For John Perkins, the recent events in Los Angeles seem all too familiar. In 1970, the founder of Voice of Calvary Ministries in Mississippi was himself severely beaten by white law-enforcement officers. Throughout 30 years of ministry, he has seen firsthand the despair and hopelessness that racism and injustice can breed. “What happened in Los Angeles was an explosion of neglect,” Perkins says. “And it was a wake-up call for the church.”
As American society analyzes the lessons of the controversial Rodney King verdict and the riots it spawned, black evangelical leaders are calling on the church to place top priority on racial reconciliation and inner-city ministry. “The purpose of the gospel is to reconcile alienated humanity to a holy God and to each other across racial, cultural, social, and economic barriers,” Perkins says. “This is a historic opportunity for us to authenticate the gospel.”
Black evangelicals agree that the state of racial relations in the U.S. is far worse than most of the church is willing to admit. “The unfortunate thing in America is that we settled for integration, a legal accommodation … but it did nothing to establish relationships between estranged and alienated people,” says Sam Hines, former chairman of the General Assembly of the Church of God (Anderson, Ind.). According to Hines, the church has been part of the problem, not part of the solution. “Evangelicals need to come forward, black and white, and acknowledge together the sin of racism.”
“Judgment begins in the house of the Lord,” says Daniel Hall, president of the Washington, D.C., Area Ministers’ Alliance. “We need to begin to realize that all of us, black and white, have racism within us.”
While racial divisions probably run deepest between African-Americans and whites, the events in Los Angeles highlighted the fact that relationships involving other cultural groups—particularly Asians and Latinos—are strained as well. In the view of Kenneth Ulmer, pastor of Faithful Central Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, the foundations of these relationships must be renovated before other rebuilding can take place. “There are a series of injustices within the context of oppression that we need to deal with,” says Ulmer, who has appeared on the Korean Gospel Broadcasting network urging reconciliation among the races.
In addition, says E.V. Hill, pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, reconciliation must occur at all levels: “It’s not only being reconciled with E. V. Hill; it’s being reconciled with the poor, unknown person in the inner city.” Hill says evangelicals have “sadly neglected” the problems of the inner city for far too long. “I’m a great one for foreign missions … but there’s a whole lot of work to be done just a few miles up the road.”
In recent weeks, Hill has been advising the peace process being negotiated between two of Los Angeles’s notorious street gangs, the Bloods and the Crips. This summer Hill’s church is hoping to hire 1,000 young people, including members of those gangs. Suburban churches can help such projects, he says, with their prayers, their financial resources, and their actual presence.
Still, according to William Bentley of the National Black Evangelical Association, the white church must be cautious not to “proceed directly to the solution” without first establishing a “point of contact.” For too long, he says, the white community has been isolated from the realities of the inner city. “You have two or three generations of people who have been ground down. They have no hope,” he says, so their outlet is “self-destructive behavior.”
And that, says John Perkins, is exactly why the task of the church is so immediate and urgent. He reports that many U.S. cities are “only one racial incident away” from an L.A.-like riot. “L.A. was just the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “Young folks are just looking for a reason, looking for a spark.” Perkins fears that spark may be director Spike Lee’s movie about the life of Malcom X, which is scheduled for release this fall. “We might see a dark, dark day,” he warns. Yet Perkins remains hopeful, for he believes the church holds the ultimate answer. Government and law-enforcement structures have lost their credibility to lead, so the spotlight is now on the church, he says. “We, the church, have the opportunity, black and white together … to show the world another way.”
By Kim A. Lawton.
Deeper Issues
In the aftermath of the riots, John Perkins, founder of the Christian Community Development Association, says he is eager to see the church move its focus from relief to long-term programs. “Instead of all the food and clothes they’re dumping down there, we need training programs and development,” he says. “The gospel is about investing in people.”
Calvin Bowers, a minister of the Figueroa Avenue Church of Christ, says that any constructive response to the city’s needs must realize that the Rodney King verdict did not cause the a riots, it was simply the spark that ignited existing anger and frustration. “It’s about much deeper issues, like the loss of jobs, the breakdown of the family, the weakened school system, and a fear that leads to hopelessness,” says Bowers, who also serves as a communication professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. “The riots were the disenfranchised people of our society begging to be heard. Unfortunately, they choose violence as their communication vehicle.”
The first order of business is to strengthen working relationships across ethnic boundaries, say church leaders (see “A Wake-up Call for the Church,” p. 49). Reconciliation was the focus of a Love L.A. prayer meeting held the Tuesday following the riots. Nearly 800 pastors met at Hollywood Presbyterian Church and spent three-and-a-half hours in prayer, confession, and reconciliation.
Listening to inner-city pastors, Hayford says, convinced him that reconciliation is a necessity, because most people today don’t recognize racism. “This is blindness—an unperceived insensitivity … toward minorities,” he says. “I didn’t cause it, but I need to recognize it and work with my brothers and sisters toward a resolution.”
Kenneth Ulmer, senior pastor of the Faithful Central Missionary Baptist Church, hopes the good will of the past few weeks will continue. “While the models of cooperation we’ve seen in meeting the immediate crisis are admirable,” he says, “they must continue for many years.”
Help To Rebuild
Ministries active in the Los Angeles area say they plan to increase job training, literacy, housing assistance, health care, and other work that puts flesh on the gospel. While Christians will serve on the Rebuild L.A. committee chaired by former Olympics organizer Peter Ueberroth, there is skepticism about the ability of government to effect change in the hearts and hopes of inner-city residents. That is why Bishop Blake says his churches are planning a large evangelistic outreach coupled with job training, health counseling, and assistance to people desiring to start small business enterprises.
Many other ministries are now exploring ways to help. World Impact president Keith Phillips is opening discussions with supermarkets willing to be partners with his organization and the community to co-own markets staffed with local residents trained by the ministry. Church on the Way hopes to start a mentoring program, matching experienced businessmen with inner-city entrepreneurs. Victory Outreach says it may help open a large, open-air market in South-Central L.A. to help fill the gap left by gutted markets that very likely will not reopen.
Still, Victory Outreach founder Robert Alvarado is cautious. “All of this rebuilding will be for naught if we don’t find ways to enhance and empower local leadership and help people own a stake in what they help rebuild.”
For the moment, the church is busy ministering wherever it can. Awakened by the anger and tragedy of the riots, church leaders are showing resolve to address the problems that have existed for so long, so close by. Says Ogilvie, “We’re not about to give up this city to the forces of evil.”
By Ken Waters in Los Angeles
