Man of His Word : L.A. Bishop’s Thriving Church Focuses on Needs of Urban Dweller

Inside the massive sanctuary of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, Bishop Charles Edward Blake is warming to the thundering climax of his third sermon this Sunday morning. Outside, a long line of the faithful waits to swarm into the pews as soon as the white-gloved ushers open the doors for the fourth service.

It is standing room only--again.

With more than 8,000 members, Blake’s Crenshaw district megachurch is the nation’s third-fastest-growing Protestant congregation. It has outgrown its 5-year-old, $6-million facility and there are plans to build an 8,000-seat complex down the street, near the corner of Crenshaw and Jefferson boulevards.

While many churches are struggling to maintain healthy memberships, West Angeles is among a number of Southern California black congregations that are growing at breakneck speed, reflecting a wave of renewal and change that is sweeping black religion nationally.

Nine of the 15 fastest-growing churches in the country are predominantly black congregations in densely populated urban areas, according to a recent survey by church-growth specialist John Vaughan of Bolivar, Mo. The top three are World Changers Ministries, an independent charismatic church in an Atlanta suburb; Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, and West Angeles.

With 1,500 members added during the last year, West Angeles is the largest congregation in the 4-million-member Pentecostal Church of God in Christ denomination, which is based in Memphis, Tenn.

David Hall of the Church of God in Christ Publishing Board links black church vitality to community involvement with the poor--a hallmark of West Angeles Church. Every growing church in the denomination “has developed some form of community relief effort,” Hall said.

Such emphasis on community service also was noted in a new study on the black church by the Lilly Endowment in Indianapolis, which found that burgeoning black congregations offer a wide spectrum of services, including counseling, employment training and community building projects.

Blake, 51, said he is not entirely sure why his congregation has thrived. “Perhaps it’s because I made the decision to focus our resources on meeting the needs of the contemporary urban dweller,” he told a visitor on a recent Sunday.

West Angeles offers a Sunday evening Spanish-speaking service to meet the changing ethnic character of the Crenshaw corridor, a flourishing youth ministry, extensive counseling and substance abuse programs, and the Christian Arts Center, which produces original theater in a 500-seat auditorium.

It also runs a Skid Row ministry that serves 2,000 meals a week, a music program with six full-time employees and five choirs, a large bookstore, and a Christian day school for 250 children from kindergarten through eighth grades.

A lay group studies the New Testament in Greek. The church’s Bible College offers in-depth, college-level biblical and theological training. Three Sunday schools are offered, staffed mainly by workers who have earned at least a bachelor’s degree.

“It’s the broad ministry that meets the needs of every age--not just the young or old,” said Augustine Hughes, a West Angeles member for 20 years who drives 35 miles from her home in Diamond Bar to attend the church. She and her husband are among dozens who regularly come from as far as San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties.

Those who know Blake say the Arkansas native’s success is more than being at the right church at the right time.

“Without question Charles Blake is one of the outstanding churchmen and preachers in our nation,” said fellow Church of God in Christ Bishop George McKinney of San Diego, who has known Blake all of his life.

Leading Los Angeles pastor Cecil L. Murray also points to Blake’s administrative skills. “He hasn’t read the book on ‘Things That Cannot Be Done,’ ” said Murray, of First African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Others credit Blake’s upbeat, biblical sermons and charismatic personality as main factors in West Angeles’ success. Chosen as one of the 15 best black preachers in America in 1984, Blake has drawn the rich and famous as well as the down and out to the Crenshaw church.

Members and attendees include a long list of black celebrities, such as actors Denzel Washington, Charleyne Woodard and Taurean Blacque and singers Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Gloria Jones. Basketball superstar Earvin (Magic) Johnson recently joined. His wife, Cookie, has been a member for several years.

Although he enjoys wide popularity and acclaim these days, Blake’s ministry had a rocky start.

When he came to West Angeles in 1969, the 50-member church was embroiled in conflict with the bishop, S. M. Crouch. The congregation had voted by a 4-1 margin against accepting any pastor Crouch appointed.

After Crouch introduced Blake at a Sunday service, seven men stood in protest and refused to sit. The bishop then asked everyone else to stand and tapped Blake on the shoulder. “It’s yours, my boy,” he said--and walked out.

According to Frank Robinson, a personal aide on Blake’s interracial staff of 85, animosity ran so high for a while that Blake needed an armed guard to escort him to his office.

It took several years, but the antagonists eventually found Blake likable and a good leader, longtime members said. And the church began its rapid growth.

On a recent Sunday, Blake took the pulpit after 20 minutes of rousing songs by the choir and congregation. Preaching on “A Sermon for Black History Month,” Blake, clad in a gray robe, reviewed Bible stories of dark-skinned heroes and heroines and accomplishments of African-Americans “who rose above oppression to gain a level of excellence.”

“Christianity is not a white man’s religion nor is it a black man’s religion,” he said to swelling applause.

“Nobody told me the road was easy. But every day we’ll rise higher and higher . . . from the cotton patch to the governor’s mansion. . . . God is so good. . . . There’s goin’ to be a great camp meetin’ in the Promised Land.. . . Tell God and clap your hands.”

His reasoned but uplifting preaching and Christ-centered theology echo Church of God in Christ teachings. The denomination espouses a conservative personal lifestyle and believes in spiritual healing and the manifestations, or “gifts,” of the Holy Spirit.

Founded in Memphis in 1907 by Bishop Charles Harrison Mason, the church has roots in the 1906 Azusa Street Mission revival in Los Angeles. Largely a black movement at its beginning, that revival soon spawned the Pentecostal denominations.

“At one time or another I attempt to include statements about what I believe the Bible has to say about every area of human behavior and involvement,” said Blake, who as a regional bishop oversees 250 congregations.

West Angeles holds periodic seminars on topics such as AIDS. Blake promotes sexual abstinence outside of marriage and the church’s seven ordained ministers generally oppose abortion--particularly as a birth-control technique.

A gay lifestyle is “not advocated or approved” in the Bible, according to Blake. “We love and appreciate those who have homosexual inclinations,” he said, but “we believe they are to be resisted with the Lord’s help.”

Blake endorses candidates and is active in the community. He was the only clergyman to serve on the committee that met to screen candidates for the job of Los Angeles police chief. “I would not say I’m known as an activist pastor,” said Blake. “I’m very concerned about the plight of our city and its needs--but not as an activist. My job is as a pastor and bishop.”