Those of us in the ICOC family of churches take pride (the justifiable type) in our racial diversity. Walking into most of our assemblies is mind-blowing to many first time guests, as well it should be. I love coming to our services, because I know I am going to see all kinds of brothers and sisters in Christ ─ the old and the young; the rich and the poorer; the formally educated and the self-educated; the dark skinned and the light skinned. What a wonderful group we are! We should be thankful for what we have. BUT…
Examination Time
But we should continually examine all aspects of what we have in the realm of racial diversity, for we have not arrived. That being said, we must also keep in mind that we will not arrive until we are in heaven, and are thus on a lifetime quest. To make a similar observation about being Christ-like is immediately understood. We should be thankful for what we now have in Christ, but we surely have no illusions already arrived at that lofty goal of being just like him, and will never completely arrive while still on this earth. We are thus on a lifetime quest to become more and more like him. If we understand and accept that application, why would we be shocked if the same type statement is applied to our racial diversity?
Have we arrived? Of course not. Perfection is a wonderful goal in multiple areas of life, but since we are not Jesus, we will fall short. That is where God’s grace comes in and where our grace with one another must come in. For example, has your family arrived at the apex of family relationships? I surely doubt it, unless your expectations are extremely low. I could go on and on about other applications of these principles, but they all show the same thing, including the area of race relations in the church. Let’s not allow unrealistic expectations and impatience to cause us to despair. And, let’s not use that statement to become dismissive about the urgent need to keep making positive improvements.
Make Every Effort?
In the 2011 version of the NIV, you can find the phrase “make every effort” nine times (Luke 13:24; Romans 14:19; Ephesians 4:3; Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 12:14; 2 Peter 1:5; 2 Peter 1:10; 2 Peter 1:15; and 2 Peter 3:14). Three of them have to do with unity in the church, which certainly speaks to the subject of race relationships (and all other types of relationships). Peter uses the phrase most, twice as many times as Paul, and three of his four usages are about giving very serious attention to Christian growth. Therefore, we cannot be complacent about spiritual growth, nor about any area within that growth. We thus cannot be complacent about growth in racial relationships.
Plans and Formats Needed
I have repeatedly asked my white and black brothers and sisters to have honest conversations about racial issues in and out of the church. Are you doing it? Have you done it even with one person of a different race? I definitely am practicing what I preach on this one ─ having talks with not only those in the church, but those out of the church (who are often strangers initially). On one hand, I get frustrated when people don’t take initiative and have these talks. On the other hand, I know that structure would help, and we are heading more in that direction. One huge help will be the fantastic book by Michael Burns that I have mentioned before, “Crossing the Line: Culture, Race and Kingdom.” It is now at the printers and will be out soon, and likely a workbook to accompany and use it best will soon follow.
As I mentioned in a previous article, in Dallas we have had meetings to discuss various issues involved in race relationships, led by brothers of color (Hispanic and Black) starting with the ministry staff, then the whole Singles Ministry, and soon, with 250-300 small group leaders, assistants and wannabes. My involvement in this effort began with an invitation to speak on the subject, and our leaders (Todd Asaad in particular, our white congregational evangelist) have taken the subject very seriously since. I know of no church in our movement that offers more different types of opportunities to meet so many different needs, and thankfully, the racial relations need is among them. I might mention that Dallas is not only one of our larger congregations but one of our more consistently growing ones. I pray that these facts and this example helps other church leaderships to take action in this vital area.
So, what about our racial diversity? We know what we have; do we know what we do not have? Likely not, unless you have regular conversations with those of different races to get their perspectives. I appreciate that we are improving and having more conversations, but we are just getting started as a movement. I would like to live long enough to see a lot more progress, and I’m an old guy now. So let’s pick up the pace!
Foreign Church Plantings
Let me start out with this illustration. Our movement began planting churches in other nations several decades ago, and we now have churches in well over 100 nations. That is amazing and amazingly wonderful. Thank you, Lord! When we started planting churches, we just went with what we knew, and planted American type churches on foreign soil. I remember visiting churches in various nations in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The languages were different, but everything else was just like “back home.” I couldn’t sing the words of the songs, but I could hum the tunes, because they were “our” songs translated in foreign languages (to me). While I’m very grateful for those early beginnings and the thousands of souls saved, we had yet to learn that cultures should be strongly considered in how we “do church” in churches outside the US.
We Are Improving
A few years back, I was invited to help with some leadership consulting in Brazil. The church service was quite different than what I was used to. I didn’t recognize a single song, if I remember correctly. Not only were the words foreign to me, so were the tunes. They had written all of their own songs, each of them based on the words of Scripture. It was magnificent! This was Brazilian church, not American church. In the early days, we only knew American church; we had to learn local culture and customs to adapt how we did church to those cultures. It took a while, because we didn’t realize how Americanized we actually were. What we did wasn’t a sin; we just didn’t know better until we made a conscious effort to learn better.
