Archive for the 'Race' Category

Why I’m Planting a Racially Diverse Church In Cincinnati (10 Reasons)

Published
by
Michael Clary
on August 25, 2008
in Bible, Church Planting, Cincinnati and Race
. 0 Comments

The first reason why I’m planting a racially diverse church in Cincinnati: it’s biblical.

The second reason is this: The world wants racial reconciliation, but only the gospel can deliver it. Everywhere you look, from corporate advertisements to college promotional materials to fashion magazines, it is clear that people want to see a diversity of faces in the imagery. Martin Luther King, Jr. did our country a great service by helping to expose racial hypocrisy. He was (perhaps naively) convinced that white Christians would rush to his aid but most didn’t.

During the civil rights era, our country has come a long way to give all people of various races equal opportunities for advancement. Everyone is clamoring for it. You can’t watch the evening news without seeing it in the advertisements, or hearing of someone being sentences to probation and “diversity training,” or a story about someone violating political correctness with a “gaffe.” In fact, one of Joe Biden’s most recent gaffes involved referring to Obama as an African American who is “clean” and “articulate.” The world loves racial diversity.

But churches have long remained segregated.

I’m not advocating universal racial integration of churches. But I am saying that those who desire true racial reconciliation can only find it in the gospel. Here’s what I mean. The gospel tells us that we are all in desperate need of redemption for our sins. We have a common disease (sin) and a common enemy (Satan). Regardless of race, everyone on planet earth has this problem. Furthermore, we all have, as Pascal famously stated, a “God shaped vacuum” in our hearts that can only be filled by Jesus Christ. Our deepest longings and our highest aspirations are fulfilled in Him.

As such, Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 5 that Christ has given us the “ministry of reconciliation,” where men urge their fellow men to “be reconciled to God.” Our reconciliation to God entails new allegiances, new familial relationships, new identities based on our spiritual commonalities rather than our physical differences. Being reconciled with God should naturally lead to being reconciled to fellow children of God.

Can anything other than Christ deliver this reconciliation? Of course not. Worldly reconciliation can only be achieved through pluralism. “Diversity” becomes an idol we bow to and standards of right and wrong are made to serve this idol. As a result, it doesn’t matter what you think or how you live, as long as you demonstrate “tolerance,” which is code language for pluralism.

The gospel insists that everyone is sinful, and only Christ is worthy of universal honor. Revelation 5 highlights the 7-fold worthiness of Jesus, who is worthy to receive “power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

Jesus crushes our common enemy and unites us under his glorious rule. That’s true reconciliation, and only the gospel can deliver it.

Why I’m Planting a Racially Diverse Church in Cincinnati

Published
by
Michael Clary
on August 15, 2008
in Bible, Church Planting, Cincinnati and Race
. 4 Comments

The number one reason why I’m planting a racially diverse church in Cincinnati is simply this: It’s Biblical. I’m not doing this because a focus group survey revealed a “market niche” for a racially diverse church. I’m doing this because I simply cannot escape what the Bible has to say about race.

All the way back in the very beginning of things, back when God spoke to Abraham and made a covenant with him, God promised that Abraham would be a blessing to every nation on the earth (Genesis 12). And then God gives us a flash forward glimpse into the future, when Jesus is praised in heaven precisely because he “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” God’s worth is demonstrated by the diversity of His admirers.

Between these two major events in the beginning of all things and at the end of all things, God gives us the biblical story of redemption. He begins with one man, who becomes a family, which becomes a nation, through whom comes the Messiah, who is the blessing to all nations. Some of those nations were dreaded enemies of God’s people.

Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles fought their own racial conflicts in the early church as well. In Acts 2, “devout men from every nation under heaven” accept the gospel and believe in Jesus. A few chapters later in Acts 6, we find that “a complaint by the Hellenists ?arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in ?the daily distribution [of food].” There it is; racial discrimination. The minority group responded with a peaceful protest and the apostles appointed a racially diverse group of deacons to oversee food distribution. The result? “The word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly (Acts 6:7).”

The ministry God has given to us as Christians is labeled the “ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5).” We are first reconciled to God through Jesus, but then are reconciled to each other through Jesus.

In Jesus, God has broken down the barrier walls of hostility between the races, creating “one new man” in place of the two (Eph 2). The “mystery” of the gospel is not merely that non-Jews are part of God’s kingdom. That message is as old as the Bible itself. The “mystery” that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 3 is that there is no master race; every person derives his worth and forgiveness through Christ directly. Gentiles are just as worthy and have equal access to God through the Spirit. That, however, was a mystery.

Many Jews feared what a Gentile church would look like. Perhaps they wondered to themselves, “what if we don’t like their music? We don’t like their preaching. They are too noisy and out of control. Their theology is weak. They need to be circumcised and obey the Law of Moses. ” Perhaps the Gentiles wondered, “why are they having such a hard time simply obeying Jesus’ command to love their neighbors? We love Jesus as much as they do.”

