By
Peter Rubinstein
FLINT, Michigan—Members of Flint’s Shiloh
Missionary Baptist Church entered its modest nave on the morning of Sunday, March
6, to the sight of delicately hung chandeliers strung above the white-gloved
hands and warm eyes of its senior ushers as they lent hugs, laughed and welcomed
newcomers.
Pastor Daniel Moore Sr. wore black and
silver vestments while seated comfortably in the pulpit, quietly observing the
familiar congregation of his family, friends and neighbors and swaying his
right hand to the gentle words that emanated from the choir behind him.
The pain and strife brought upon by the
water crisis that had defined the lives and identities of the city’s residents
since 2014 were temporarily set aside, as the members of Shiloh squeezed close
together to unite under the pastor’s word.
“When the community does
not trust the culture or
government, the church becomes a center.”
-Professor Michael Wittmer, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary
Stephen Ray, veteran professor of
systematic theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston,
Illinois, described the importance of faith in the lives of believers amid
crises, like the residents of Flint, now engaged in a daily struggle to stay
afloat.
“What the church does is infuse a source
of meaning and value into the lives of people who have been forgotten by the
larger society, so that they can go on from something other than fear,” Ray
said in an interview.
Throughout the city of Flint’s
seemingly endless period of crisis, the African-American faith community has
acted as an essential refuge, binding affected families of all creeds. By
dedicating themselves to the provision of resources, both spiritual and material,
to those in need, the area’s churches collectively have become a pivotal
component in the preservation of their members’ senses of clarity, direction
and self-worth in an environment otherwise defined by hopeless abandonment.
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| Delivering clean water one Saturday last spring, scenes like this one in Flint have become a routine sighting. |
The weekend regiments of surrounding
churches like The Greater Holy Temple Church of God are supplemented, in part,
by Shiloh’s own distribution schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays at its Leith
Street location, according to organizers.
But Mary Haney, Shiloh’s media
director, said that despite the church’s small size, the regular donations it
now receives are too plentiful for their storage unit to keep up with. They
have started leaving the overflow outside so that those in need can pick up
water during any time of the week, she said.
“We have had to leave out as many as
eight pallets of water, just for people to come randomly and pick up water
throughout the night and throughout the day,” Haney said. “It’s been so great
that we’ve been able to provide this water for the community.”
Pastor Moore said in March that his
church soon planned to use interpreters to bridge the gap between them and the
city’s southeastern Hispanic community as part of a new outreach initiative. Moore
said many Hispanics there don’t speak English, and that for months after other
residents had been informed about the poisonous water, they had remained in the
dark.
“That’s why we met with a church
that we wouldn’t normally have a fellowship with, and they’re providing us
interpreters to go into these people’s homes,” he said. “It’s brought that
sense of brotherhood across the city.”
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| Pastor Daniel Moore reflecting as he prepares for his Sunday sermon at Flint's Shiloh M.B. Church, where the community of faith has become an anchor through the storm of the city's water crisis. |
Trips to the Hispanic community have
been led by two supply trucks, Haney continued, with one of them designated for
the area’s senior citizens.
“They have been so grateful that
people are now reaching out to them, because, you know, they were isolated,”
she said. “They didn’t know what was going on as far as where they could get
resources.”
Ray said that historically areas
like Flint that are largely populated by African Americans and those in lower
socioeconomic neighborhoods and cities tend to be forgotten by the rest of the
country. Rallying around a perceived forceful attack on one’s community is one
thing, he said, but it’s very difficult to succeed when that community is
treated like it doesn’t matter at all.
“Churches within the black community
have been the single institution in which the values of the lives of black
people was unquestioned,” he said.
The point was echoed by Michael
Wittmer, professor of systematic theology at at Grand Rapids Theological
Seminary, who said that crises such as the one surrounding Flint have the power
to focus the attention of those affected more directly towards their faith.
“When the community does not trust
the culture or government, the church becomes a center,” Wittmer said. “It can
also be a leader in speaking out for justice, and holding the government and
state officials accountable.”
Flint’s cries for justice were answered
by President Obama this spring as he wrote a letter to 8-year-old resident Mari
Copeny that he would be visiting the city on May 4, according to NPR. “I’ll use
my voice for change,” Obama wrote, “and help lift up your community.”
The ensuing talk around town,
however, is steeped more in resentment than relief, Haney said. Instead of
celebrating the small resurgence of national recognition, residents of the city
are asking themselves why the President’s direct attention had not come sooner,
she said.
“It took a child expressing her pain in only
the way a child could,” Haney said. “Hopefully Flint will act as a beacon to
shed light on other cities that are being affected in the same way that we
are.”
As the media flurry from the
President’s brief visit quickly dissipates, Pastor Moore said he will continue
to lose sleep while helping to comfort and support the members of his church in
any way he can.
“I can tell people that God can
bring hope out of hopeless situations,” Moore said. “When you tell people that
. . . people begin to think that maybe there is a light at the end of the
tunnel.”
Email:
Peterrubinstein@yahoo.com
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| In Flint, the water crises knows no respecter of persons as children, adults and the elderly are affected, like those who attend Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, are affected. |
