Members of Washington, D.C.’s World Missions for Christ Church stand outside of their red-and-white brick storefront church at the corner of 1st and Randolph, less than a mile from the White House. Some pray aloud. Others talk about salvation to the drug addicts and homeless people passing by. One man sings and preaches, using a battery-operated megaphone.
A tall, striking woman with blond hair and skin the color of rich, dark chocolate asks a lifeworn elderly man if he’d like to accept Christ as his Savior. “I want to accept Jesus,” he responds slowly, “to help me to help myself.”
Let the Church Say Amen, which airs tonight on PBS’ Emmy-winning Independent Lens documentary series (check here for information and local listings), tells the stories of four church members whose faith gives them the strength to improve their lives. In this inner-city neighborhood, faith and community are not mere buzzwords or references to abstract realities. They are the two most immediate and powerful sources of survival, hope and social advancement in a community failed by Democrats, Republicans and the police force.
The documentary follows a year in the lives of Darlene Duncan, a mother of eight who trains to become a nursing assistant, so she can get off public assistance; David Surles, who lives and works in a homeless shelter as he rebuilds the life and relationships he lost to alcohol abuse; and Ceodtis Fulmore, or Brother C, an evangelist and singer who wants to record a gospel CD as a form of outreach to the neighborhood.
The fourth main subject is their pastor, Bobby Perkins, himself a former drug addict, who serves as friend and encourager throughout the film. He checks in with Duncan about her first day in school, encourages Surles in the ups and downs of pursuing his dream of reuniting his family in a home with a yard and a tree, and supports a grieving Brother C as he pursues justice when his oldest son is murdered in gang violence.
During the film, each person speaks boldly about faith to the people they encounter. When Duncan is asked how she’ll survive in her classes with only a sixth-grade education, she responds that her church is always there for her. Brother C tells a community meeting his son’s murderer will be caught, because “every knee will bow and every tongue confess.” Each testimony has a boldness and sense of immediacy borne from the desperation of the community.
The 90-minute documentary alternates between black-and-white and color, using the former for moments of introduction or particularly gripping transitional scenes. In color, the film captures warmly humanizing moments that tell the subject’s stories and allow the viewer to identify with them. One of Duncan’s daughters sings along with Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” video as Duncan studies in another room. The viewer sees the warm joy spread across Surles’ face when his daughter allows him to give her a peck on the cheek, and watches Brother C thumbing through a carefully built index card file of music contacts or gently tying his young son’s tie outside the church building.
Executive producer Henry Louis Gates, Jr., producer/director David Petersen and producer Mridu Chandra chose a cinema verité style for Let The Church Say Amen, and the film is deeply respectful of this Pentecostal church’s loud, expressive, spontaneous worship style. It avoids exoticizing or even trying to explain it, choosing instead to allow the viewer to see it and to witness its genuine power in the life of the community. Indeed, part of the filmmakers’ mission was to portray fundamentalist religion in a positive light.
“It’s not my responsibility to build a church,” says Pastor Perkins as he opens the church doors one Sunday morning. “It’s my responsibility to build them and they will build the church.” His own powerful testimony keeps him from giving up on others. It also encourages them not to give up on themselves.
LaTonya Taylor is associate editor of Campus Life magazine.
Photos © Copyright Independent Television Service, Inc.
