Advocates

The Narrow Path to Racial Reconciliation

Dhati Lewis

• Publisher: B&H Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781535934671
• eBook ISBN: 9781535934688
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

A slave runs away from his master. A mutual friend steps in to mediate between the two of them. Can there be healing in such a scarred relationship? In the face of such a daunting breach, is reconciliation (not to what was, but to what God designed) even possible? This is the situation faced in the book of Philemon. From this short New Testament letter, pastor and author Dhati Lewis ( Among Wolves ) unpacks key principles that Paul applied to being an advocate in the midst of division. The divisions of our day don't look the same as Paul's, but the principles are timeless. In 2 Corinthians 5, God commissioned us to be his ambassadors and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Whether we're engaging in issues of politics, ethnicity, or religious beliefs, our heart posture should be one of an advocate set on reconciliation. The problem is, too many of us approach difficult conversations with the heart of an aggravator. Aggravators sometimes look like they are pursuing good things, but their heart is not toward reconciliation. Any motive less than reconciliation falls short of the desires of God's heart. We need godly advocates in every sphere of life. This book will specifically apply these principles to issues of ethnic division. Are you willing to call any division caused by discrimination, prejudice, or racism a sin? Do you want to grow in your ability to navigate tense and emotional conversations about ethnic divisions? Are you ready to become an advocate?

Chapter 1

Awareness

I’m often asked to coach church planters, pastors, and others on matters related to racial reconciliation in the church. It’s a common talking point, and more and more, pastors are feeling the need to lead well in this regard. I use the same basic outline for those coaching sessions, asking and answering four questions: 1) Where are we? 2) Where does God want us to be? 3) How do we get there? 4) What fears or obstacles will keep us from getting there? These four questions will provide the structure for this book as we walk through awareness, vision, strategy, and courage.

Awareness: Where Are We?

It doesn’t take much time scrolling through social media, watching the news, or reading the paper to see that our country is divided, and so are our churches. When I scroll through Twitter, I see Christians fighting for their own opinions and voices more than they are fighting to love one another. Facebook has become grounds for vilifying responses and patronizing remarks, none of which actually help bridge the divide. But social media is only reflecting what’s going on in reality. If we are overrun with aggravators in the virtual world, then you’d better believe there is no shortage of aggravating going on in people’s everyday lives. Sure, the form of aggravation might look different without the computer screen to hide behind, but the impact will remain. When I look at where we are, I think most of us, on most days, are aggravators.

This issue of racial division is close to my heart for a lot of different reasons. I wasn’t raised in the church. I grew up around pro-Black politics with family members desiring to join the Black Panther party. And coming from that kind of background, I was hit hard with the realities of ethnic division when one day, as a young Christian, I realized I was falling in love with a White woman.

Now I was the guy on campus who was known as the “racial reconciliation guy.” I was the one always asking, “Can’t we all just get along?” I even started a ministry called B.A.S.I.C. (Brothers and Sisters in Christ) that focused on different races coming together. I really wanted racial unity, but truthfully, I only wanted it on a certain level. I only wanted it as long as it was external.

To be honest, when it came down to the deepest issues of my heart and my life, I was like, “Hold up, God. I don’t know if I can marry a White woman.” Because there I was, an African American man with a strong pro-Black family background, now immersed in predominantly White settings. Because of my theological convictions, I was a member of a White church and a staff member of Campus Crusade for Christ, a predominantly White organization. And even though my “branch” of the ministry (Impact) was geared toward African American students, I was still surrounded by White people in my daily life. And then, on top of that, I started falling in love with a White woman! It caused a major personal crisis—did this mean I was an Uncle Tom? A sellout?

You see, I had a preference for the way I wanted the church to look. I wanted to be a kind of community that you take a picture of and say, “Look how diverse we are!” But when it came down to the depths of my heart and the issues that really mattered, I knew I still had preferences. I even went so far as to tell Angie (my wife now) that she was the type of woman I’d like to marry if she were Black. And God had to painfully convict this part of my heart that only wanted superficial unity. And as he did, I not only fell in love with Angie, but I asked her to marry me, and she said yes.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the happy ending for our story. I wasn’t the only one who had a heart issue with the idea of an interracial marriage. We started our premarital counseling with a couple who were leaders in our church and the organization I worked for. They were both White and were well respected in our community. As soon as our session started, I sensed a strong tension in the room. So, being the observant person that I am, I decided to break the ice. “Okay. So I’m Black. And Angie’s White. Let’s just get that part out in the open.”

While it initially caused a few laughs, things were only okay on the surface. Soon after we started our counseling, Angie and I had our first major disagreement. It wasn’t anything unusual for couples to struggle with, but we needed help learning how to communicate through it. So we took our argument to our counselors, and as Angie shared her frustration, do you know what their response was? They gave her an article to read. And the article was about why people who marry interracially are trying to get back at their parents and why it is complete disobedience. This was their advice.

