Black church’s challenges discussed at conference
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The future of the black church will be examined at a Vanderbilt University symposium. The Kelly Miller Smith Institute on Black Church Studies at Vanderbilt will host the meeting April 3-5. Institute director Forrest Harris – an assistant professor of ministry at Vanderbilt’s divinity school – said prominent scholars have argued the black church as it has been known is dead. Yet, says Harris, the church is still a necessary institution for social uplift and spiritual empowerment among African-American members. The conference is free and open to the public.
