This post was originally published on June 25, 2020 on my previous blog. I have reposted it here with a few edits.
We are currently experiencing the largest civil rights movements in nearly half a century. Christians have entered the fray by calling against the sin of racism that is embedded in our institutions and hearts.
As a ministry leader, you may have peacefully protested, posted a black square on social media, preached about the need for change, led a workshop on racism, and now wonder what else you can do.
The following is a longterm strategy for fighting racism in your church. While it won’t address everything that contributes to racism, it can help create a culture where ethnic superiority (e.g. white supremacy, implicit bias, ethnocentrism of any kind, etc) is consistently exposed, where space is created for listening to others, learning from their experiences, and loving one another as family despite their differences.
BEFORE YOU PROCEED: CONFRONT THE MYTH OF CULTURAL NEUTRALITY
I had a powerful experience in October 2017 at the Advance Initiative Conference, a church planting conference that seeks to inspire Indians to plant churches. I have attended several church planting conferences throughout the years, but none of them served Indian food for lunch. And rightfully so. Indian food isn’t for the faint of…stomach.
Minorities and immigrants often experience a sense of displacement wherever they go. There is enough shared experience for them to engage, but enough awareness of their “otherness” that causes them to shrink back.
But it was clear at the Advance Initiative conference that God was calling South Asians to not shrink back but to engage. We were asking questions on how to reach our cities, how to fight for justice, how to contend for racial reconciliation, how racism affects/infects us, how to cultivate a prophetic voice in this generation, and how to plant churches in our cities. And for the first time in my life, we did all of this over the smell of curry. The fact that we had these conversations while eating Indian food signified that we, in no way, need to apologize nor concede being Indian in order to do so.
But this experience had another effect on me. It made me confront the myth of cultural neutrality. I failed to see that there are no culturally neutral churches in the world. Every church service I attended, every small group, and every church planting conference expressed a specific culture through its values, norms, liturgy, practices, clothing, beliefs, songs, and yes, even food. So when a conference serves turkey sandwiches and potato chips for lunch, they are are serving a specific cultural creation — you know, “ethnic food.”
And if that is true — then everything that you currently do in your church creates space for certain cultures but not for others. In other words, you are already including some and excluding others in the ministry expressions of your church.
This is inevitable. None of us are culturally transcendent. And there is no need to apologize for this either since God has uniquely wired us with specific gifts and called us to a specific people and place.
But as a ministry leader, if it’s unavoidable to include some and exclude others, you should know where you are drawing that line and why, especially if you are called to a diverse city that is experiencing racial tension. How will you thoughtfully, intentionally, and prayerfully live within the limits that God has given you, and in what way is he calling you to grow into something else?
I wanted to expose this myth of cultural neutrality in the church I was pastoring. This was not to be disruptive, politically correct, or inclusive for its own sake. No. I wanted us to be a truer reflection of the one new humanity that displays the “many-colored wisdom of God” expressed in Ephesians 3. I wanted all of my brothers and sisters — Black, White, Indian, Korean — to have the sense of belonging that I had at the Advance Initiative Conference. I wanted them to know that God has given us all a seat in the Kingdom. And sometimes, the food is served spicy.
To fight racism in any meaningful way, we have to not only create space for conversation, but most important of all, we have to create space for people — the people most vulnerable to racism, marginalization, and displacement. And making space for them requires thinking critically about the current cultural expressions that dominate the life and practices of our church.
The following framework contains three essential categories to consider as you plan your next steps.
PROCLAIM: WHAT WILL WE TEACH?
The video of George Floyd’s murder created a visceral reaction within you. You said, “Never again.” and vowed that your church will be a part of the change.
But that is not enough.
It is not enough to simply have an experience, share the video, and hope that others will have the same reaction that you did. A personal experience — whether it is a video, a protest, or lunch at a conference — will not be sufficient to call people to change in a church.
We must be convinced that the Gospel calls for the kind of change we want to see. Our feelings will change. We will lose the sense of urgency we once had. We will go from posting daily about racism, to doing so weekly, monthly, and eventually only during Black History month. But if the Gospel calls for our churches to change, then it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks, feels, or whether it is still viral — we must respond.
