Fuller Theological Seminary’s William E. Pannell Center for Black Church Studies will host a free public screening of “Black + Evangelical,” a feature-length documentary exploring the history, struggles and contributions of African American evangelicals. The event is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 9, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Travis Auditorium 135 North Oakland Avenue. Admission is free, according to the event’s official Eventbrite listing.
Narrated and co-created by Vincent Bacote, professor of theology and director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College, the 90-minute film draws from 40 hours of footage and 24 interviews. It examines the intersection of racial identity and evangelical faith, highlighting the voices of Black Christians navigating predominantly white religious spaces.
“Black evangelicals,” said Bacote, “are too often unseen — the ‘orphan in our home faith community.’ Over the last decade and a half, he has sought to remedy that by turning the history of Black evangelicals into a 90-minute documentary,” according to Religion News Service.
The documentary was co-produced by Wheaton College’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics and Christianity Today magazine. Bacote noted that “the goal of the documentary is not to be a kind of hit piece about the evangelical movement. It’s to tell the story of the church,” he said in an August podcast interview with Holy Post Media.
Walter McCray, president of the National Black Evangelical Association and one of the interviewees featured in the film, stated, “A Black evangelical is not a white evangelical in Black face. There’s something very authentic and deeper. The most prominent Black evangelical in the Bible was Jesus,” according to Religion News Service.
The project originated in 2008 at a Fuller Seminary gathering, where Bacote and other Black evangelicals recognized the need to document their theological and social journeys. The film premiered on Feb. 21 at Wheaton College during a one-day conference featuring panel discussions and a Q&A with Bacote.
The Pannell Center, which was renamed in 2015 to honor the legacy of longtime Fuller faculty member William E. Pannell, is organizing the screening. The center focuses on advancing scholarship and community engagement within the Black church tradition.
For more information or to register please visit: fuller.edu
