Situation Report

SEGREGATION still exists in U.S. Christianity, but markedly less than in the past. Of nearly 16 million blacks who belong to Christian churches in the U.S., less than 2,000,000 are members of predominantly white denominations--but black leadership in those denominations is no longer a surprise.

The American Baptist Convention, in which black members account for about one-sixth of the 1,500,000 total, last year elected Los Angeles Pastor Thomas Kilgore as its first black president. In the United Methodist Church, the 500,000 black members account for less than 5% of the total; until 1968 most were segregated in a separate Negro jurisdiction. Now six black bishops (out of 45 in the United Methodist Church) head integrated Episcopal areas, and even in the South, black district superintendents are being appointed.

Last January, Massachusetts became the first Episcopal diocese to be headed by a black bishop, the Right Rev. John M. Burgess. And 800,000 black Roman Catholics (only 1.7% of the nation's Catholics) have successfully won a national secretariat, which, among other demands, will seek activities to augment the sparse number of black priests.

As for the black denominations, they command a mighty membership: 10.2 million in the four black Baptist conventions, 2,600,000 in the three major black Methodist churches, probably more than 1,500,000 in smaller groups and store-front churches. The three black Methodist denominations are considering joining the giant Consultation on Church Union (TIME, March 2). Though blacks will make up less than one-sixth of the potential membership of the superchurch, black delegates at COCU's annual meeting last month won a guarantee that each presiding bishop of the new church must have a "different racial background" from his predecessor--meaning that virtually every other one will be black.

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