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 […]
Category: Theology
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, […]
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 […]
LeBron James’ Los Angeles home was vandalized when an unidentified person spray-painted the word “Nigger” on the front gate. This discouraging event took me back almost three years ago to the sight of my own vandalized home. Much like James’ incident, an unidentified person, in the darkness of a cold December night, spray-painted the homes […]
“How do I find other Black kids for them to play with?” I was asked this question by a White adoptive mom of two Black preschool-aged daughters. After I recovered from the shock of the question, I responded she needed to start by meeting Black families in her neighborhood, children’s preschool, and church. If those […]
Mississippi was not a state I had ever envisioned moving to. Growing up in San Diego and attending college in Los Angeles, the deep south was both foreign in concept and periphery in mindset. However, two years ago in March of my senior year, I received a phone call. Instead of continuing onto graduate school, […]
Based on some online comments, I expected to see a film where “white guilt” was pushed by excessive imagery of ethnic (racial) conflict and confrontation, punctuated with very brash and emotional statements about racism. I must also mention that I was not very familiar with James Baldwin previous to hearing about this film. I Am […]
Dr. Willie Parker is the most recent face of the pro-choice movement. And unlike many of the other prominent faces of the movement, Dr. Parker speaks from the demographic that is generally not heard from concerning pro-choice: African-American men. While history informs us African-American men have been vocal on both sides of the abortion issue, […]
How might women fulfill their purpose while not violating God’s principles?
Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 teaches us that the local and global body of Christians has many members, who all have an indispensable part to play. Therefore, the lack of minority representation in international missions is not something to be ignored.
Remembrance is a fundamental and powerful aspect of the Christian life. Throughout Scripture, the people of God are encouraged to remember the acts, commands, and character of God. Stones were set in place, altars were built, festivals were celebrated, and epistles were written, all so that God’s people would not forget his wonderful deeds of […]
This post is the fifth in a series regarding racism in evangelicalism. The first 3 focused on why racism might defeat evangelicalism. The last post focused on the reason why evangelicalism might defeat racism. I discussed the importance of understanding and living out the whole gospel to fight and defeat racism in evangelical spaces. This […]
Jackie Sarpong interviews a Toronto native on the effects of the gospel on the city and local churches, while touching on why representation matters.
If evangelicals embrace a bigger understanding of the gospel in comparison to the one they’ve traditionally embraced, churches might defeat racism in their Christian spaces. In both popular and scholarly discussions about the concept of the gospel, many interpreters wrongly reduce the definition of gospel to entry vocabulary. They describe it as justification by faith, […]
In two recent posts, I offered 8 reasons why racism might defeat evangelicalism. Here, I specifically discuss the importance of having a complete understanding of the gospel, which includes both vertical and horizontal realities. What is the Gospel—Really? The most fundamental reason why certain evangelical churches are being defeated by racism, and don’t have a […]