White Church
The same application can be made to our churches in America. Because we are a blending of races and cultures, we have to sort out the differences among us and figure out how those differences should show up in how we do church. The ICOC had its start in a predominantly white church in Florida, but a church committed to evangelizing those of all races. Blacks, Hispanics and Asians quickly became a part of the membership.
But for all intents and purposes, it was still a white church. By that I mean that the leaders were nearly all white; the services were conducted in the traditionally white way; and the practices of the church were generally the same as any predominately white church. Was there anything wrong with that approach? No, at least not at first. The question is, did we go on a quest to learn what those of other races and cultures thought about what we were doing? Not really, or at least, not quickly (if ever).
In some ways, we learned more quickly how to adapt to foreign cultures than we did to our own mix of cultures at home. How does the lack of adaptation show up? In many ways, more than I am personally aware of, being white and being accustomed to my church traditions.
Membership Composition and the Community
That being said, I’ll ask a few questions to promote opportunities for discussion among our diverse members. Let’s begin by thinking about the composition of our local church membership? Does it reflect the city and community of which we are a part? Is the racial mix inside our assemblies about the same as the racial mix in the communities where we live and where we meet?
Some congregations are out of balance in having far fewer blacks or other non-whites than the community has. Some congregations are out of balance in having far fewer whites than the community has. What should we do about this? The answer to this should be obvious, but it can become a very sensitive topic when race is at the center of the discussion.
Single Sister Challenges
Let’s reduce the tension for a moment by looking at a known issue among our churches that it not race related. Consider the composition of our Singles Ministries. Most of these ministries are out of balance, having more sisters than brothers. Many sisters in such cases are feeling a lot of emotions. They aren’t getting asked out on dates very often and they are feeling that their prospects of getting married and having a family are almost nil. Yet at their workplace, men are “hitting” on them regularly, and not without some success borne out of desperation on the part of our sisters, sadly.
What should we do about this imbalance? This isn’t rocket science, folks. You train and lead the single men to convert other single men. You train and lead the single women about how to reach out to single men in spiritual yet effective ways. You train and lead married couples, especially the younger ones, to reach out to single men. This approach will work and has worked. It just takes a plan and concentrated efforts on the part of the leadership of the church to make sure it happens.
Balance, Principles and Practices
Now apply the same principles to congregations that are out of balance racially. If your church is out of balance on the white side, you train and lead the white members to more effectively reach out to non-white folks. You train and lead the non-white members to more effectively reach out to others like themselves. If your church is out of balance on the black or other non-white side, you train and lead the non-white members to reach out more effectively to those unlike themselves (white folks in other words). You train and lead the white members to reach out more effectively to those like themselves in the area. If you have a plan and make concentrated efforts, you can deal with the imbalances in your church, no matter what they are.
No Real Basis For Fears
This all hopefully sounds good in theory, but the main hindrance to putting it into practice is the fear factor. We have some fears in reaching out to folks just like ourselves; many of us have even more fears in reaching out to folks not like us. Honestly, our fears are satanically induced and not based on fact. For example, I share with total strangers of all races indiscriminately. I have had only a few, very few, cut me off or speak to me rudely or harshly. The typical response of those not interested usually goes something like this: “Thank you, but I’m not really interested.” They may add the reasons for their lack of interest, but they are not rude or harsh in response to my sharing.
We were a part of the Boston church for 16 years, during a time when the church received occasional negative publicity in the local news (both on TV and in the newspaper). All of the negative responses I can remember ever receiving when sharing took place in Boston. However, there were only four on that list that I can recall. One was a black man, who just told me he had nothing to say to me and didn’t want to hear anything from me. Then there was one white guy, who initially said “No Thanks,” but then muttered something to himself as he walked away. One white middle aged woman said she had read about our church in the newspapers, and kept walking. Another white woman in a store overheard me sharing with the cashier and rather bluntly asked me to stop sharing my faith.
Fears Can Be Conquered!
The white guy I mentioned was connected with an interesting realization on my part about myself. Somehow it dawned on me that I was most intimidated by educated white guys (not surprisingly, since I was the son of a bricklayer from the wrong side of the tracks). So, I purposely went to Harvard Square in Boston at about the time most people were leaving work and started sharing with those types to help overcome my fears. Although the one white guy who muttered something almost under his breath was a negative term describing me, he was the only one who responded negatively. The good news is that my plan worked and I lost my fear of the white “suits” with whom I was sharing. Fears can be overcome! As Emerson put it, “Do the thing you fear to do and the death of fear is certain.”
