Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The Harvest

      What does message does a church give to the watching world if the people in attendance are of the same race, culture, background and/or socio-economic level? I want that to be the central question of this post as I continue to delve into the murky, scary waters of racial reconciliation. Please note: this applies to ALL churches. Not just 'white' churches. Not just 'black' churches. This is an applicable question to every Christian and every church in every denomination. The discussion in this post will revolve around the main theme of an earlier post, "Comfort Zone Religion." What I want to do is push us further into this problem of settling in our respective areas of religion and familiarity. It is going to get intense. It is going to get tough. You ready? Lets go!

      I grew up in the Presbyterian Church. Not PC-USA; those boys are a bunch of heathens! All psuedo-joking aside, I agree very strongly with the central core of the PCA teaching. The focus on grace and the Covenant. The emphasis on piety and theology. The sermons that are rabid in sticking to what Scripture says, not what the culture wants taught. All these things are great and admirable. In my opinion, American Christianity would do well to return to this level of proprietary decency of teaching truth in true uncompromising love. But I have to say, the PCA and other denominations are beginning to worry me. I see a lot of churches moving towards 'sameness' and away from Scriptural teachings on being 'in the world.' 

      What do I mean by that? I was recently driving home from a great small group meeting at my church in Charlotte, Christ Central Church. I was feeling really convicted about the racial sameness of my home churches and other churches of which I have been a part. During this mental and prayerful struggle, I was reminded of Jesus' commandment to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10:12, ESV). The thought occurred to me: what does it say about my heart and the heart of the church if the harvest  is full of only 'white' grapes? Or 'black' grapes? Or 'Asian' wheat? In other words, if we are being intentional about going out into the world to 'preach the gospel to all of creation' (Mark 16;15), why do we attend segregated churches? Seriously stop and think about that idea for a moment. Am I intentionally reaching out to other people groups? If some churches were totally honest with themselves, I think we would hear them admit that the only racial outreach they are doing is in overseas missions. If you disagree, prove me wrong. Show me where God has moved in your congregation to bring in diverse peoples from diverse cultures. And then let us rejoice together that God has been glorified in that.
      Part of racial reconciliation has to be recognizing similarities and rejoicing in differences. The similarities part is easy. Oh hey, you went to Wake Forest? I went to Wake Forest! You work in business? I want to work in business! You grew up in a middle class family? Hey so did I! I literally had that conversation with a black lady the other day. We could connect easily on many levels because we shared many commonalities. 
      But what about the differences? All too often, I see us reject people (even if 'only' subconsciously) because we cannot understand their point of view. I will just come out and say it: I think we segregate ourselves because we do not want to take the time and energy to recognize how great God is in that He created us as different races and cultures. Racial diversity needs to be REJOICED over, not hidden away in black and white churches. Here is where I have a problem with the PCA and other denominations. Why are our churches not vibrantly diverse?
          Jesus tends to be a good example for things. So, let us ask Him who he ministered to. A Samaritan woman (John 4). Roman tax collectors, Roman soldiers, and Roman leaders. The marginalized (Matthew-John. But seriously...) Fellow Jews of all walks of life. What does that tell us? It tells us that Jesus understood (obviously) the importance of reaching out to every tongue, tribe and nation (Revelation 14:6).
           Are we as PCA, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, etc churches truly believing that? God created us all. He created each unique culture and racial background. Each race and culture brings a different aspect of God's love to the Church. I firmly believe that we can not understand God more fully without being able to relate to different cultures. By separating into racially-driven religious cliques, we have spit on the perfection of His creation. I am NOT saying I have a problem with denominations. That is a whole other issue. For example, the PCA can stand firm in being 'decent and in order' without having to compromise our standing as one in Christ. Christ Central, Redeemer Church (Tim Keller, ftw) and other churches are rightly rebelling against the 'whiteness' of the PCA while maintaining solid teaching. But, it is high time we as the PCA (and other denominations) started to seriously question where our ministry fields are. More importantly, as individuals, where are our mission fields? We all have specific mission fields be it as a stay-at-home mother, a banker, teacher, or some other profession. But we also all have the Great Commandment to spread God's teaching and love to the world. We can do no less than that.

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