What the Black Church can Learn from Waco

Next week, some survivors of the 1993 tragedy in Waco, will gather together to remember those that were killed in the incident.  For those who do not remember, in 1993, a fire was set to a compound of the so-called "Branch Davidians" religious sect, ending a lengthy standoff between the sect and federal agents.  Dozens of people were killed in the incident.

I certainly can't do the survivors and current Branch Davidians and their beliefs all the justice and care they deserve.  They are a complex, if misunderstood group and should be treated with some care as they remember those killed in the 1993 tragedy.

In glib fashion, and in simplest terms, the Branch Davidians are and were a group of individuals who believed that their leader, David Koresh, was "the messiah" as Christians use the term.  The Branch Davidians lived in a secluded retreat with Koresh who, among other things, amassed a stockpile of weapons and had sex with many of the women of the sect, including young girls.

I certainly remember the tragic events in Waco in 1993.  I was an undergraduate and I remember watching the television as the compound burned to the ground.  And I remember seeing similarities between Waco and the mass suicide in Jonestown, in which 913 people, many of which people of color, lost their lives.  I remember asking myself, "could this sort of thing happen in the black church?"

I dismissed the idea then as quickly as I do now.  I do not now believe nor have I ever believed that the tragedies in Waco and Jonestown can be easily replicated.  They were isolated events that occurred for many complex reasons.

However, I do insist that the black church can learn a few things from the 1993 Waco tragedy and the Jonestown mass suicide as well.

First, the people who followed both Jones and Koresh were largely marginalized, oppressed people.  While there were some exceptions, most of the people were on the margins of the society looking for something to believe in.  As the congregate black church knows, its constituency is also marginalized and oppressed.  The church needs to continue to handle its constituency with great care, compassion and truth.  It has a fiduciary responsibility to not exploit its congregants or their situation.

What's more, clearly Jones and and Koresh were charismatic and their movements rose or fell with them.  In the black church, many local churches thrive or wane at the hands of their leaders.  If the pastor of a local church is loved and charismatic, the church will flourish, if the pastor is not, the church will languish. 

This is not true in other communions.  For example, in the Catholic local church a very few people come to see the priest speak or deliver his homily the way we do in the black church, they generally come, regardless of who is leading mass, for the order of service.

We have to continue to rely on our rich histories and orders of service and be mindful that it is not the individual leading worship that is charismatic, but rather the God and the spirit that worship leader is appealing to in worship.

So as those individuals gather to remember those who lost their lives in the 1993 Waco tragedy, let us be prayerful and contemplate the lessons the tragedy leaves for the church...