Peter also draws Paul’s rebuke for cultural and racial prejudice in Galatians 2, where Peter favored “certain men from James” because of their cultural heritage. In Galatians 2:14, the true problem with racial division is revealed: it compromises the gospel. When Paul rebuked Peter, he did not rebuke him for breaking the “no racism” rule; Paul rebuked him for not living “in step with the truth of the gospel.” In essence, racial division in the church tells the world that Christ is good enough to save us, but not good enough to unite us.

We American Christians owe a lot to the apostles for standing their ground against racism. Because of this, we Gentile Americans are a part of the Kingdom of God. We Gentile Americans can look at Acts 2, Acts 6, Acts 15, and see the story of the oppression of a minority Christian group and identify with them as my people. The Judaizers lost control of their version of Christianity, the thing they feared most.

That’s probably a similar fear many face about a racially reconciled church. White people might fear losing their music, their traditions, their comfort. Black people might fear losing their unique and wonderful spiritual heritage through assimilation with the dominant culture.

The Bible says that perhaps both races have made idols out of their cultural religious preferences and allowed them prominence over the gospel of Christ.

Can we worship with Fred Hammond instead of Matt Redman? Can we get used to “Amens” and “Hallelujahs” throughout church? Can we get used to preaching that is louder than we’re used to? Can we worship with acoustic guitars? Can we enjoy a quiet moment of sober reflection in a worship service?

That’s the number one reason why I want to build a racially diverse church. Racial division in the body of Christ diminishes God’s glory in our lives, and I want no part of that.

Racial unity in the body of Christ tells the world that our common allegiance to Jesus is greater than any potential division. It glorifies God.

Now that we have the number one reason out of the way, I have nine other reasons that are more practical in their orientation. These will appear in the next post.

[Acknowledgment: many of these insights are the result of studying Spencer Perkins, Chris Rice (not the singer), and Tim Keller.]

Are Cincinnati’s Race Problems Overblown?

Published
by
Michael Clary
on August 4, 2008
in Cincinnati and Race
. 17 Comments

Are Cincinnati’s race problems overblown? It all depends on who you ask.

I recently hosted a team of about 20 high school students from Spartanburg, SC, who were here to help me canvass the city, take surveys, and get a better grasp on the spiritual climate in Cincinnati. I made the surveys and specifically asked questions regarding race.

When asked to describe Cincinnati in one word, one lady named Mrs. Owens responded “racist.” She also said racism is the greatest problem facing the community. Margaret is African American and she said the racial problems in this city are 98 out of 100. Another African American man said 89 out of 100.

When white folks were asked the same question, they were clearly more optimistic. Bethany said racial tension is 20 out of 100, Carol gave it a 25, Matthew a 60, and so on.

I have asked that question also to many of the local people that I have met here, and the white folks all tend to think that the problem is “overblown” and the so-called riots were a “joke.” Media hype and sensationalism, they say.

Regarding the riots, Kweisi Mfume said that the riots were caused by, “more than anything else, 20 to 25 years of neglect, of frustration, of profiling, of a second-class feeling in Cincinnati. White citizens and black citizens for all that time have been pleading for somebody to take a look at what was going on there, to respond. That didn’t happen. … All of this just bubbled over, but not because of this one incident, because of a number of incidents like this over the years.”

The answer to the perception disparity can possibly be attributed to a collective refusal to acknowledge the problem. Sylvester Monroe says that we have a “growing national proclivity for avoiding even the discussion of race. But by shunning racial issues and ignoring history — including fairly recent history — we make America’s most intractable problem that much more difficult to solve.”

Here’s the landscape: most people avoid discussions of race. It belongs in the junk drawer of untouchables such as politics and religion; the feelings are just too raw. Christians have outsourced any racial ministry or even discussion to liberals who deny the Bible and see racial equality in the same light as gay rights.

Here’s the bottom line: white people don’t have to feel intimidated in a room full of other whites. White people don’t feel targeted by the police. White people live in the majority culture and issues of race can be sandwiched in between discussions of our favorite films and whether or not NAFTA is a good idea.

For black folks, it is a daily part of their lives. There is no escaping the fact that they live in as minorities in a culture where they tangibly experience racial hostilities.

So let’s cut the crap. White people can say racial issues are overblown because we have the luxury of ignoring it. African Americans live it everyday, and the ones I’ve met in Cincinnati universally agree that there’s a major problem.

Do we not have a responsibility as Christians to address this?

When a Black Man Marries a White Woman

Published
by
Michael Clary
on May 27, 2008
in Church Planting, Cincinnati, Race and marriage
. 2 Comments

Few people actually think of themselves as racist. It is social suicide.