God Can Make It Work
Why do I mention these occurrences? Because through the years I have shared my faith with thousands of people and these are the only ones I can remember who responded to me negatively. And I have a great long-term memory (even if I sometimes forget my zip code!).
You have heard the conversion stories. All kinds of mixes were involved in many of these stories ─ whites sharing with blacks; blacks sharing with whites; males sharing with females; females sharing with males; young sharing with old; old sharing with young; etc. etc. Don’t tell me that we can’t deal with the composition of our congregations and help them reflect the composition of the community. We just have to deal with our fears (and prejudices if those are holding us back) and let God work through us. More to follow in the next post…
A Brief Review
In the previous post, we discussed our racial diversity from several angles. One, we were encouraged to be grateful for what we do have, although we need to become more understanding of what we do not yet have and work to improve. Primarily, we need to look more closely at the overall combination of cultures in our local church and use discussion groups representing this combination to figure out how to improve our relationships (not saying that they are bad, but they do need improving). From there, we need to figure out what church services, activities and relationships would best represent our composition.
Then we talked about having a racial balance that represented the population of the city or town where our congregation is located. Although this consideration can be taken in a personal way and become offensive (as some might say, “We are becoming too white,” or, “We are becoming too black”), this possibility cannot allow us to avoid the subject nor to address its solutions when needed.
Those potentially offensive phrases are most often aimed at cultural and behavioral issues, but I am addressing only percentages of our membership composition in comparison to the population of our city. However, while we work toward attaining that balance, whichever group is dominant, they need to make concerted efforts to be open, accepting, and celebratory of all groups.
Obtaining and Maintaining a Leadership Balance
This issue has been the proverbial elephant in the living room for years. As noted in the previous post, our movement of churches had its start in a primarily white setting. After our conversions became much more racially diverse, the church culture didn’t change much (although black singers helped our song services improve considerably). We remained in many ways, “white church.” This was certainly true when it came to leadership of all types within the church.
We have to be careful not to make this an issue primarily centered on the concept of “representation.” If we succumb to that temptation, we can appoint leaders prematurely, which hurts both them and the church. Leaders must have two things going for them, both God-given. One, a gift of leadership that is commensurate with the role of leadership they are being considered for or are stepping into. Two, they must be spiritual. Leaders must have a good base of both of these qualities, although they can keep growing in them as they lead. Appointing someone to a leadership role solely on the basis of color, without those accompanying two qualities, is a mistake we cannot afford to make.
Training is Imperative
When we discussed how to get a racial balance in our church that represents our community makeup, the solution was simple to describe (although perhaps not as easy to put into practice). The same is true of how we develop a racial balance in our leadership, both on the ministry staff and in non-staff leadership roles. In whatever ways we are out of balance, our more mature leaders must address this by first identifying those with spiritual leadership potential and then start training them. Training can follow several avenues, both formal and informal, but the informal is essential and often, the most effective.
Last year, I wrote a book about my own spiritual journey entitled My Three Lives. The journey that led to my becoming a minister was more than surprising; it was shocking. In the church we attended as a young married couple, the “Young Marrieds Class” was fairly large for the size of the overall church membership. I felt like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. In other words, I felt out of place ─ incredibly so. Not only was I still quite worldly (smoking, drinking, cursing), I knew very little Bible. Plus, I was extremely fearful in public settings. If you have never read my book, The Victory of Surrender, it would be worth the read just to see how fearful I really was. Any idea back then that I would end up preaching before an audience would have seemed absolutely ludicrous.
Given that background of mine, compared to the large numbers of more knowledgeable, spiritually minded, confident young men in the class, why would any leader choose me to train? That’s a very good question and I have no idea what the answer was, for the preacher who came after me is now deceased. He started his quest to train me by asking me to take him fishing in my boat, somehow knowing that I had a boat and knew how to catch fish. I didn’t know him well enough to have carried on a conversation with him long enough to tell him such things. But he somehow knew, and he came after me. I was not pleased with the pursuit, to put it mildly, but he paid no attention to my attitudes and invited himself along. The end of the story was shockingly phenomenal, to me at least, and shocking to my friends and family who knew the worldly Gordon.
Have Enough Faith For Two
Why do I mention my story? Obviously to build our faith that people can be raised up to leadership far beyond where their own faith is in the beginning. I had no desire to be a “churchy” leader of any type, and thus faith on my part in becoming such was totally absent from the equation. What mattered is that the leader who sought me out had enough faith to totally overcome my absence of both desire and of faith. We have young men and women of all colors and backgrounds in our churches who can become leaders ─ if we believe it and act on that belief. People who believe in themselves scare me; people who don’t believe in themselves are like kindling wood just awaiting a match to light their flame. As leaders, we are that match.
