in that
building. If someone wanted to put a bar in our community that
is depleting the community, then the church could say, ’no,
that is not the kind of thing we want here.’”
While the BMA’s main focus is educational, social and economic
development, it has also held political forums. New Covenant Church
hosted a forum where community members were able to question the
gubernatorial candidates in 2002.
Some have questioned the BMA’s politics. A non-BMA event
at Thompson’s New Covenant Church generated controversy
last fall. After Governor Mitt Romney proposed a complete revamping
of affirmative action policy, angering pro-affirmative action
activists, Romney apparently asked New Covenant staff to host
a forum on affirmative action.
New Covenant’s hosting of the forum, combined with Romney’s
statement at the event that certain ministers constituted his
“kitchen cabinet” and an earlier prayer service for
Romney hosted by black ministers caused activists to believe that
the BMA itself was aligned with Romney.
“I hear rumors we are closely aligned or in the pocket of
the Republicans,” said Sparrow. “That’s not
true. The governor called after the election and said it is a
tradition to hold a prayer service. Normally, that’s done
in a Catholic Church. But he is not Catholic. As Christians, when
people ask us to pray for us, we say yes. After that event, people
had the idea that we were in lock-step with the governor.”
Whatever political allegations may be made about the BMA, its
primary focus remains bringing ministers, congregations and nonprofits
together to coordinate programs and learn from each other.
“We want to help improve the lives of children and families
in Boston,” said Sparrow.
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