“Why doesn’t someone plant a church in a mobile home park?” One noted theologian (https://twitter.com/drantbradley) has often made this challenge to evangelical leaders and denominations that tend to focus their attention on the inner-city and “reaching” blacks. But we found a church planter who started a church in a low-income white community–a mobile home park–in […]
I never heard the term “church planting” growing up in Black churches. It wasn’t until I got involved in White evangelical circles that I heard the phrase and it took on meaning. This doesn’t imply that African American churches weren’t or aren’t thinking about multiplication. I remember numerous conversations around evangelism and growing the church […]
In Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, Tim Keller recently described Western Christianity’s inability to make meaning out of suffering. However, the African American church tradition represents a notable exception to the general inability of American Christianity to suffer well. Redemptive suffering is a widespread and deeply cherished belief within the Black church tradition, […]
A while ago RAAN’s Regular Contributor, Jasmine Baucham, interviewed Joseph Solomon. Recently I visited chaseGod.tv to see what Joseph, a.k.a “Joe”, was cooking and stumbled on this amazing video on prayer. He offers three thoughts on the Christian prayer: Pray Humbly and Carefully Do not Pray for Style Pray Often He also offers things he […]
Monday’s Meditation The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22, ESV) New Years is one of the most fascinating times of the year in regards to the human heart. We all anxiously look forward to a new beginning. It’s a […]
All Christians are involved in foreign missions. You are either a “goer” or a “sender”. At the inaugural Cross Conference in Louisville, Kentucky on December 27-30, the presenters labored to make the case for missions. They called for hundreds of young men and women to take to the mission field in places around the world. The […]
Editor’s Note: This is the beginning of a new weekly series entitled Meditation Monday, a weekly devotional that aims to make much of God in the lives of our readers through sound biblical exposition. We produce these for God’s glory and your joy. Join us every Monday. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and […]
I am only six months into planting a multi-ethnic church. What a journey! We have yet to begin our regular meetings and already I see a central lesson emerging from my experiences: there’s only one expert and it is not me. Jesus is the only real expert at creating the Christian community we call the […]
Leaving a black church and entering into the world of a predominately white reformed church is a hard transition as a black person. Pride, bitterness and loneliness can consume one in such an environment where you might be challenged, misunderstood and alienated, often times unintentionally. To help prevent this, we must remind others going through […]
This Christmas season will be filled with gift giving, good food, and precious time with family and friends. And while all of these things are wonderful and important, we should keep the purpose of this blessed time of year central in our minds. This is the perfect time for God’s people to spend a few […]
I am ignorant. I have a confession to make. Until a few months ago, I was almost entirely ignorant of the issues addressed here on RAAN. My view of racism was tremendously truncated. I was not aware of the subdominant and dominant culture group dynamics and had not given much thought to the problem of […]
The other day, I picked up a little book that has the markings of being the next prayer of Jabez. You remember that book, right? Bruce Wilkinson leveraged one verse in an historical narrative to promote and popularize a concept that had little to do with what is prescriptive for our Christian life today. But […]
The holidays are here. It’s an exciting time of the year. Imagining gifts, food, friends and family; it’s a great time for many people. Many families have different traditions that involve some type of service to the poor. As well many churches and ministries have programs that are centralized on giving freely to the poor. […]
With a history spanning several hundred years, the Roman Empire was one of the most powerful empires in the history of humankind. In the First Century, Augustus became its first emperor and ruled from roughly 27 BC to 14 AD. He is credited with helping achieve 40 years of internal peace and prosperity in the […]
I was outside not too long ago with my boys enjoying that one tried and true memory that every childhood must possess – blowing bubbles! I had the honor of blowing the bubbles and my boys had the happy yet empty privilege of catching the bubbles. I use “empty” because the task is one in […]
It’s every person’s dream. Imagine taking your hobby and moving it from the margins of your life to the center. Making your pastime your profession. That’s what seminary is for me. Ever since I became a Christian I knew I would go to seminary. It’s odd. I don’t know how it came about. Seminary certainly […]
It has happened to nearly every African American I know, and it continues happening to this day. “Shopping while Black”. If you’re unfamiliar with this terminology, let me explain. Imagine you walk into a store–you could be alone or with friends, with people of your same race or others–and you begin to browse. You may […]
It’s happened to all of us. If you are a writer, public speaker, teacher, or communicator of any kind, you have felt misunderstood. You work long and hard to make a particular point about yourself or an idea. You try to live your life in a way that honors the Lord and loves your neighbor. […]
If there is one thing that humans all have in common it is the desire to make meaning out of life and to do so in a community that gives us a sense that we matter to others. We long for connection, love, and validation. We want to know that our life matters now and […]
It is absolutely impossible to go through life without any affection for anything. Many of us have experienced these affections in relationships or family, in the first car we received, in the new pair of shoes we just bought, or fill in the blank. Whether we like it or not, there are people that we […]
