Doing Good is a Mandate from Christ

New York, NY - This latest article in The Clergywomen in Zion series is written by Rev. Robin Woods-Barrant, Pastor of John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church in North Attleboro, MA. Rev. Woods-Barrant talks about her journey into ministry and the importance of doing God’s work through ongoing acts of giving both in the church and the community.

My ministry journey began long before I accepted my “call” to the preaching ministry. Like so many who grew up attending one of the churches in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion denomination, I loved the fellowship with my church family; I loved that we worshipped, studied, and engaged in creative, theatrical, and playful tasks together. If asked to state where the line was between my receiving spiritual nurture and my being of service, I am unable to say; what I do know is that participating in the various Christian Education Department, WHOMS, youth, and young adult ministries at my church helped me to grow spiritually with my discovering the more I served, the more blessed I felt. I loved my local church, Mount Olive A.M.E. Zion Church, Waterbury, CT., where the Rev. Dr. Harrison Bonner was pastor during my childhood and for decades after until he retired from the pastoral ministry. I loved learning about the A.M.E. Zion Church on the district, conference, and national levels. I intended to continue to serve God as a layperson in the church for the rest of my life because of how enriched I was by my many experiences. I recall being asked around the age of 16 or 17 why I spent so much time at church. 

My reply was the high the person asking got from alcohol and marijuana, I got without those substances, and I didn’t have to concern myself with the unpleasantness of coming down off my spiritual high. In my junior year of college, I received what I knew to be a “call” to the ordained ministry. I tried to shake it off but to no avail. I began to wonder if my life would go in a different direction than I had planned. To my surprise, my college friends were encouraging of my entering ordained ministry. Months after receiving my “call,” I finally got up the courage to tell my mother about it, and to my shock, she said, “Oh, girl, I’ve known for years.” 

When I told other family members, they, too, responded they always knew I’d go into ministry. I began to think everyone knew before I did, which may well be the case, illustrating the saying God doesn’t tell us anything until we are ready to receive that information. Yes, I got my answer; my life would go in a different direction than I had planned.

I thought when God changed the trajectory of my life, it would be less satisfying; please forgive my ignorance; I was only 21 years old at the time. I’ve known for decades that not only was I completely wrong about my life being less satisfying, but my life has been far more satisfying than I had imagined. 

I have been an ordained elder in the A.M.E. Zion denomination for nearly 40 years, serving at various times as a psychiatric hospital chaplain, a college chaplain, and an associate pastor despite having graduated from a women’s college where I picked up the unpleasant habit, for some, of challenging long-held gender role stereotypes and practices in our very traditional denomination. Obviously, my unconventional ways didn’t stop God from opening doors for me, allowing me to do ministry in different settings, in four different annual conferences, two of which were outside of the United States; additionally, I’ve been a pastor in the denomination for more than 15 years while also launching a successful mental health practice. I have never stopped loving the A.M.E. Zion denomination and all the ways I have learned and grown spiritually, professionally, and personally since my early years. I grew in these ways because I was blessed to have numerous women and men see something worth nurturing and challenging in me, so I rose to higher personal and spiritual heights. I benefited from the practice in the African-American community and the A.M.E. Zion denomination to pour into children because of our historic commitment to strengthening and encouraging those with potential. Optimism would have me believe that African Americans still embrace this ethic. If that is so, the Black Church is not dying, as some have said, because the Black Church is still the only community organization where large numbers of Black people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, educational levels, and family structures gather and are on equal footing. 

Many of our churches bemoan the lack of children, youth, and young adults in our congregations. I am convinced that if we offer them something they experience as valuable and meet personal and spiritual voids, they will find their way to our churches again.   

I have served as pastor of John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church for ten years and have made it a hallmark of my ministry to have an inward focus on teaching and strengthening the spiritual life and understanding of church members while loving and reaching out to the community members. 

In bygone years, the latter was called evangelism. Our outreach is specific to our community's needs and our congregation's strength. Still, we have embraced an evangelistic focus because too many isolated and hurting persons in our communities need to know that Jesus loves them, and we do, too. In recent years, we partnered with the N. Attleboro Board of Health to host a Covid-19 Clinic. We contribute monthly to N. Attleboro’s Food Pantry and serve meals bi-monthly to people who are food insecure. Doing ministry for the community isn’t an option; it is a mandate from Christ, so when a local merchant describes us “as the little church that does so much for the community,” it made my year. You don’t need to do what we do, but every church in Zion, those with 500 or more members and those with only five members can assess their community's needs and do one or two things to meet them. 

You don’t have to do it alone. Partner with a community group or agency, or another church, even one outside of Zion, to meet the needs of the people in your community; doing so will go a long way to alleviating the sense of abandonment, loneliness, and aching hearts of so many. As we approach Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas, there is no better time to get busy serving God. Before diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) was a popular phrase, the A.M.E. Zion denomination was actively doing DEI work and teaching our members to value ourselves and our contribution to this nation. Let us not relinquish our responsibility to continue doing so to local, state, or federal governments or corporate stakeholders. May the A.M.E. Zion Church continue to shine light on the works of God’s hands in people’s lives both in and out of church walls; doing so is the least we should do for our Sovereign Lord.

Pastor Woods-Barrant is a native of Waterbury, CT., where she received her early education. She furthered her education at Smith College, Yale University Divinity School, and the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. Prior to her first pastoral charge in 2007 at New Life A.M.E. Zion Church, Brockton, MA., Rev. Woods-Barrant served as an evangelist for more than 20 years in the New England Conference, the Michigan Conference, and then returned to the New England Conference during which time she wrote regularly for the STAR OF ZION. Pastor Woods-Barrant is married, and they are the proud parents of three young adult children.