The primary sin of many in middle class white America is not that of commission but of omission.
Category: The Church
There is a constant danger within the church to take book-sized concepts and reduce them down to Tweet-sized statements. I have seen and experienced this practice of sharing well-intended (but ultimately unhelpful) encouragement to single Christians. I like to refer to them as “fast food graces.” These are morsels of truth-like statements that fit into […]
In the days of Jim Crow law and custom mandated racial segregation, physical signs of separation included placards over drinking fountains, separate entrances at movie theaters, and train cars dedicated to one race or another. It took a costly movement for civil rights in the mid-twentieth century to bring down those barriers and allow racial […]
Overt expressions of White Supremacy engulfed Charlottesville this past weekend. The evil, hatred, and violence incited by White Supremacists resulted in a death and injuries of brave image-bearers opposing such hatred. Many Christians have rightly spoken out against these overt acts of White Supremacy. Those who willingly embrace a White Supremacist ideology might not necessarily […]
What happened in Charlottesville, VA on Saturday, August 12th was a demonstration of evil in the form racism and bigotry. White Supremacists and White Nationalists are homegrown terrorists groups. When I was trained as a field artillery officer in the US Army, I was told there were two types of targets: planned targets and targets […]
Jemar and Tyler talk about the events following the death of Philando Castile
If anyone of us find ourselves walking with the Lord against the tide of this sinful world, we must give all the glory to God. Let him who boast, boast in the Lord!
This article and podcast has first published on the Christianity Today website. You find the original post and more great content here. For many young Christians, the goal of a diverse local church seems like a given: What socially conscious millennial believer wouldn’t want to worship alongside people of every color, country, and culture under […]
30-year-old Charleena Lyles had 3 children (ages 11, 4, and 1), and was pregnant with her fourth, who watched and listened as their mother was gunned down. They heard the pleading, promises, screams and gun blasts echo throughout their apartment. Dae’ Anne, the 4-year-old daughter of Diamond Reynolds, was in the backseat of Philando Castille’s […]
June is African-American Music Appreciation Month. We pay tribute to the legacy and contributions African-Americans have made over the centuries. As I reflected on this history, I was taken back to arguably the most influential musical genre in the African-American narrative: The Negro Spiritual. Touching on the meaning of the Negro Spiritual, Howard Thurman, an […]
I have been a father for over eight years, and fatherhood has been a source of great joy for me. It has also been a source of some of the deepest grief as we buried our oldest five years ago. One of my deepest fears was met in that moment. I couldn’t protect her from […]
This past Winter, Dr. Eric Mason preached on 2 Corinthians 10:1-10. His message remains relevant now. In it, he opens with the fact that our most dangerous enemy is often ourselves. Mason gives background of the Corinth situation and highlights how the congregation’s “beef” with Paul’s appearance versus his rhetoric in his letters was really […]
This article by D.L. Mayfield is originally posted on the Sojourners Magazine site. An excerpt has been reposted below with permission. LAST YEAR, STANDING at a microphone in front of our city council at a town-hall meeting, I came to a stark realization: I needed a theology of gentrification. There I was, shakily demanding that […]
The Lord has called me to do some redemptive work in a predominantly white Presbyterian church in Atlanta that desires to become more diverse. As I have started to interact with members, staff, and leaders, I have ran into this idea of the “authentic self.” This is a highly-individualized self-awareness developed by a specific worldview […]
This compiliation was originally posted on Ligon Duncan’s personal blog. You can find the original, as well as more great content here. Important Online Resources: Race and Church Thabiti Anyabwile, “Jonathan Edwards, Slavery, and the Theology of African Americans,” https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/files/2012/02/Thabiti-Jonathan-Edwards-slavery-and-theological-appropriation.pdf Thabiti Anyabwile, “Bondage or Freedom? Questions in Early American Theology,” The John L. Girardeau Lectures, […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Tyler and Jemar are joined with SBC Pastor Earon James to discuss the controversy that surrounded the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2017 annual meeting. Jemar It feels like theological policing. That an African American pastor in good standing authored this resolution, it was deemed-the wording was deemed-too inflammatory, confrontational, […]
The more I grow into my identity as an adopted son in the family of God, the more I grow as a father to my children. The Lord has blessed my wife and I with a blended family of five children—three daughters and two sons. Each one of them captures my heart in a unique […]
There is no easy way around it. As a white man, regardless of what I do or say to support my minority brothers and sisters, I am enmeshed with a cultural system that does them harm. This strange mix of guilt and confusion tends to cause myself and those like me to stop, get quiet, […]
As the daily news cycle continues to unmask longstanding racial tensions within our country (and even the church), more and more Christians are looking for answers. How do we think through racial issues biblically? How do we have conversations about race honestly? And how do we apply godly wisdom practically? Among conservative reformed circles, The […]
I don’t know about you, but prayer isn’t often my default. With good news, or bad, bright times and dark times, I sometimes turn to family and friends before I turn to God. I believe this sermon by Pastor H.B. Charles Jr. is for people just like me. In his message, Pastor H.B. highlights how the […]
