The Decay of Institutions: The Black Church

 The Decay of Institutions: The Black Church and the Crisis of Spiritual Legitimacy

A recent viral video has sparked widespread commentary, not just because of one pastor’s egregious behavior, but because it points to a much deeper problem—the decay of institutions, particularly within the Black community. The controversy surrounding Bishop Marvin Winans and his congregation is not an isolated event. It is a symptom of institutional rot, a decay that began long before this particular scandal. To understand how we arrived here, we must look at how institutions either sustain or collapse after moments of revolution and transformation.

The Civil Rights Movement was undoubtedly a revolution—a struggle filled with profound moral and intellectual energy. But, as historian Steven Kotkin observed, after a revolution, it is not the ideas that survive; it is the institutions. This was true in both the American and French Revolutions. In the American colonies, political and economic structures already existed: a Congress, a business class, and an organized system of governance—even if that system was built on slavery. When independence was achieved, those same institutions carried over into the new nation.

But what institutions did the Black community have after the Civil Rights Movement? In truth, there was only one—the church. Historically, the Black church became the center of community life not merely by choice, but by design. During slavery, the plantation system deliberately positioned religion as a means of control. Slave owners would have trusted servants deliver sermons intended to keep the enslaved obedient. Even Nat Turner, before he led his rebellion, was a preacher. Thus, the Black church’s early role was shaped by structures of subjugation. This foundation gave rise to a longstanding, and often unholy, alliance between Black preachers and white political power.

Today, the Black church has become, in many cases, a hollow shell of its former self—a “dumpster fire,” corrupted by greed, vanity, and false piety. Figures such as Creflo Dollar, who insists that he must have a private jet to fulfill his ministry, epitomize this decay. Instead of serving the poor, they live in luxury, detached from the very people whose souls they claim to save. Yet the real tragedy is that many congregants not only tolerate this behavior—they defend it.

This misplaced loyalty is part of a larger psychological pattern. Too many in the community have grown accustomed to being disrespected and abused by those in positions of leadership. Whether in the pulpit or in politics, this dynamic repeats itself: manipulative leaders exploit the faith and loyalty of the people. The example of Congressman James Clyburn’s annual “fish fry” to secure votes is emblematic of this same cycle of dependency and manipulation.

Bishop Marvin Winans of Detroit’s Perfecting Church recently offered a vivid illustration of this moral collapse. During his “Day of Giving” event—ostensibly meant to fund a new sanctuary and support community programs—Winans publicly berated a woman who donated $1,200 because she had not met the $2,000 threshold to stand in the “correct” line for major donors. Instead of gratitude, he offered humiliation. He turned worship into spectacle, dividing his flock by their financial worth.

This public shaming contradicts every teaching of the gospel. In the Book of Job, it is written: “God is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor.” Yet Winans, like many prosperity preachers, elevates the wealthy above all others. His church celebrates those who give the most, even boasting that celebrity donors such as Tyler Perry contributed $100,000. This is not faith—it is theater.

Such displays exploit one of the oldest human desires: the need for status. By turning donations into a public competition, Winans plays upon vanity, pride, and ego—precisely the vices that scripture warns against. The story of the widow’s mite offers the opposite lesson. When a poor widow gave two small coins at the temple, Jesus declared her gift greater than all others, for she gave out of poverty while the rich gave from surplus. True sacrifice, Jesus taught, is measured not by amount but by sincerity and cost.

In contrast, today’s prosperity gospel twists spirituality into materialism. Its preachers claim that wealth is proof of divine favor and that poverty is a sign of moral failure. They insist that giving money to them is the pathway to blessings. For a community struggling with economic deprivation, this doctrine is both seductive and destructive. It offers false hope, much like gambling—an endless faith in a reward that never comes.

The rot runs deeper than financial exploitation. Many churches have become sites of moral corruption, where pastors engage in sexual misconduct or prey on vulnerable congregants. Fashion and performance have replaced reverence and humility. The sanctuary, once a sacred space, has become a stage for self-promotion. People attend not to commune with God, but to flaunt material possessions—a financed car, designer clothes, a false image of divine favor.

If the Black church is to reclaim its place as a moral institution, the change must come from within the congregation itself. The people, not the preachers, are the true institution. Buildings and titles are irrelevant without moral integrity. The community must rediscover the spiritual courage to reject corruption and to walk away from those who exploit faith for profit.

Spirituality, as Dr. John Henrik Clarke once said, is essential—not religion for its own sake, but the spiritual awareness that life has meaning beyond the material. Ritual without spirituality is a scam, and far too many churches have become empty rituals of greed. The real lesson of Christianity lies in following the example of Christ himself, who lived humbly, denounced the rich, and drove the money changers from the temple.

Bishop Winans and others like him have turned the church into a business. They link salvation to wealth, turning faith into commerce. The only way to restore the church’s integrity is for congregations to refuse to participate in this charade. They must remember that they—not the preacher, not the building—are the church.

Until Black people rediscover that kind of spiritual courage, the Black church will continue to follow the path of all corrupted institutions overtaken by charlatans and con men—straight to hell.