Working Effectively with African-American Churches

Robert E. Brown, assistant project director for the Congress of National Black Churches, offers the following tips for working effectively with African-American churches:

• Get to know your local African-American religious community; read the religion sections of local newspapers.

• Get acquainted with African-American members of your organization's staff. Some may hold influential places within the religious community.

• Avoid, if possible, attempting to meet with religious leaders on Monday (their traditional day of rest) or on Saturday (preparation day for Sunday service). Typically, ministers prefer to meet on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday mornings, early enough for the meeting to end before noon.

• Recognize that pastors have busy schedules; meetings should rarely exceed two hours in length.

• Consider meeting over breakfast or lunch; such fellowship is an important aspect of religious life.

• Understand that pastors may prefer to meet in their church offices. Meetings of groups of ministers might rotate from church to church.

• Accept surrogates. Because pastors face enormous demands on their limited time and energy, they may hesitate to make personal commitments. They may be more willing to assign an assistant pastor or member of the congregation to work on the drug-prevention effort.

• See resources as more than cash. Many black churches do not have cash resources readily available. Asking for money may be a turn-off that closes off a rich source of other resources.