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The Perfect Pulpit for Financial Education: One Thousand Churches Connected When the Rev. Johnny Miller of Chicago's Mount Vernon Baptist Church calls his parishioners together for worship, he has more than spiritual enlightenment on the agenda. Miller is one of a growing number of African-American clergy who view the church as vital to spreading the message of economic empowerment in communities of color. "When the churches participate in matters of finance, it gives it a different flavor and brings about a different level of trust with people who otherwise wouldn't be present," said Miller. Last year, Miller's church of approximately 1,000 parishioners joined forces with One Thousand Churches Connected. Launched by the Rev. Jesse Jackson under the umbrella of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition in 2001, the One Thousand Churches Connected is designed to bring the message of economic responsibility to families through churches across the country. "I saw it as a source of unity that can be transforming," said Miller. "Every church that I've met that is part of One Thousand Churches is involved in some type of economic-empowerment program on an ongoing basis." The idea is that the ongoing fight for equality is being staged on different battlefields. The First Movement was the struggle to end slavery; the Second Movement was the battle to end segregation; the Third Movement was the march to obtain full voting rights; the Fourth Movement is the quest for equal opportunity through shared economic security and empowerment. "Rev. Jackson had the vision of creating One Thousand Churches Connected to complete the four stages of our symphony as a people," said Bonita Parker, national director of One Thousand Churches. "The fourth movement is to level the economic playing field. ThatÕs what we're working on right now. As part of that, one of the initiatives that play into that is the effort to engage churches to teach financial stewardship from the pulpit as an opportunity to educate our people." Currently, there are 245 churches signed up in the program, said Parker. Once a church joins, the head of the church is invited to join Jackson and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Chairman Richard Grasso at a quarterly meeting at the NYSE. At that meeting, each religious leader is given a crash course in different areas of financial services to take back to his or her parish. "In order for them to be able to comfortably demystify financial markets when they return home, they need to have a working knowledge of these things themselves," said Parker. "So the ministers get a trip down to the NYSE where they spend two and half days getting training on the science of capital. Next, every church that joins receives access to all the materials we have on the four modules." Those four modules are:
"We decided to join because the program already was stipulating many of the things that we were already doing by focusing on financial empowerment, but it consolidated many things instead of dealing with fragmented pieces as we had been doing," said Miller. "I saw this as a source of unity that is transforming. Every church that I've met that is part of One Thousand Churches is involved in some type of economic empowerment program on an ongoing basis." The push to harness the collective economic might of African Americans is bearing some fruit. In June, the 2002 Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey reported African Americans earning in excess of $50,000 annually are investing in the stock market in rapidly growing numbers. Seventy-four percent of "high-income" African Americans today own stocks or stock funds, 30 percent more than those first surveyed in 1998. Among non-investors, twice as many African Americans as whites (42 percent vs. 21 percent) say they are "somewhat" or "very" likely to begin investing next year. "It's good news all the way around," said Carla A. Foster, vice president of Specialized Segments Marketing for Charles Schwab & Co. Foster, an African American, has ongoing responsibility for African-American investor services at Schwab. "The biggest piece of news for us is that black participation in the stock market has increased significantly over the last five years. There's a greater attention to overall financial health because people are taking a big-picture view and getting their financial houses in order." Parker believes the pulpit is the perfect perch from which to preach the importance of financial empowerment. "The black church is the greatest learning institution for African Americans as a people. There are over 43,000 predominantly black churches in this country. Every Sunday, approximately 21 million African Americans come together so you have a captive audience. And financial stewardship is the single most talked about subject in the Bible, so it makes sense to be taught in the church. " Miller agreed. In the time since his parish has joined One Thousand Churches, he has instituted a weekly "credit smart" class that provides parishioners with a needed crash course on the subject. "About 12 people go to this class every Sunday instead of going to Sunday school. It talks about housing, economics and other areas of finance. It's like stepping outside of the box," said Miller. "Having this information is power." The New Covenant Baptist Church of Orlando, Fla. will be hosting the Third Annual Small Church Conference, Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. Jeremiah Wright, the pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the event. Among the topics to be discussed is "Operating a Faith-Based, Not-for-Profit Corporation. |
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