The African American Church Seeing Hope in the Rainbow: A Year in the life of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries

“Seeing is believing and when you see what God is doing in The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries you will see the promising future of the African American Church ”

Team Members/Contributors

Ralph Basui Watkins Columbia Theological Seminary Contact Me

About this sabbatical grant for researchers

This project will show what God is doing in and through God’s Church as the theology of radical inclusion is lived in the life of a local congregation and national body. Moreover this project will show the viewers how the theology of radical inclusion is the future of the African American Church. This is a multi-media project that will be put in dialogue with classic texts by Bishop Yvette A. Flunder Where the Edge Gathers: Building a Community of Radical Inclusion, Ellen Lewin’s Filled with the Spirit: Sexuality, Gender and Radical Inclusivity in a Black Pentecostal Church Coalition , Horace Griffin’s Their Own Receive Them Not: African American Lesbians and Gays in Black Churches and Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective by Kelly Brown Douglas. A four part made for television documentary series will be produced. The documentary will also be available on YouTube. The complimentary photography exhibition will be held at the Apex Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The photo archive will also be housed on Flickr. This project will take you into the lives and ministry of Real Inspiration Ministries of Atlanta, Georgia and the national body The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. The work will show how the theology of radical inclusion is being lived in realtime. There will also be twelve individual short video stories produced featuring congregational members and these stories will serve as the foundation of a twelve week curriculum designed for mainline African American churches. All of the resources will be maintained on the project’s website will be available for download free of charge.