How did Jesus choose that motley group of disciples? He started off by spending enough time with them to really get to know them. He knew their personalities, their potentials, their spiritual ambitions, their weaknesses, and everything else that God in the flesh could know. Then he prayed all night before making his final selection. After that, they were by his side almost constantly for the next three years, being trained for the world’s greatest mission.
By comparison, we leaders are certainly not infinite, so we will never know everything about someone, and we likely will make some wrong choices about who should become leaders. But, if we spend enough time with them and pray enough, we will be right far more often than wrong. God will lead and bless us to lead and bless others through the selection process. While I believe in formal training (of the right type) for ministry, it cannot replace being trained informally by just walking with those whom we are trying to raise up to leadership roles.
No Excuses Allowed
Excuses are easy to make, and among the easiest are quick observations about not having qualified people to raise up as leaders, especially those from the minority group in the church. Until I have spent a lot of time with people in all sorts of settings (maybe in a fishing boat or through other recreational pursuits), I can’t possibly know what their potential is.
Would you have chosen the Twelve that Jesus chose to train and ultimately send out to conquer the world? Me neither. Jesus didn’t see a Cephas; he saw a Peter. Jesus didn’t see a Saul; he saw a Paul. I’m not sure how to put everything down on paper that potential leaders should demonstrate, but I am sure that I do not have to. God is in control, and with desire, common sense, faith and prayer on our parts, he will lead us to those who can be trained as leaders.
I have spent much time through the years with young people of all types, and have seen all types become effective leaders. In time, you become pretty adept at recognizing potential, often seen in the most ordinary ways that demonstrate what is in their hearts. I have worked to develop the balances needed in those filling leadership roles, and God has blessed my desire to see this balance become reality.
I’m blessed now to be a part of a church where we have a pretty good racial mix in our leadership. When I walk into a church service, I want to see all of the diversity possible and dive into that precious fellowship. When I walk into a leader’s meeting of whatever type, I want to see that same diversity and embrace it (and those how comprise it).
Love and Unity Will Change the World!
Jesus said that love and unity were the two things we demonstrate as a group that would draw the world to him (John 13:34-35 and John 17:20-23). Sometimes we believe ourselves to be limited in our ability to work with those who are quite unlike us and to really love them. Remember this: the more we become like God, the more people we can love more deeply.
One of the best gauges of the effectiveness of any leader is found in the variety of types of people he or she can work well with and train effectively. Sometimes we lack faith to believe that we can have real unity in our diversity. Remember this: our past attempts to force unity were artificial and failed; unity must be forged, and that will not fail unless we fail to keep trying.
Our churches should not be “white” churches, and we shouldn’t want them to appear like they are. Nor should we want them to appear like they are black churches, even if the majority of the membership is black. Our goal is to make all types comfortable visiting us and be drawn in by our diversity. And, of course, we want all of our membership to be totally comfortable in our fellowship. That is the primary goal toward which we are striving.
Racial diversity must go far beyond the mix that assembles for worship; it must permeate everything about us, certainly including our leadership. Our blending of cultures is a wonderful thing; let’s allow its wonder be seen! Our next blog will address broader ways to enjoy that in the membership as a whole. Until then…
A Brief Review
In Part One of this series, we discussed racial diversity in the composition of the membership. In Part Two, we addressed diversity in the leadership (including ministry staff). In this third segment, we will cover some important aspects of diversity in the membership from the standpoint of our worship service approach, as well as what takes place outside the building in personal interracial relationships generally. Actually, we will broaden the term “worship service” to include our gatherings more generally, including social fellowship before and after services.
Birds of a Feather?
Let’s begin with a few observations about that social fellowship when we gather for services. We all know the common saying that birds of a feather flock together. We humans (strange birds and odd ducks!) are by nature quite the same in that we are more comfortable with those like ourselves. We usually choose as friends those near the same age with similar backgrounds and interests. Certainly this approach is not only understandable; it has many positive features to commend it. That being said, if it leads to any form of cliquishness or division, it is negative ─ period.
A few months back, we had a family visiting our church group as a result of my wife having invited the woman of the family while both were eating in a fast food restaurant. Theresa went around to teens and adults, asking them to fellowship with this family after services were over. She was shocked at how few actually came over to meet them (and thankful for the few who did). The family was a very normal family with absolutely nothing about them that would be seen as unattractive to others. Quite the contrary, in fact.
In the old days, they would have been swarmed by members wanting to meet them and ask them to study the Bible (when the visitors usually didn’t even know what that meant and why they were being asked). Now after the last song is sung or the last prayer is prayed (our traditional ways of ending the service), we all too often just start talking to those in our closest circle of friends.
