{"id":1200,"date":"2011-04-27T14:34:13","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T18:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/?p=1200"},"modified":"2011-04-27T16:51:08","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T20:51:08","slug":"the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-1.html","title":{"rendered":"The Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? by Carl Ellis (Chpt 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>At The Sankofa Institute<\/a> we are reading Carl Ellis’ Free At Last: \u00a0The Gospel in the African-American Experience. \u00a0Outside of the Bible this is the most influential book in my life. \u00a0Ellis is seeking to demonstrate a way for all cultures to apply biblical truth to their history. \u00a0He writes:<\/p>\n

Though written from an African-American perspective, this work is not intended only for an African-American audience. \u00a0Using the African-American cultural experience as \u00a0the point of contact, I have attempted to forge a fresh understanding of how God by his grace is active in culture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His thesis is this: There are parallels between African-Americans and the Israelites in the Old Testament. Just like God did for Israel, he also set African-Americans free from slavery so he could lead us to a promised land that we might be a light for the nations. \u00a0We have yet to enter God’s promised land, in large part, because of failed leadership.<\/em><\/p>\n

Parallels in History<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellis points out what many others have observed as well: \u00a0the parallels between Israel in the Old Testament and African-Americans is uncanny. \u00a0Both groups experienced four hundred years of slavery in which dignity\/destiny were destroyed and identity was erased. \u00a0God was faithful to bring about freedom for his people; however, it is a “collective trauma from which we have yet to fully recover.”<\/p>\n

Promised Land<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellis asks, “Has God been guiding us toward a promised land?” \u00a0Martin Luther King Jr. was convinced the answer was yes. \u00a0King said that God allowed him to go to the mountaintop and I’ve seen the promised land.<\/p>\n

Where have all of the Leaders Gone?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem is leadership. \u00a0“We will not come into our own until a new generation inherits the mantle of leadership. \u00a0This next generation of leaders will need to build upon the gains of the past and compensate for the mistakes of prior generations.<\/p>\n

Join the groove: \u00a0“But questions still remain. \u00a0What is this ‘promised land? \u00a0Who is going to lead us there? \u00a0How can we get there from here?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At The Sankofa Institute we are reading Carl Ellis’ Free At Last: \u00a0The Gospel in the African-American Experience. \u00a0Outside of the Bible this is the most influential book in my life. \u00a0Ellis is seeking to demonstrate a way for all cultures to apply biblical truth to their history. \u00a0He writes: Though written from an African-American…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,19],"tags":[36,35,37],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","category-sankofa-leadership-institute","tag-carl-ellis","tag-free-at-last","tag-sankofa-institute"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? by Carl Ellis (Chpt 1) - The Jazz Theologian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/04\/the-sankofa-institute-online-free-at-last-by-carl-ellis-chpt-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Sankofa Institute Online: Free At Last? 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Author of Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith (Zondervan) and the upcoming, Strange Fruit: The Cross as a Way of Life (2011). Founder of Project 127, a ministry dedicated to seeing the day when there are no children waiting for homes in Colorado's foster care system. Robert deeply desires to see the body of Christ mobilized to serve the least of these. The poor, the down and out, the disenfranchised and disabled, those deemed unimportant and the unborn. He believes that God loves all people yet he has a special heart for the poor and the poor in spirit, the miserable and the marginalized. A Contributing Editor for Leadership Journal and Urbanfaith.com. He acquired a B.A. in Bibilcal Studies from Colorado Christian University and a Master of Arts in World Christianity (Missiology) from Denver Seminary. Robert is married to the love of his life, Barbara, and they have six energetic children (3 boys & 3 girls--one bio, five adopted--two from Ethiopia). Friend of God...Passionate about the Body of Christ...Lover of this thing called jazz! Please visit Jazztheologian.com for contact info., speaking schedule, videos, Facebook and Twitter.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/author\/rgelinas"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1203,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions\/1203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}