As a pastor, my words are only authoritative insofar as I say what the Scriptures say. The moment I veer away from it, I am relying on some other kind of authority in order to call people to change — authority of experience, reputation, position, etc.
But the church can only be led into fruitful and meaningful change if they see that what you are proposing is not simply your idea. It is God’s idea and that he has indeed called the church to change and made provision for that change in Jesus Christ.
But if we are going to utilize the powerful ministry of teaching to bring about change, we must have an eye for it in the text and an eye for it in our people.
As a ministry leader, you already do a wonderful job of speaking to the idols of your congregation’s hearts. You are aware of their struggle with their identity, approval addiction, and shame. That’s why it continues to shape the ongoing themes in your teaching.
But if we don’t consistently speak against the sin of racism and discrimination, it means that we either don’t see it in the text, or don’t see it in people’s hearts. And if you don’t believe it’s in the text, or don’t really believe it’s in people’s hearts, there will be a short shelf-life to our call for change.
A few examples:
Do you see an opportunity to talk about discrimination in Acts 6 when church leaders discriminated against Hellenistic Jewish widows by giving all the resources they had to Hebraic Jewish widows? Or, will you simply preach on the need for pastors to devote themselves to prayer and teaching and the importance of having deacons in the church?
Do you see an opportunity in Galatians 2 to talk about our tendency to associate with a particular culture when its socially advantageous for us but ignore them when it isn’t?
When your church admires Paul’s willingness to suffer for the mystery of the Gospel in Ephesians 3, do you remind them that the “mystery” he is referring to is how God has united both Jews and Gentiles into one family?
And when you discover that Paul was arrested for bringing Gentiles into the temple in Acts 21, do you teach about his passion and priority for ethnic reconciliation in that city? That he was willing to be imprisoned to make it a lived reality in the church?
Do you see an opportunity in James 2 to discuss the ways that we discriminate against those who are marginalized? Or that James exposes our tendency to minimize the sin of discrimination by reminding us that we can keep all the commands, but if we discriminate against others, we are guilty of breaking all of it?
Do you realize that you don’t have to address discrimination as a topic every single week, but can make it a point of application throughout your teaching whenever you address relationship dynamics?
But all of this hinges upon two things: that you have an eye for it in the text, and an eye for it in people’s hearts. If you only have one of those things, there will be a short shelf-life to the change you hope to bring.
PROCESS: HOW WILL WE PROCESS THIS CHANGE?
Every effective leader knows that we cannot steamroll people into change. As Patrick Lencioni reminds us in The Advantage, “If people don’t weigh in, they won’t buy in.”
We must create spaces for them to process the kind of changes we implement. If we don’t, they will give us an artificial commitment out of respect for us, but quietly consider an exit strategy.
And before we simply dismiss them as being hardhearted, let’s remember our calling. We are called to shepherd people. To be patient with them as Christ is patient with us.
“Well, I’m just telling the truth. And people sometimes can’t handle the truth.”
As Zack Eswine reminds us in his book, Imperfect Pastor, the way we handle the truth affects whether or not people see. He compares the truth to light. It ought to be illuminating. It ought to help people see and bring clarity to their path. But there is a way to handle the truth that actually disorients people and blinds them. He writes,
“A flashlight shone directly into someone’s eyes makes seeing harder, not easier. A flashlight misused can actually rob us of the light it is meant to provide.”
So we can take the truth and shove it in someone’s eyes and blame them for their inability to see. Or, we can confess that it was our handling of the truth and not the truth itself that was blinding. We made a prophetic call without pastoral sensibilities. Or, in contending for the truth, we lacked the very patience, humility, and character of the one who is Truth.
So you can call out against white supremacy, but will you also take the time to explain what you mean by that phrase? As we rightly use phrases like, “institutional racism, systemic injustice, and privilege” will we sit with people and answer their questions about what such phrases mean with patience and gentleness? You can tell the pastor of your Indian church that it’s time for change. But will you do so while remembering how long it took you to understand the things that you see so clearly right now?
I recently paraphrased Andy Crouch’s brilliant definition of privilege to a few friends: Privilege is the ongoing benefits that you have inherited as a result of someone else’s past exercise of power. But simply sharing this definition was the easy part. If their understanding is both my goal and reward, then I must take time to explain what I mean by “ongoing benefits, inherited, someone else, and exercise of power.”