The sad reality is, I really believe they thought they were genuinely helping us.

This type of “counsel” wasn’t limited to our White leaders. I talked to many of my African American brothers and sisters in Christ, and I asked them, “Would you rather me marry a Black non-Christian or a White Christian?” And more often than not, they said a Black non-Christian. And they would go through all their reasons and give me all kinds of justifications about how we are losing all of our Black men and this or that. And just like our counselors, they had all the best intentions in the world. The problem was that not one person was willing to call division sin. No one was willing to say racial discrimination is wrong.

So before we jump into the ins and outs of Advocates and Aggravators, I want to ask you a question. Are you willing to call any division that is caused by racism, discrimination, or prejudice a spiritual and moral problem? Are you willing to call it sin? Are we, together, willing to call it sin?

This is the framework that I am coming from. And if we don’t start here together, the rest of this book won’t resonate with your heart at all.

Racial Division in the Early Church

I want to take a brief detour to consider a story from the early church in Acts 6. In this short passage we get huge insights into what God thinks about racial division and how his church should respond. The text makes it clear that racial division is a real problem that demands real solutions that can lead to real transformation. Here’s how the story begins:

In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. (Acts 6:1)

Did you catch that? One racial group was being overlooked by another racial group in the daily distribution of food. This was a real problem. The divisions of the world had crept into the church. And how did the church respond? Let’s look.

The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch. They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. (Acts 6:2–6)

The racial divisions were considered to be so grievous and serious that for the first time in the whole book of Acts, the entire church stops and gathers together. In this text, there’s kind of this sense of, “Look. The world is going to have its divisions. But not in God’s house. When the divisions of the world become the divisions of the church, we have to stop everything and address it. This cannot be.” And so they stopped and gathered everyone together.

Historically, we’ve used this passage to tell the story of how we get deacons. While that may be the case, it’s not the point of the text—there is so much more going on in these verses. We see how the church not only stops to gather, but how they identify real solutions. They name seven Hellenistic (Greek, Gentile) men who have authority and responsibility to oversee restoration and justice in this issue. Their solution was specific and culturally sensitive, as it took authority away from those who were abusing it (the Hebraic Jews) and intentionally placed it with seven Hellenistic Jews who could best address the issue at hand.20 In other words, the members of the oppressed party (Gentiles) were given authority, rather than members of the oppressing party (Jews). And then, in the very next verses, we see that those real solutions led to real transformation:

So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith. (Acts 6:7)

Acts 6:7 is the second major benchmark in the book of Acts where a multitude of people come to know the Lord. (The first is in Acts 2:47.) But here we not only see a multitude come to faith, Luke also specifically mentions that a large group of priests became obedient to the faith. Why?

This racial division is a problem they’ve likely had for a while. So now they are looking at this new church and waiting to see how they will handle the division. And what they see is supernatural. The church’s response communicates that they aren’t willing to gloss over the problem, that they are willing to call racial division sin, and that they are willing to give real solutions to the division. The early church viewed it as their spiritual and moral obligation to address issues of racial division. And as the priests saw this, they had to recognize something was different about this community—and many of them became obedient to the faith.

Are we willing to do the same? If God has given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19), then we must recognize that when our heart’s posture is divisive or when we stand idly by in the midst of division, we are in opposition to God’s mission. Racial divisions aren’t simply a social issue reserved for politicians or civic leaders to handle. This is a spiritual and moral problem.

One simple way we can get a glimpse into how racial divisions are manifesting in the church today is to look at polling percentages. Over 80 percent of Black Evangelicals voted for President Obama in 200821 while over 80 percent of White Evangelicals voted for President Trump in 2016.22 Those stats alone reveal how Christians today are more aligned with their racial perspectives than we are united in Christ.

During the 2015 ERLC Leadership Summit, Kevin Smith commented, “Our lack of unity and oneness is a direct contradiction of our missiological goal: disciples of all nations.”23 These divisions within the church are negatively impacting our mission. The divisions of the world have crept into the church. So the question is, does the church have real solutions for this division?

Praise God, the answer is a resounding yes! Or, at the least, a qualified yes—the church can have real solutions for this division. But we have to start by being willing to call any division caused by racism, discrimination, or prejudice a spiritual and moral problem. We must be willing to call it sin.

Later on, we will talk more about the solutions. But let’s stick to the awareness...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Part 1: Where Are We?
• Part 2: Where Does God Want Us to Be?
• Part 3: How Do We Get There?
• Part 4: What Fears or Obstacles Will We Face?
• Appendix: Practical Strategic Initiatives