It would seem that after 250 years, our country would have long since addressed the problems of race and racism. Yet as we enter into the 21st century, this problem continues to plague us.
It was in 1969 that I was told by the leadership of a large church in Atlanta that I wasn't welcome there because I am black. In 1974, my wife and I were informed in no uncertain terms we were not welcomed at a prominent church in Dallas (pastored, by the way, by one of my seminary professors). In 1987, I was told by a number of major Christian radio station managers that there was little place for blacks in the general Christian broadcast media. And in 1993, I heard an influential national Christian leader say that, based on the curse of Ham, black people are under God's judgment.
Today I regularly get calls from church leaders across the country, both black and white, telling me of the racial tensions in their communities and the division within their churches. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was right: Either we must learn to live together as brothers or we will certainly die together as fools.
Why has there been so little progress in race relations in American culture in general and American Christianity in particular? Four obstacles seem to block progress: (1) our fear that we will lose our racial distinction; (2) our cultural prejudice; (3) our fear of the price tag of unity; and (4) our hesitancy to hold people accountable for racial prejudice. Let's take a look at these barriers to Christian unity.
1. Our fear of losing our racial distinction. Unity is not equal to sameness. Just as a husband and wife can become one, even though there are obvious physical, temperamental, and personality differences, cultures and races can be one without being the same.
What then is the essence of that oneness? In order to have unity, both parties must be willing to move forward in a central direction for the common good of all involved. The moment a Husband or wife establishes a private agenda that does not involve the overall good of the home the marriage is in trouble. In the same way, cultures and races are in trouble if they do not have a unified purpose.
2. Our cultural prejudice. One of the major hindrances to biblical unity is the authority given to cultural diversity. For example, some black Christians so amalgamate the tenets of black culture with their faith, that they frequently fail to make the necessary distinction between the two when it comes to critiquing themselves. In fact, many times white racism is blamed for what really is black irresponsibility for which we are not willing to take responsibility (teenage pregnancy, black-on-black crimes, absentee fathers). Far too often we appeal to white oppression to excuse black ineptness, as though we are such a weak, powerless, ungifted people that we can only function to the degree others allow us.
Conversely, some whites will leave the Bible when it is culturally convenient to do so in order to protect their traditions. This is seen most clearly in the sacred cow of interracial dating and marriage. When this issue surfaces, it is amazing how quickly the argument of culture comes up. Questions such as, "What about the kids?" and "What will the relatives think?" arise much quicker than questions of what the Bible says.
The problems with both of these perspectives is the failure to recognize biblical authority when it clashes with cultural or racial presuppositions.
3. Our fear of the price tag of unity. Another problem that must be addressed is the cost of unity.
Unity is very expensive. Just as a husband and wife must give up a lot to gain the oneness that marriage offers, so the races must be willing to pay the price of biblical unity. Both sides must be willing to experience the rejection of friends and relatives, whether Christians or non-Christians, who are not willing to accept that spiritual family relationships transcend physical, cultural, and racial relationships. This is what Jesus meant when he said, "whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Matt. 12:50). The cost is particularly expensive to local churches who begin opening their doors to people who are viewed by many as socially unacceptable, even though they have been made acceptable to the Father by the blood of Christ.
In order to prepare for God's unity call, pastors are going to have to begin preaching the whole counsel of God on the issue of racism and classism (see James 2:1-13). We are going to have to remind our congregations of Ephesians 2:14, "For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing of hostility…." We are going to have to stop ignoring the parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ's teaching on the responsibility of people to demonstrate love tangibly for a neighbor, even if the neighbor is from a different culture (Luke 10:30-37).
The church must follow up with practical opportunities for bridging the cultural divide. This includes developing a relationship with a pastor and church from another culture and starting a joint fellowship. A joint worship service is a good beginning, but that is not enough. We must then get groups within the church to minister side by side. Nothing will bond people more than working together, particularly in doing works of charity.
4. Our hesitancy to hold people accountable for racial prejudice. Finally, and perhaps most costly of all, we must hold people accountable for refusing to cooperate with bridge-building efforts. The church cannot condone racial slurs and public rejection of brothers and sisters who are different. There is no more time for us to sit by passively and wait for people to change. People must be led into change, and that cannot be done without the knowledge that we will be held accountable for how we treat other members of God's family.
Only if all sides are willing to take this stand will the effort be worth the risk. For one side to pay the price without equal commitment from the other will only create more mistrust and division. When both sides take a strong biblical stand, however, the support systems will be there to withstand the opposition that will naturally come.
Lessons from Samaria
One of the most informative and poignant teachings regarding culture, truth, and unity is the story of Jesus' encounter with the woman of Samaria in John 4. This story gives us two overriding principles needed to reach true biblical unity: (1) we must establish common ground, and (2) we must refuse to allow our cultures to interfere with God's truth.
