Two times in two weeks I have heard the same statement: “Sunday morning at 11:00 AM is the most segregated time in America.” The undertow of this assertion is that the church is divided along racial lines and we, as Christians, need to change that. One preacher who was spraying down the congregation with his message like a fireman spraying water on a hot day, built to a crescendo and yelled, “Jesus will not come back for a divided church.” The crowd, as if on cue, echoed back “amen.” I sat and wondered, is that true? Is Jesus up in heaven using a celestial abacus to add up the proper mixture on Sunday morning to see if it’s time to return? Does that statement even make sense? What would church need to look like? What is the right ratio of Chinese, Korean, Spanish, African, French, Irish, etc. that must populate the church in order to set off the bell to return?
Could it be that those who attend a church service on Sunday morning come from various heritages/expressions of faith and pick a church to attend on that basis? When I hear “amens” in the congregation when statements like this are made it reminds me of watching fireworks – lots of noise and lights that make an impression but are gone in a moment later.
When you are confronted with statements that have more in common with homiletically gymnastics than Scriptural mandates start asking yourself questions. Questions have a way of burring holes in untruth and poor rational. Biblical thinking is what people who attend church on “Sunday morning at 11:00 AM” need more of.
What general questions would be good for people to ask to investigate statements made all through the week? Also, do we run a risk of being too critical and how do we/you avoid that extreme?
Just to add onto the question, in heaven are we going to be a “melting pot” or a “stew pot”? In otherwords, will all of our cultural differences of all of the nations and peoples blend together so that we cannot tell the different cultures apart OR will we all exist together each retaining its distinctiveness while still adding its flavor to the whole?
I tend to think we are going to be more like the “stew pot” – it seems to make more sense of why God would have every tribe, toungue, and nation worshipping Him together.
Although I agree with your point about the rash statement and “amens” from these people you mentioned, I still think there is an issue of division among the “family of God” that needs to be addressed. Just this last week, in our women’s Bible study video, the issue of reconciliation was addressed in the testimony of a woman with a biracial heritage. She spoke of the bitterness that had been passed through her family, that she didn’t even know she had until she was praying with a group of ladies and a racially insensitive comment was made. That immediately threw her into a feeling of judgment and bitterness towards the group of ladies she was praying with, even though only one made the comment. She didn’t even know she felt bitter, until something ignited her feelings.
Thinking of this situation, I wonder how many people go to a certain church because they feel they don’t have the option to go to a different church, where because of their heritage/race, they might feel shut out or unwelcome or just feel like an outcast because of the racially different environment, rather than just because they’re more comfortable there from a preference of style or expression of faith. I think it’s sometimes too easy to say that people do what they do because it’s their preference.
Having had a very close friend in college who was not my same race, I know in his situation that he did not feel very welcome in our “white” churches in the area. He didn’t choose a church because of where he could best learn or grow or serve, but rather where he felt accepted. If you were to ask him, he would not tell you that he was bitter, but if you probed deeper, I imagine there would be a sense of feeling like an outcast because of the color of his skin, REGARDLESS of the fact that he was a follower of Christ and was there to learn and worship and serve, like the rest of the church.
So, without going to the extreme and ridiculous point of saying that “Jesus is not coming back for a divided church,” (because we’re all sinful and divided in many ways) I think it’s important to reach out to all people of all races and heritages and maybe go out of our way to do so. I think maybe as we do that, we can help to heal some of the bitterness that many, no doubt, still must feel. As believers, we are called to love all people. If the “Church” is not a place where people of all races feel accepted, is “It” (are we) really showing love as Christ would have us do?
Two things.
First, a racist church is not a church that is following Christ. I don’t think that’s a position that needs defending.
Second, with all the denominations we see manifested in the Church, doesn’t it stand to reason that a local church would be fairly homogeneous in its makeup? Styles of music (if music is part of the worship service at all) alone can cause people to change where they worship on Sunday morning, and by extension, which body of Christ-followers they join in membership. Then you add in all the other dimensions of what gives a church (little “c”) its character and you see where people would seem “divided,” when many divisions are really only skin-deep.
I consider that I have more in common with a full-gospel inner-city church that proclaims the true gospel of Christ, or a house church in a persecuted part of China where they risk their lives to meet for a few moments of silent prayer, than I do with a church that might be just down the road, playing “my kind” of music, doing “my kind” of teaching, with “my kind” of people – but compromises on its proclamation of Christ’s gospel.
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I’m not sure this addresses your question though, Dan… you asked how we avoid falling for the “sounds good, must be true” chatter that we hear all the time.
For now I’ll just say it’s really hard. You have to have a pretty clear, pretty simple set of core beliefs that you can apply pretty quickly to separate the wheat from the chaff in real time.
Good question… I’ll have to come back to that one when I have more time…
I think there are two solutions that we bring to bear in legitimate racial division: Biblical truth and communication/accountability between individuals. The Bible teaches that we are to submit to “one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph. 5:21) and I also know that each person has inherit worth (Gen. 2:7). Therefore, to personally demean or demoralize a person is to sin against God. Biblical truth keeps my thinking and actions in check. I wish that’s all we needed, but since we do not apply truth or live out its standard consistently, we must communicate when people miscommunication and/or misunderstand. To me, this is the biggest thing people need to do today due to various personalities, manners, and modes of communication (e-mail, phone, etc.). When a person, like your friend, is hurt she needs to speak up or you can speak up with her to the person who has unwittingly hurt her with their words. Feelings are communicated and, if need be, truth is applied and relationships are to be strengthened.
The issue that I was responding to was not these types of daily interactions, but the notion that the mission of the church is endemic with racial alignment. The church of Christ is to proclaim Christ in the salvation he offers and in the ethical teachings he commands. We are not called to fill a quota of ethnic diversity. We are to never create an environment that resists any person regardless of race, but we are not failing to obey Christ by not making it racial unity priority #1 since that will occur someday in heaven when every nation and tongue “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:11).
Would you like to consider how God’s Word has worked through the life of a self-exclaimed, recovering racist (John Piper)? Click here.
Racism has always been a hot topic for me. Growing up, the story of the good Samaritan had more influence on me than the deacons that would turn away “colored” homeless folks at the doors of the church – than the music ministers that said music that emphasizes the 2 & 4 (like “Shine Jesus Shine”) is “black” music and of the devil.
Like Hugh says … in the days of persecution things like denomination, skin color, sprinkle/emersion, etc. are not going to matter as much.