At my previous church I was naïve enough to think that race was not an issue in the church. I found out differently when we made a concerted effort to start a Spanish speaking ministry. Demographically we lived in one of the fastest growing areas in the state when it came to Spanish speaking people. So we invested in a couple and sent them to Argentina where they became fluent in speaking Spanish and learned how to reach Spanish speaking people and then returned to start a ministry to the Spanish speaking people in our area. As we went full force into this vision, I had a very influential man in the church come into my office that was very angry. He made his opinion very clear. If they can’t speak English they don’t deserve to hear the Gospel. I was shocked…I mean really shocked. And I found out that he was not alone in his sentiments. Folks, listen, we can’t just pretend that racism is not an issue because it is, even here at Grace Church.
Do me a favor. Next time you are at church here at Grace, look around you. In case you haven’t noticed it before, you will see that we are a predominantly white church. But that is slowly changing. I am thrilled that as we continue to grow as a church I am seeing God beginning to break that mold here at Grace. We now have many African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and other ethnic groups who are beginning to find their way into Grace Church and that to me is very, very, very exciting. After all, what is our purpose? It is to meet as many people as possible, not just to meet as many white people as possible but to meet as many people as possible right where they are and help move them to where God wants them to be. And for that to happen we have to come to the extremely important realization that race can never be allowed to be a barrier for those who choose to call Grace Church home and worship Christ in this place.
So how do we bring this to a practical and applicable ending? May I suggest several possibilities? First, take time this week to get alone with God and ask Him to really search every nook and cranny of your heart to root out any area where you are allowing a barrier to divide you from others who are part of God’s family, be it racial, political, denominational or due to style or preference. Admit it. Confess it. Repent from it.
Second, make it a point to genuinely welcome people here at Grace every time you are at church. Every time that you see someone on a Sunday morning that you don’t know or don’t recognize, be the one to initiate a conversation. Put out your hand of friendship. Ask them their name. Ask them about their family. Find out who they and how long they have been attending here at Grace. And especially do this to those who you see every Sunday here in church who look different than you.
And third, invite people of different ethnic backgrounds to attend Grace with you. Invite people with different color of skin to join your Connect Group. Jesus died to break down the barriers in His family. Jesus died to rescue us from our sin. But He also died to rescue us from the barriers that divide us. Let’s be proactive in making sure that those barriers never prohibit us from being the Body of Christ here at Grace
Do me a favor. Next time you are at church here at Grace, look around you. In case you haven’t noticed it before, you will see that we are a predominantly white church. But that is slowly changing. I am thrilled that as we continue to grow as a church I am seeing God beginning to break that mold here at Grace. We now have many African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and other ethnic groups who are beginning to find their way into Grace Church and that to me is very, very, very exciting. After all, what is our purpose? It is to meet as many people as possible, not just to meet as many white people as possible but to meet as many people as possible right where they are and help move them to where God wants them to be. And for that to happen we have to come to the extremely important realization that race can never be allowed to be a barrier for those who choose to call Grace Church home and worship Christ in this place.
So how do we bring this to a practical and applicable ending? May I suggest several possibilities? First, take time this week to get alone with God and ask Him to really search every nook and cranny of your heart to root out any area where you are allowing a barrier to divide you from others who are part of God’s family, be it racial, political, denominational or due to style or preference. Admit it. Confess it. Repent from it.
Second, make it a point to genuinely welcome people here at Grace every time you are at church. Every time that you see someone on a Sunday morning that you don’t know or don’t recognize, be the one to initiate a conversation. Put out your hand of friendship. Ask them their name. Ask them about their family. Find out who they and how long they have been attending here at Grace. And especially do this to those who you see every Sunday here in church who look different than you.
And third, invite people of different ethnic backgrounds to attend Grace with you. Invite people with different color of skin to join your Connect Group. Jesus died to break down the barriers in His family. Jesus died to rescue us from our sin. But He also died to rescue us from the barriers that divide us. Let’s be proactive in making sure that those barriers never prohibit us from being the Body of Christ here at Grace
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
ReplyDeleteIt is somewhat ironic that we as Christians would even use the term "racism", which seems to have its roots from evolutionary thinking.
As God reveals through His Word, there is but ONE race, the human race (we are all descendants of Adam). "Racism" is but one of the many forms that our pride (which is an abomination to the LORD) takes on...
Acts 17:22-31 - Paul Addresses the Areopagus
22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place , 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28for
"'In him we live and move and have our being';
as even some of your own poets have said,
"'For we are indeed his offspring.'
29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."