Appearances and Impressions
Need I say that our closest circle is usually of our own race or ethnicity? I honestly don’t think in this case that the issue is one of prejudice, but rather one of comfortability, thoughtlessness and just plain selfishness. The first people we should talk to are the ones we don’t know or hardly know. This approach insures that visitors are met and new members are welcomed. It also blurs the lines of other distinctions and thereby suggests that we really are a family – a diverse family.
I was sharing this with a group in another city, and afterwards, a sister shared with me that whether our meeting place has chairs or pews, many members have their “seat” or “pew” reserved (at least in their minds). In other words, they sit with the same people every week (and we are not speaking of a youth group who has been asked to sit in the same section) and fellowship with the same people every week. The sister said that she sometimes decided to sit on opposite side of the auditorium from her usual place and received texts or calls later asking if she were okay, since she had “missed” church (according to their mistaken assumptions)!
It makes me wonder how many of our newer members and more bashful members feel awkward and hurt by such actions. If they are a part of a racial minority in the church, would we wonder why they might suspect prejudice as the cause? It hurts me to even think about this possibility (probability?).
If You Want to be Blessed…
Are we drawn to folks like ourselves? Normally, yes. (I use the word “normally” here because I am more drawn to non-whites in the fellowship.) But what comes naturally doesn’t mean it’s right. I think back to a time years ago in a certain ministry setting when I really didn’t enjoy our all-too-predictable midweek services. My worldly nature begged me to figure out an excuse to skip. Thankfully, my spiritual nature begged me to deny self and follow Jesus. I came up with a solution for my perceived problem.
I decided that whether I “got” anything out of the assembly or not, the real issue was what I gave. So, I thought of a plan to find three people who looked lonely or like they were hurting and have a meaningful talk with them during the fellowship periods before and after services. That simple (and spiritual) decision changed everything, especially me. I was amazed at how God led me to talk to people who needed some loving, and how good I felt after providing it.
When Jesus said that it was more blessed to give than receive (Acts 20:35), he was spot on. Interestingly, this saying of Jesus is not found in the Gospel accounts, but for Paul it was worth remembering and I’m grateful that he recorded it for us selfish humans! Please, let’s have diverse fellowship and not allow comfortability and selfishness to lead us into segregated fellowship (of any type, racial or otherwise).
The Services Themselves
What are your services like? Do they “fit” the makeup of your ministry group or church? Do your members like them? How do you know? In one sense, every person present will have their own opinion about what they like or don’t particularly enjoy, regardless of race or ethnicity. I’m pretty flexible for an old guy, or at least I think so. Maybe that’s why I like variety so much and get bored easily. I tire quickly of service styles that are easily predictable. Others get disturbed when too much variety comes along. As I say, we all have our opinions and preferences.
Other options in services, the way that we “do” church, do relate more closely to culture. I majored in music in college, and tended to enjoy all types of music. I taught in the public school system as a band director, but played professionally as well. I played in a symphony and loved classical music. I also played in dance bands, Dixieland groups, jazz groups, and summer “pops” band concerts in a local college amphitheater. I loved it all, the varied settings and the varied music. In church, I’m much the same way.
Church Music
Church music in most of our groups fall into three broad categories: traditional hymns, contemporary popular style (Michael W. Smith and Chris Tomlin being examples of this style) and gospel choir. Solos or small group special songs vary quite a bit as well, with the African American style having more “soul” in it. The latter, plus the gospel choir type, are characteristic of many predominately black churches. We have all of these styles in our local church, and I’m good with all of them, although I favor the contemporary style personally.
In one of my earlier drafts of this article, I made the following statement about my own preference in reference to music provided during the communion service. “Perhaps my one pet peeve is having one of the more ‘soul’ type solos sung during communion. They typically invite audible responses from the audience (comments and cheers) that detract from contemplating what communion should be all about, thus taking the emphasis off of Jesus and placing it on a performance.” If you are inclined to say “Amen!” to that, don’t do it. Keep reading.
Thank God for Honest Input!
In reviewing this article, one of my main advisers, Michael Burns, had this to say: “Does communion have to be contemplative and quiet or is that a cultural preference? The picture I get of first century communion meals was that they were a bit more family-focused and celebratory, like Passover meals.” Wow! What a great reminder! I have often thought that communion was too focused on the death of Christ rather than his resurrection. A focus on the resurrection makes communion a victory celebration rather than something akin to a funeral service.
