By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Well everyone, hold on to your seats, hats, shoes, hymn books or whatever, because it is time for my bi-annual screed against the Black Toledo pastors who have serious trouble loosening their death grip on their Sunday offering plates.
It does not matter if you attend New Found Wealth Baptist Church, Lutheran Loose Change Church, The Methodist Money Madness Church, the Catholic Give Me The Coins Church, or the independent, Your Money Is My Money Church!
They are all controlled by the same mindset that collective economics is apparently seen as “Voo-Doo” and is to be avoided at all costs.
How did the Black churches in Toledo get to the point that they seemingly and adamantly refused to engage in wealth sharing with their congregants?
What is it about some Black churches not organizing amongst themselves to form various platforms of capital formation so that not only would they benefit, and here is the kicker: but also the very people who make their living possible by their weekly offerings and “tithes” (Note: tithes are placed in parentheses by this author to state that tithing is NOT a New Testament decree…shock of shocks!)
There has been some history (not in Toledo) across the country wherein charismatic figures such as Marcus Garvey or Father Divine (Note: there have been more than one such “Father”) have been able to rally their communities on the benefits of shared economic wealth and the power that it has if it is organized and planned.
But somehow that liberating theory of economic empowerment has not taken root in the Black churches in Toledo.
When you calculate the gross weekly collections of the local Black churches, it would be in the tens of thousands of dollars and that does not include the obligatory chicken and fish dinners and special events (anniversary day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Pastor’s Birthday,
Youth Sunday, Nurses Guild, Missionary Sunday, day care monies, etc.).
In other words, the local Black church is not “po.”
Rather, you can say that the local Black church is, for all intents and purposes, a better place
to put your funds and to borrow funds for projects if it was properly and legally set up to engage in financial empowerment.
But the truth is, how many Black churches at least use Black financial institutions to deposit their weekly collections and how many of those churches demand that such a depository engage their congregants with regular financial education and money making tips?
If you reasonably assume that each week, the collective total of tithes and offerings amounts to over $50,000.00; if you can visualize a tenth of that amount being deposited in an insured account, drawing interest, and being managed by a licensed professional team of money managers, the local community would win. Kudos to the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union for their embryonic role in this endeavor.
Even though decades have been lost through fear and ignorance, including millions of dollars not being invested due to this simple concept not being implemented, there is always the new year to start this concept.
Imagine a community organization being funded by local churches and their congregants and the investment team loaning and lending funds for businesses, private schools, housing and community welfare projects.
To see the Black Toledo community not economically booming and vibrant is a slam
against all of us and especially so in my humble opinion against Black pastors who
cannot or will not see any monies leaving their clutches because that money is next to God!
If such a concept was presented to all of the Black pastors, regardless of the size of their
congregations, how many would be amenable to the proposition or how many would run
and hide in their offices hoping that they would not be asked to be engaged in sharing money.
I mean, after all, what would a large Black congregation numbering in the hundreds have in common with a small Black church with just 15 members?
Would the Right Reverend Bishop La De Da be willing to share bread and his “Benjamins” with the self-appointed Bishop of The Most Glorious Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church?
Would fragile church egos freeze anyone and everyone from joining hands and breaking the bonds that have prevented for decades such economic sharing from happening?
The urban legend is that there are two things that would cause a panic with a Black pastor and that is [1] a “Second Lady” showing up at a church service dressed in all purple or [2] he/she being asked to share a percentage from the weekly plate collection!
I contend that Black pastors may “like” each other but not “love” each other if that love
requires them to share money with other pastors.
Of course, we can all avoid the temporary wrinkles of implementing such collective economics by simply saying “No” and go on to the next hymn thus keeping things static in the local Black community, as it now is.
Knowing that the local Black church is the biggest temporary depository of funds in the Black community, it makes common sense that those funds muscle up and take on the challenges that are not going away and nor will they be funded or solved except by “us.”
Sorry, but there is no White Knight who will ride into the Black community in Toledo and save us from our economic malaise. That White Knight will have to be a Block Knight.
Money is like an obedient dog, it always follows its master.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at Lafe5x@gmail.com