Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta was the home of civil rights activist Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Photo Credit: Regal Media Group/Todd A. Smith).
The church faces a lot of criticism these days.
From people criticizing the flashy lifestyles of some megachurch pastors to others criticizing the political leanings of some preachers, many have decided to walk away from attending churches regularly.
But over the last few years, several Black pastors have used their pulpits to speak out against injustices and used their money to benefit those in their communities.
Rev. Howard-John Wesley from Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., Sen. Raphael Warnock of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church and Rev. Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta have led the charge for change in the community and in the halls of Congress.
Ryan S. of the Kansas City Defender reported, “Reverend Dr. Howard-John Wesley has a way of turning a Sunday morning into national news, and the people of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia have learned to lean in when he rises.
“They had watched him do it once already. Months ago, with the country lowering its flags for right-wing extremist Charlie Kirk, Wesley stood in the same spot and refused the script the nation handed him, telling his congregation that you do not become a hero in death when you were a weapon of the enemy in life. The clip traveled the world before the benediction.
“So when he stepped to the pulpit again in mid-May, the ten thousand in the sanctuary and the tens of thousands more watching from their phones leaned toward him and waited.
“This time he was not discussing a dead White man. He was talking about a thousand living Black students nine hundred miles away in Missouri, whose state’s flagship university had decided they were no longer worth a line in the budget. ‘When you don’t support us,’ Wesley told his people, ‘we will support our own.’ Then his church helped them build a legal institution the university’s budget cuts could never reach.”
In April, the University of Missouri stopped funding the Legion of Black Collegians organization, the only Black student government association in the country.
In recent years, Mizzou has been at the center of several racial controversies.
Ryan S reported, “A budget of roughly sixty thousand dollars would collapse into a shared pool the group could petition for no more than three thousand a year, the same standing as any six hundred clubs on campus. The reason given was a Department of Justice memo on diversity programs, a memo that was guidance and not law, that carried no penalty and no force, and that the university chose to obey as though it had been carved into stone and handed down from a mountain.”
Not wanting to see the Legion of Black Collegians adversely affected, Alfred Street Baptist Church funded an independent 501 (c) (3) for those students.
Additionally, after Target ended its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, Bryant led a year-long boycott that many in the Black community are still standing by, even though the influential pastor called off the boycott in March, much to the chagrin of many of its participants.
Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware of Word in Black reported, “Target confirmed that, by April 2026, it will fulfil its $2 billion commitment to spend with Black-owned businesses, which the company reports is now more than 95% fulfilled and said partnerships with Black-owned brands are expected to continue beyond that milestone. The company also indicated it plans to maintain comparable levels of investment in Community Development Financial Institutions, where it has invested nearly $20 million since 2020, though broader investment in Black-owned banks remains an area where leaders say progress is still to be seen.”
Lastly, Sen. Warnock is no stranger to how Black pastors helped shape change in Black America, pastoring the church once helmed by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
But Warnock chose to become a legislator as opposed to pressuring politicians to make change.
According to his Senate webpage, “Elected Georgia’s first Black Senator in 2021, Senator Reverend Warnock has carried his service and advocacy into the Senate, where he helped pass legislation to create jobs, address the maternal mortality crisis and successfully championed efforts to cap insulin costs for seniors at $35 a month. Warnock successfully defended his seat and was elected to a full six-year term in December 2022.
“Currently, Senator Warnock serves as Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; Finance Committee, as well as the Special Committee on Aging. Warnock continues to use his moral voice in the Senate to deliver for Georgians and center people in Washington’s policy-making—from working to end rampant gun violence, cap insulin costs for everyone who needs it and close Georgia’s health care gap, to advocating for America’s farmers and rural communities, and fighting to strengthen and lengthen the cords of our democracy by protecting the scared right to vote.”
The three pastors have continued a tradition that has existed since the enslavement of Black Americans.
Many pastors worked as abolitionists.
And many members of the clergy worked as conductors on the Underground Railroad.
When the Civil Rights Movement began to gain steam in 1955, pastors led the movement for equal rights.
Civil rights meetings were conducted in churches.
Houses of worship were even bombed.
While many think America has come a long way since the Civil Rights Movement, some things have not changed, like White racists killing Black parishioners like Dylann Roof at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015.
But now, Black America has a new generation of religious leaders who are dedicated to using their influence to make sure America does not regress too much in race relations.