My appreciation for input and dialogue was increased my Michael’s willingness to give me another way to think about the music styles used during communion. By the way, you are going to continue to see Michael Burn’s name in this blog, because I cannot say enough about his new book, Crossing the Line: Culture, Race and Kingdom. It is a spectacular book and a must read for everyone in our movement of churches, my primary target audience. Some people so strongly favor one style over another that they develop other pet peeves regarding the type music we have in our services. All of us, including moi, need to guard against such reactions.
God’s Sense of Humor!
God has a sense of humor, a fact that he has often shown me. After thinking about Michael’s observations regarding what I had written, guess what happened at our Easter service this past Sunday? A young sister of color (Black and Asian) sang one of those “soul” songs during communion that I had just written about. She’s a great singer, whom I have known since she was a teen, and is like a daughter to me. As she sang, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the timing and of God’s little surprises to help me get the point! I think God and I both enjoy these little experiences, and that we both laugh.
I would like to see our worship leaders (and leaders in general) find out what the majority of the membership in any given group enjoys most. Of course, it is not just a matter of enjoying, but having our hearts and minds ministered to spiritually. Although, as I’ve already said, opinions vary, but what is the majority preference? That’s not a difficult thing to determine, if we provide a forum for the expression of those preferences. It shouldn’t be a matter of “white church” music or “black church” music, but a matter of what ministers most to the majority of our members. Even then, variety should be a part of the mix since we have a variety of tastes within the membership.
The Preaching
We could do the same thing with the preaching, in providing a way for members to give input about what helps them most spiritually. As a preacher, I have the responsibility of knowing the flock as well as possible and meeting the needs that I see. Of course, we have perceived needs and needs of which we are unaware (one good reason to have more expository preaching straight from the biblical text).
Our hearers have different needs for different reasons. Some may be lukewarm and want to have their ears tickled. Some may be really hurting spiritually or emotionally and need to hear some lessons that are strong on comfort and encouragement. In this case, both types want the same type of content, one for good reasons and one for dangerous reasons. Some love really strong preaching, the type that we hear less and less of because too many of our preachers seem to be trying to imitate popular megachurch preachers (my opinion, of course). I understand that this is a complicated subject in some ways, but those of us who speak regularly could benefit just from determining what the members think helps them most to grow.
They are Listening ─ Are You Listening?
Years ago, I asked to get with the teens in a church that was going through quite a crisis. I promised that whatever was said in the room would stay in the room, at least on my part. I wanted to hear honest feelings coming straight from their hearts. What I heard that night was disturbing, to put it mildly, but encouraging in two ways. One, the young people present decided to trust me enough to be honest. Two, they responded to my honesty with them as I told them that they were old enough to be judged as adults and needed to be ready to meet their Maker. At the end of the night, one of the strongest personalities in the group who was obviously in a bad place spiritually said something to this effect: “We are tired of being treated like children and want the adults to just lay it out and be honest with us. This is serious business.”
My opinion is that more of our members feel about the same than most leaders realize. That opinion may be colored by my own preaching style, but the response to it is a part of how my opinion and preaching style developed in the first place. Life has plenty of challenges, death and Judgment are real, and I am not hesitant to share biblical truths in a straightforward and strong way. But my point here is that we need to hear the input of our members. It won’t determine what and how we preach, but it should influence both. I do see differences in how Blacks, Whites, Asians and Hispanics as a whole respond to preaching. But my assumptions here could be wrong or at least partly wrong. Hence the need for input.
Insecurity: a Block to Input!
Some insecure speakers are afraid of trying to ascertain what members really think about our services, and about their speaking specifically. I have talked to some leaders who have the idea that if you ask for the opinions of others, they will at that point develop opinions and that they are likely to be negative. This is one of the most laughable mistaken assumptions possible. We all have our opinions, whether we are asked to share them or not. I would rather know what they are than wonder about it.
Constructive criticism is a friend to us all, an aspect of this thing we used to call “discipling.” Will some be destructively critical? Perhaps, but only a very few. I listen to lessons almost exclusively in a non-critical matter, just trying to let God use the speaker to communicate what I most need to hear. Occasionally, if something is obviously in need of change, I will talk with the speaker about it, but for the most part, I just want to know what I need to change. I trust that the large majority of our members feel much the same as I do. They are not negatively critical, and if asked for input, it would be of the constructive type.
Our services overall typically consist of fellowship before and after the “official” part of the service; the music; the preaching; other short presentations for communion and giving; and finally, the announcements. How we do all of that will vary, but it should take into account the composition of the audience, as well as preferences (as long as they are spiritually based).
What Happens When We Leave?
What does happen when we leave the building where our church meetings take place? Bottom line, how much racial diversity follows in our normal life relationships? Do we have friends on a social level of different races and cultures? I am hearing from quite a number of black members that we don’t. That could be the fault of those on either side of that coin. Two questions will help you figure it out. One, are you being initiated with socially by those of different races or cultures from yourself? Two, are you initiating with those of a different race or culture than yourself?