But that doesn’t keep people from harboring subtle prejudices in their hearts that may seem innocent enough. Some of the most bigoted things I have ever heard from other peoples’ mouths were often preceded by the phrase, “I’m not a racist, but…”

Many feel that racial reconciliation should be sought — as long as white daughters don’t marry black men, or as long as black daughters don’t marry white men. Of course, this is all couched in the sincerest of concerns, such as, “I’m not a racist, but I just think that this will cause unnecessary problems in your marriage. What will people think?” Or, “I’m not a racist, but what if you have children? Do you really want them to grow up being half-white and half-black?”

When I was working at a Circuit City store once, I had a customer who was buying a computer from me. While asking some questions, he looked past me and saw an inter-racial couple in an adjacent department. He didn’t hesitate to confide in me, “I just think that’s disgusting.” I not only found his remarks offensive, it was also offensive that he thought that he could share them with me, a total stranger!

How, then, can a bi-racial couple navigate the treacherous waters of bigotry in their marriage? These are some of the questions I hope to learn about as I seek to plant a church in Cincinnati. This article from the AP highlights some of the various issues involved in race and religion.

But one thing is certain: true racial unity does not come about by seeking unity as an end in itself; this is only fool’s gold. That is like building a friendship on being friends. Friendship is built on a common interest; a common love. There’s lots of talk in the media about racial reconciliation recently, but the talk has been about racial reconciliation for its own end.

This is idolatry. We cannot expect to see any traction in racial reconciliation until we are willing to unite around something other than race. We can still talk about it and work towards solutions, but unity for its own sake lacks unifying power.

I like A. W. Tozer’s solution:

One hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other… They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.

For this reason, I am convinced that a racially unified church is not only possible, it is more likely to unify than any government program or a litany of “conversations.”

And I dream of a racially unified church filled with racially unified marriages, too.

Race and the Evangelical Slavery Problem

Published
by
Michael Clary
on May 13, 2008
in Culture, Everything is Backwards, Poverty and Race
. 5 Comments

Pop Quiz.

First Question: Who are some of the most beloved figures of American Evangelicalism?

Jonathan Edwards

Answer. Consider these names: Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and Charles Hodge. Great theologians and preachers all.

Second Question: Even though most African American Christians believe in a generally evangelical theology, why do so few identify with evangelicalism as a broader movement?

Answer. Consider these names: Jonathan Edwards (owned at least 6 slaves), George Whitefield (slave owner, fought for legalization of slavery in Georgie, used slave labor in his orphanage, bought 20+ slaves in his lifetime), Charles Hodge (defender of the slave trade). Also, Charles Finney, D.L. Moody and Billy Graham all preached to segregated audiences even while on some level denouncing the slave trade (source: The American Evangelical Story by Doug Sweeney).

In other words, history shows us that white evangelical heroes of the American past have either outright participated in slavery or at least tacitly supported its through racist ministry practices. While Edwards was writing his brilliant essays on the Religious Affections, maybe he had a few slaves in the backyard working to provide food for him and his family to eat.

George WhitefieldThis is the evangelical slavery problem. Modern day American Christians benefit theologically from the writings and practices of incredibly influential men who directly supported something as wicked and inherently racist as slavery.

From the perspective of history, it is just short of miraculous that any slaves became Christians at all. The economics of the slave trade so intermingled with Christianity that few preachers were willing to denounce it because so many in their audience were profiting from it. At the same time, they continued to preach the gospel to slaves.

How could you preach some of the backwards verses of the Bible, such as proclaiming “liberty to the captives (Is 61:1),” all the while supporting the very system that enslaves them? Rev. Peter Randolph, a rural Virginia former slave once said that “the gospel was so mixed with slavery, that people could see no beauty in it, and feel no reverence for it.”

The paradox is that these preachers treated them as spiritual equals but as physical inferiors. The hypocrisy in this message is clear.

Many Christians even opposed the preaching of the gospel to slaves because they feared that Christian baptism not only freed slaves from their sins but this also implied freedom from slave owners as well. Some evangelists were so eager to preach to the slaves that they made agreements with slave owners to not preach on the deliverance of Israel from Egypt in order to not incite the slaves to seek their own emancipation.

This well intentioned agreement ended up being a pact with the devil.

Many slaves did indeed accept the gospel, but their “good news” wasn’t as good as the white man’s good news. This baggage has been passed down through the generations.

The question for us in this modern era is this: what can we do to remedy this situation?

My answer is to plant churches in racially diverse neighborhoods that embody the gospel racially, economically, and socially, until it becomes clear that the gospel of Christ is more unifying than our collectively divisive racist past. I will be chronicling my thoughts on this issue in the coming weeks.

Do you think a racially unified church is possible?