Race
Reflections on racial reconciliation within the church and culture
Fifteen months ago, this blog began with a conversation with Katelyn Beaty about my hopes and dreams for Thin Places. As I conclude this blog, we thought it fitting to have a concluding conversation as well. Katelyn and I had a chance to talk about the most exciting and most challenging aspects of ...
One of the wonderful aspects of blogging is that I get to write about pretty much anything that is on my mind and might connect with readers. Over the past 15 months of blogging for Christianity Today, I've written or edited nearly 200 posts. As I wrote last week, many posts soar to the top of ...
First, a brief overview in case you haven't seen it: Selma, a biopic directed by Ava Duverney, tells the story of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the historic march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital. Duverney focuses on this short period of time as a way to magnify the various ...
In light of the ongoing civil unrest following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the recent grand jury decision on Eric Garner's death at the hands of police in Staten Island, New York, I asked the various writers who contributed to an August blog series on race and racial reconciliation ...
First I noticed his kilt. A man in a skirt.
Then I learned he was a police officer. A California motorcycle cop. So this white man stood out for certain at a platform-building conference we both were attending in mid-November in Colorado Springs.
Then Jason Hoschouer, the man in the skirt, spoke ...
Back in August, I hosted a series of guest posts about racial reconciliation within the church. As it happened, in the initial week of that series, Michael Brown—an unarmed African-American teenager—was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. In the weeks and now ...
A few weeks ago, my friend and colleague Helen Lee wrote a note on Facebook about her son experiencing derogatory comments related to his race for the first time. I reached out to ask her to reflect upon what God had taught her during that experience for the Small Talk blog series here. Helen brings ...
In the midst of the national news storm that emerged following Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, this summer, I received an early copy of Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith. This book, written by four evangelicals from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, came out in September. ...
Earlier this summer, I decided to dedicate some time and space on this blog to the concept of racial reconciliation within the church.
It began as a modest project. I invited a handful of pastors and church leaders from different ethnic backgrounds to reflect upon their experiences within the evangelical ...
For the past month, this blog has hosted a series of guest posts offering thoughts on race and reconciliation within the church in America. I will offer my own thoughts about this series in a concluding post later this week, but I also wanted to offer an overview and summary of the posts as they appeared ...
For the past month, this blog space has been dedicated to exploring the topic of racial reconciliation among Christians. I will offer a summary of all these posts on Monday as well as my concluding thoughts on Tuesday. Today I offer these empowering words about action we might take to help the church ...
“I don’t see color.”
I cringe inside every time I hear these words. In most instances, people utter them in an attempt to let me and all who are listening know that they are not racist or that they value people regardless of their race. But the statement itself devalues me as ...
Leroy Barber, Global Executive Director of Word Made Flesh, has been a leader within the evangelical community for over three decades. This past week Leroy joined other leaders in Ferguson in the wake of Michael Brown's death. We asked Leroy what’s been on his mind during these tumultuous ...
Despite the rapid diversification of American society, the typical American congregation remains culturally homogenous. Still, there is an exciting, fresh movement toward reconciliation and healing within the church all over the country. About seven years ago, a group of us responded to the call ...
In 1894, black racial justice activist Ida B. Wells sounded the alarm on racial injustice, imploring white Christians to put a stop to the lynching of black people. She spoke out saying, “Our American Christians are too busy saving the souls of white Christians from burning in hell-fire to ...
Dominique DuBois Gilliard is a pastor at New Hope Covenant Church in Oakland, California. He is also a board member of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) and director of racial reconciliation pilgrimages for the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. ...
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. –Revelation 7:9
Since 1990, I have ...
Five days after the start of this series, on August 9, St. Louis police shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old black man named Michael Brown. Police said Brown had struggled with an officer, while eyewitnesses told CNN he had his hands up and did not to provoke the use of force.
Residents of Ferguson, ...
1. Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart
An eye-opening look inside the divisions, cliques, and conflicts of the church and the hidden reasons behind them.
2. Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of White Christianity
by ...
Almost 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of America.” Sometimes we Christians want to believe that the Gospel has helped us as the Church achieve what our country has not—becoming post-racial. But, ...