Your Voice Can Be Heard
I am asking for your observations about the specific contents of this blog post. What are your preferences? What are your experiences? My email address is at the top of the page. Write me and I will have a blog in the near future comprised of what you as the readers contribute. I will use no names unless I think a given input would be enhanced by doing so – and I will not do it then without first getting your permission.
Further, I will copy and paste what you say into a separate document and then delete your email. I just want honest input here, so if you have strong feelings about anything I’ve written here, please respond. If you have strong feelings about anything in Parts 1 and 2 (or any other blog posts), please respond. I am consistently having discussions with those of other races and ethnicities in person, and certainly welcome them in writing. Your voice can be heard ─ so speak to me and help me and help me help others!
As I began reading Michael’s manuscript of this recently printed book, I knew that I was going to devote considerable attention to encouraging its reading. Michael is a humble man, and I suspect he will be hesitant to promote his book as intensely as others will, not wanting to be seen as a self-promoter. However, the subject is too important and the book too outstanding not to have it promoted broadly.
One idea I had early on was the need to have a short summary of each chapter to help potential readers decide to purchase and read it. I asked Michael to do that in order to post what he wrote in these summaries on my blogsite, and thankfully, he was willing to grant my request. Please read his following summations carefully. I believe that you will become anxious to read the book and will understand why I and others are so excited about it. Thanking you in advance…
Introduction: The Introduction explains why it is so necessary for a diverse family of churches like our own to have an honest and in-depth look at topics such as culture and race. Ignoring the need for such work is like refusing to talk about or work on your marriage with your spouse simply because you’re already married.
Chapter 1 – Losing Race – The concept of race is a secular idea, not a biblical one. It was rooted in faulty science that caused a great deal of damage throughout recent world history. In fact, the Bible’s teaching that all humans were made in the image of God and come from a common ancestor has now been confirmed to have been right all along.
Chapter 2 – Two Sides of a Coin – We all have different perspectives and experiences when it comes to how we perceive history and view how we got to where we are as a nation. As disciples, we must understand that process and the differing perspectives of others so that we can begin to more fully understand the times in which we live.
Chapter 3 – The Chaos Creature – The racial and cultural divisions that are so prevalent in our world today are nothing new. Humanity has been finding ways to rebel against God and divide among themselves since the Garden of Eden. We must know this reality, however, so that we can properly identify what lies beneath the things that divide us.
Chapter 4 – Dual Wisdom – An even bigger threat to the church today than division itself is thinking that worldly wisdom offers solutions to the problems that ail our world. It is vital that we understand the difference between secular and biblical wisdom so that we can reject the former and embrace the latter.
Chapter 5 – Jesus and Phinehas – The Bible has often been used as a tool to further racial and ethnic division and oppression over the last several hundred years. We need to know what the Bible really says and what it doesn’t say as a way to help unseat hundreds of years of abuse and misteaching.
Chapter 6 – The Beautiful Revolution – The kingdom of God is revolutionary when we really understand what it is all about. To grasp the earth-shattering truths of God’s kingdom is to recognize that an entirely new reality and way of living burst forth into the world when Jesus stepped out of his grave.
Chapter 7 – The Promised Family – God gave Abraham one of the craziest promises in all history: that he would one day have a family of descendants that would consist of all nations. In Christ, we are the fulfillment of that promise. Within the beautiful truth of being the family of God, though, lies a monumental challenge to our identity.
Chapter 8 – More Disciple than White – When we enter God’s family, it must change everything about our lives and how we view the world, including our identity. Wrestling with our true identity and what that means when it comes to ethnicity and race is one of the most important aspects of being a disciple.
Chapter 9 – Troubled Waters – Yes, we have racial and cultural struggles in the family of God. Cheer up. So did the New Testament church. In fact, race, ethnicity, and culture were the biggest sources of tension and conflict for our first century brothers and sisters, but they never backed away from those issues and neither should we.
Chapter 10 – Choose from Among You: Validation – In the earliest days of the church, it was nearly brought to a halt by ethnic strife and infighting between different cultures. The lessons that they learned and the manner in which they applied the gospel to their situations is inspiring and informative.
Chapter 11 – I Opposed Him to His Face: Confrontation – The churches in Galatia faced some of the fiercest challenges to their unity in the first century. Ethnic and cultural tension threatened to rip the church in half. Paul’s bold and courageous stand against the forces that would divide can help guide us through the turmoil of our present-day situations.
