Progressive National Baptist Convention, Incorporated Churches

Worship in the Progressive National Baptist Convention is rooted in a conviction of God's sovereignty and liberating character as revealed in the Exodus. The style of worship is participatory and uninhibited. Music, in a variety of styles, plays a vital role. In his analysis of the distinctive character of African-American worship, Dearing E. King, editor of the Progressive National Baptist Hymnal, describes its most basic feature as "an unwavering faith in the absolute sovereignty of the supreme, infinite creator" ("Worship in the Black Church," in Emmanuel L. McCall, ed. , The Black Christian Experience [Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972], 34). He argues that this distinction enabled African-American worshipers "to affirm their personal identities in an authentic sharing of God's presence, grace, power, will and purpose for the betterment of their own lives and for others" (Ibid. , 33). In their worship experience, African-American Christians have long identified with the Hebrew sl…