If we don’t take the time to process the change, then we will drive away the very people we have been called to shepherd. How does this guide the way we call for change? How will this affect the way we allow people to process the changes we proclaim?
A few scenarios:
Meet weekly with your team and create a safe space for them to discuss their questions, objections, suggestions, and feedback. Let them weigh in so they can buy in.
Create opportunities to listen to what these changes are like for your church members: what they fear, what they’re ashamed of, what makes them angry, and what makes them hopeful.
Create space for the church to discuss with one another the ways that God is convicting them, challenging them, encouraging them, and calling them to change.
We boldly declare the Gospel and call for the change that Christ has made possible. And along with that, we must develop a strategy for helping people process what we’ve proclaimed and their various responses to it.
PRACTICE: HOW WILL WE CREATE DISPLACEMENT AND BELONGING?
I cannot overemphasize the importance of this final category in the strategy for fighting racism in your church. We often think we have learned something simply by discussing it. We’ve read the books, gone through the workshops, heard the proclamation, had space to process it, and that should be good enough in order to change, right?
Not quite.
We must actually practice the change we have proclaimed and processed.
Remember what I said earlier about the myth of cultural neutrality? That there are no culturally neutral ministry expressions in your church? That you already include some and exclude others? And that this is inevitable for everyone’s ministry?
This means that every Sunday there are people who experience a tremendous amount of belonging simply because of their ethnicity and cultural background. This also means that others continue to experience displacement as they try to express themselves and find their place in your church.
But what if there was a way to leverage this inevitable experience of simultaneous displacement and belonging for the purpose of discipleship? What if we could intentionally create belonging for those most vulnerable to racism, marginalization, and displacement, but do so in a way that is not only disorienting for the majority, but is also beneficial for their growth in Christ?
Here are a few things that you can do:
You can have a multicultural potluck where people bring food that represents their culture or heritage.
You can sing songs and read the Scriptures in different languages. You already preach as if non-Christians are in the room (even when they aren’t) in order to give them a sense of belonging. So it’s not like you are only catering to the majority already. Why not apply the same logic and practice for minorities and those of different cultures?
You can have more diverse ethnic and socioeconomic representation in your leadership team, staff, and ministries.
You can allow them to not simply represent, but create, influence, design, and lead according to their unique culture and calling.
You can partner with other churches and organizations that are culturally different than you. The members of your church can regularly collaborate with them and serve alongside them.
In each of those examples, people in your church would simultaneously experience displacement and belonging.
But what’s the point? Why is this a discipleship opportunity? And how will this lead to creating a culture that fights racism?
When the majority of your church is willing to experience displacement out of love for those who struggle to belong, Christ is being formed in them. As a result, they may become more like Jesus in hearing a song in Spanish than actually singing it in a language they understand.
Only a few people are generally aware of their otherness when you gather together. But when everyone in your church experiences their own otherness at various points in the life of the church, they are forced to confront their prejudices, preferences, and yes even the myth of cultural neutrality and any form of ethnic supremacy.
When everyone in your church has the opportunity to experience both displacement and belonging, you become a more compassionate and empathetic family, deferring to one another, making space for the other, all out of love for Jesus and each other. Yes, there are more arguments, and thus a lot of patience and forgiveness required. And yes, growth is much slower. But what else would you expect from family? Your church can be the prophetic witness to your city — that Christ has killed the hostility between us all, created one new humanity, and display the many-colored wisdom of God in the church.
So how will your church practice the changes that you are proclaiming and processing?
In summary, in order to have a longterm strategy to fight racism in your church, three key components are required: Proclaim. Process. Practice. Rinse. Repeat.
As you may have observed already, I believe that multicultural churches, where different cultures aren’t simply represented but are expressed in the life of the church, is one of the best ways to embed a culture that fights racism in your church. It won’t make you immune to the sin of discrimination, but you can consistently force your church to confront it. While that might not be possible for your particular context, I hope that you can still apply the same framework when forging a new path.
What will you proclaim? How will you process this? What will you practice?
Here is a sample map and some additional resources below that can help: