Community discussion about the local roles of Black churches to be held March 11

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — WPSU invites members of the community to take part in a discussion about the roles Black churches play in central Pennsylvania beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 11.

The community discussion will begin with a screening of a compilation video of the two-part program “The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song” that aired on PBS stations throughout the country. The screening is hosted by WPSU on OVEE, and viewers must register for a free OVEE screening account to watch.

Following the screening, community members will move to Zoom where they will engage in a discussion with local panelists from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. All participants must register through the WPSU website to receive a secure Zoom link through email.

The panelists are:

• Gary Abdullah, founding member of the Penn State Black Caucus and former president of the Forum on Black Affairs at Penn State
• Barbara Farmer, a retired administrator from the State College Area School District and the district’s first African American principal, and a former director of multicultural affairs for Penn State’s College of Informational Sciences and Technology  
• Paul McReynolds, pastor of the Albright-Bethune/Park Forest Village United Methodist Church in State College
• Sylvia Morris, the chaplaincy program director for Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institute at Smithfield, pastor of Payne Church in Huntingdon and pulpit assistant at Bethel AME Church in Mt. Union.

The panelists will discuss the documentary in three segments: the formation of the Black church in America after the abolition of slavery; the rise of the Black church and its importance to major historical events, and the relationship between the religious and secular worlds; and a look at the Black church today and its role in social justice and equality issues, and its relationship with millennials and Generation Z.

Visit the WPSU website to learn more about the event.