The Post-Black and Post-White Church

Becoming the Beloved Community in a Multi-Ethnic World

Efrem Smith

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781506463476
• eBook ISBN: 9781506463483
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

The key to creating and growing a more unified and holistic church is the multi-ethnic and Christ-centered community that offers a strong connection between theology and practical ministry models, and that nurtures believers who are wrestling with what it means to be the church of the Bible today. Most books on racial reconciliation or multi-ethnic ministry center on the theological foundations, history, or social problem aspects of the topic.

The Post-Black and Post-White Church offers a practical, hands-on blueprint for developing and sustaining a multi-ethnic and Christ-centered community. Written by Efrem Smith, an innovative and passionate African American leader of the Covenant Evangelical Church and founding pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this groundbreaking book shares his skills, experience, and wisdom for congregations who want to grow into a multi-ethnic, missional identity.

The Post-Black and Post-White Church connects theology and practical ministry models for wrestling with what it means to be church in an increasingly multi-ethnic world that is polarized by class, politics, and race. The book embraces Jesus as one who was both Jewish and multi-ethnic and focuses on a theology of reconciled, multi-ethnic, and missional leadership.

3

Index

A

Abernathy, R., 77

Abraham, 82, 83, 118

Acceptance stage of intercultural sensitivity, 180, 181

Access, poverty and, 48

Acts: 2:16-17, 172; 2:42-47, 30–31; 13:1-3,

119; first church in, 16, 30–31, 32, 33,

119, xix; multi-ethnic leadership in, 11 Adam and Eve, 80–81

Adaptation stage of intercultural sensitivity, 180, 181

Advancing the kingdom. See Kingdom advancement

Affirmation seeking: from African-American peers, 155–156, 172, 173, 182; as

core issue, 157–158; from EuropeanAmericans, 182; in God through Christ, 153, 170, 176–177, 183; in preaching,

151–153, 171, 172, 176; in speaking engagements, 156–157; through business approach to leadership, 164–166

Africa: Jesus’s ancestors in, 84; ministries in, 43–46, 48; movement of church center

to, 119

African-American, 201n. 3. See also Blacks Agape love, 109. See also Love

Alpha, 32

American Church in Crisis, The (Olson), 21–23 American Church Research Project, 22 Anderson, C., 141

Animals, creation of, 80–81 Antioch, church at, 11, 119

Apostleship, spiritual gift of, 176, 177 Arizona, population and demographics of,

24, 26

Asia, movement of church center to, 119 Asian-Americans: church planing of,

141–142; growth in, 26

Assessment tools: Five-Fold Test (of multiethnic and missional development), 139–140; Insights Discovery Personal Profile, 164–170, 177; Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), 179–183; Network Servant Profile, 175–178; outside consultants for, 163–164, 175; for spiritual and leadership development, 162–163

Assimilation, 8–9, 79, 167 Association of Related Churches, 118

Athletes, racial media treatment of, 69–70, 171

Attribution, 79

Augustine, 118

B

Baptist church, 106, 111–114, 186–187

Barndt, J., 76

Beck, G., 54

Bell, R., 37

Beloved community: civil rights movement and, 99–103; identity beyond race and, 81–82; kingdom advancement and, 1–3,

5–7, 101–103; multi-ethnic, missional church as, 1–3, 197–199, xvii, xx; term of, 202n. 5

Beloved leadership outline, 184 Beloved Life and Leadership Project,

161–184; assessment tool overview for, 162–163; dark side trait assessment in, 161, 168–169, 170–174; focus areas of, 161; Insights Discovery Personal Profile assessment in, 164–170; Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) in, 161, 179–183; journaling in, 163, 174; need for, 159–160; Network Servant Profile assessment in, 175–179; overview of, 161–163; personal narrative in, 170–174;

209

personal profile dimension of, 161, 164–170; servant leadership assessment in, 161, 175–179; time frame of, 163

Bennett, M., 179

Berry, E., 110–111, 112, 115

Bethel Seminary, 149, 180

Biblical foundations: anti-racial, 80–81; for beloved community, 5–6; in Black preaching, 104–106; of challenging calls, 185;

for church as community, 30–31, 48–51; for compassion, mercy, and justice, 48–49, 52–59, 191; core values derived

from, 192–200; cultural values versus, 29;

ethnic groups and, 37–38, 85–87; for

holistic approach, 162, 192; for multi-

ethnic church, 2–3, 10–11, 85–87, 191, 192; of the multi-ethnicity of Jesus, 82–84

Birmingham, Alabama, 89

Black church, 93–116; civil rights movement and, 3, 98, 99–103, 109; community

engagement of, 93, 98, 113–115; commuter versus community, 114; contextualization by, 103–104; continuing need for, 115–116; gifts of, for multiethnic, missional church, 94–95, 98–99,

102–115; historical development of, 3–4,

95–98, 106; liberation focus of, 54–55,

97, 105, 107–109; ministry practices of,

98–99; missional gifts of, 109, 113–115; multi-ethnic/post-Black development for, 114–115, 116; music of, 35, 99, 106,

107; pas...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table Of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction: Enter the Sanctuary
• Reconciling, Multi-Ethnic, and Missional
• Moving the Church Beyond Crisis, Captivity, and Comfort
• Compassion, Mercy, and Justice
• Race
• The Gift of the Black Church
• Creating a Post-White Church
• Leadership
• The Beloved Life and Leadership Project
• Starting, Shifting, and Sustaining
• Notes
• About the Author
• Index