Chapter 12 – For the Glory of God: Sacrifice – As the gospel spread throughout the world and the family of God expanded into increasingly diverse places, the people of God faced ongoing opportunities to either divide or declare the heart of the gospel message of one family of all nations. Conflicts in Acts and Corinthians provide us a window into how they braved the trials that they faced in the early church.
Chapter 13 – Accept One Another: True Diversity – The church in Rome was yet another place that faced the stiff test of cultural and ethnic skirmishes. Once again, the unity of the church was in peril and Paul wrote his magnum opus to guide the church through those trying times. His words for them are just as relevant for us today as they were for the first-century church in Rome.
Chapter 14 – The Way of the Cross: Self Sacrifice – The way of the kingdom has never been about ease, comfort, or pretending that everything is okay. It has always entailed sacrifice for the benefit of others. A people who embrace that way of life is a community that will deeply challenge and profoundly impact the culture around them, even when it is embroiled in racial and cultural strife.
Chapter 15 – Culture Clash – What really has the potential to divide the church in the modern context is cultural clashes, poor cross-cultural skills, cultural dominance, and lack of true cultural inclusion. These are the things that we must become proficient in if we are to be who God desires for us to be as his family of all nations.
Chapter 16 – Pliable Culture – Paul taught the early church how to bend and adapt their cultures so that the kingdom could be constantly advanced. At the same time, he taught them to deeply appreciate and respect the cultural expressions of all people, and guided the church in how to include everyone’s cultural backgrounds and expressions into the life of a unified church.
Chapter 17 – Forging Ahead – Where do we go? What do we do with the information in this book? We examine how we can stand out among the nations as something unique and beautiful: A church that is inclusive, diverse racially and culturally, and that thrives on reflecting the truth of the gospel to the whole world.
Introduction:
The following article was published in the church bulletin of a congregation in Athens, Georgia recently – a church within the ICOC fellowship. It illustrates a number of important lessons regarding racial issues viewed from a biblical perspective. Perhaps most importantly as it relates to the purpose of my blog, it shows how biblical convictions can overthrow even deeply entrenched perspectives that violate God’s truth. The end result of the power of God to re-program us leads to friendships and fearless discussions among all of his children, regardless of race or widely differing backgrounds.
Although this article is brief, I have gained something new each time I have read back through it. With that in mind, I suggest you read it several times over a period of several days. As a writer, nothing makes me happier than to see the principles I am advocating being put into practice (even when I have no part in it)! Enjoy!
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” (Ephesians 2:14)
I am a seventy-six-year-old white woman who grew up in the segregated state of Mississippi. From my childhood I remember too well how inhumanely black people were treated. I knew in my head these actions were wrong, but felt so powerless to do anything to help. Years later, I lived in Rhodesia for almost three years in the mid-70s under the rule of apartheid. I saw much which was reminiscent of my earlier years. Fortunately, I did have the conviction to reject such injustices at that time. Today, I am super thankful to be a part of an ethnically/culturally integrated fellowship. I have visited or lived in thirty-eight different countries and have never experienced such acceptance of one another anywhere outside the church. This kind of love and fellowship can only be accomplished by obeying God’s commands. I am so very blessed to be a part of this fellowship.
Today, I am privileged to say that one of my dearest friends is an African American sister whose background is the very opposite of mine. But because of our relationships with God, we love each other from the heart. We can have open dialogue about many things, including racial issues, and I find my heart often hurting when I hear her talk of the suffering she has experienced. Because we are disciples of Jesus, we love each other unconditionally—a love only God has made possible! (Ephesians 6:11)
~Mollie
I am a forty-six-year-old black woman who grew up on the opposite end of the country. I was born a black Muslim. I grew up in Harlem in the seventies with the refrain of the black power movement reverberating as the theme of my childhood. My great grandfather was a follower of Marcus Garvey, the black national who proposed African Americans returning to Africa. My grandfather refused to visit the South after his brother was lynched. Eventually, I was converted in a predominantly African American ministry in Harlem. As I was studying the Bible and counting the cost of following Christ, I discovered that the church was predominantly Caucasian. That realization almost led me to walk away from God. I had to develop a conviction that, in Christ, the old self must pass away (2 Corinthians 5:17).
As I have softened my heart to God’s word, He has provided me with a rich tapestry of diverse relationships. God only sees good and evil, and that is how I now see things as well. I still feel a very personal pain at the injustices minorities face in this country. But I also realize that, if I had not experienced the upbringing I have, perhaps I would not even notice such social ills. My perspective is to now fight against injustice as sin because it is another tool Satan uses to attempt to separate us from God and one another. I am so grateful that only in God’s Kingdom could I overcome past attitudes and have a relationship with a seventy-six-year- old white woman from Mississippi (Philippians 3:13-14).
~Jermiah