When Jesus traveled with his disciples through Samaria, he was not merely taking a shorter route. He was on a mission to meet needs he knew existed there. The fact that he entered Samaria made it clear he was willing to go beyond his own culture to meet those needs, but overcoming the cultural prejudice of the Samaritans was another issue. He was willing to make the first move, but how could he get the Samaritans to give him the chance to minister to them? The solution was to establish common ground, the first principle for biblical unity.
In Samaria, Jesus rested at Jacob's well (John 4:6). It was a natural place for a hot, tired man to stop. But Jesus chose this particular well because both the Jews and the Samaritans loved Jacob, who was the father of both groups. He stopped at Jacob's well and built a bridge of communication by starting with what he and the Samaritan woman could agree on.
As he spoke to the woman at the well, Jesus did not enter into an analysis of the cultural differences between Jews and Samaritans, but rather he moved to the spiritual issue of the woman's need for forgiveness. He allowed her to hold on to her history, culture, and experience as a Samaritan. Yet he established common ground. That's what Christians of all races and cultures need to do today. That common ground is our love of Jesus Christ.
The second principle for biblical unity is that Jesus refused to allow culture to interfere with his higher priority of representing God's truth.
When the Samaritan woman allowed her cultural background to cloud her correct understanding about God,
Jesus immediately rejected her cultural commitment. In rather direct language, Jesus said to the woman, "You Samaritans worship what you do not know" (John 4:22). His point was acutely clear: Whenever there is a conflict between culture and God's truth, culture must always submit to the truth of God as revealed in his Word. When the woman's culture crossed sacred things, Christ invaded her world to condemn it and let her know that her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all wrong.
This means that to refer to oneself as a black Christian, white Christian, Mexican Christian, or Chinese Christian is technically incorrect. Our Christianity should never be modified by our culture. Our Christianity should modify our culture. We must see ourselves as Christian blacks, Christian whites, Christian Mexicans, or Christian Chinese.
Whenever we make the adjective black, white, brown, and yellow descriptive of Christians, it may mean we have changed Christianity to make it fit a cultural description. The Bible teaches the opposite—that we are Christians who may happen to be black, white, brown, or yellow. If anything changes, it is to be our cultural orientation, not our Christianity.
Jesus not only critiqued the Samaritan culture by the truth of God's Word, but he critiqued his own Jewish culture by that same standard. When his disciples complained that he was talking with a Samaritan woman, he rejected their racism by telling them it was more important for him to do the will of God than to succumb to their biases (John 4:31-34). Obeying the will of God always takes a priorit over satisfying cultural expectations.
In the black community, there are cultural trademarks. For example, blacks have special ways of saluting one another, shaking hands, and communicating in general. Although these marks of cultural identification and racial solidarity are acceptable, they cannot supersede spiritual identification. Therefore, Christians of different races and cultures must learn that spiritual relationship forms the basis for true brotherhood. This is so because the bond between Christians of different races is eternal, whereas the relationship between a Christian and non-Christian of the same race is temporal.
Our biblical agenda
Jesus makes a powerful statement in John 13:35 when he says "All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another."
This implies two critical principles: First, Christians are to make something happen in their relationship with each other that is so dynamic the world will view it as worth looking into. And second, our love for one another should be public, so unbelievers can see that Christianity is not a secret.
God does not require that all churches be integrated, but he does require that all function harmoniously as the body of Christ without divisiveness. Jesus is not asking blacks to become whites or whites to become Asians or Latinos to become Native Americans, but he insists that all reflect God's truth as given in Scripture. When culture does not infringe upon the Word of God, we are free to be what God has created us to be, with all the uniqueness that accompanies our cultural heritage.
However, the objective truth from Scripture places limits on our cultural experience. As African-Americans continue to seek cultural freedom, we must examine every strategy offered to promote justice under the magnifying glass of Scripture. Every bit of advice given by our leaders and all definitions proposing to tell us what it means to be black must be commensurate with divine revelation.
Whites, too, must submit their cultural traditions to the authority of God's Word if they are going to play their part in dismantling their contribution to the racial mythology that is a dominant theme in their worldview.
The bottom line then is that there must be a moral frame of reference through which both black and white experiences are examined and judged, and the only standard that qualifies is the Bible.
Tony Evans is senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas. He is also the founder and president of The Urban Alternative, a cross-racial and cross-cultural community ministry.
This article was adapted with permission from the book Let's Get to Know Each Other: What White Christians Should Know About Black Christians by Toni, Evans, copyright 1995, Thomas Nelson Inc., Nashville, Tennessee. It was published in Good News magazine in November/December 1996).