Race, America, and the Mission of God
I feel compelled to speak about racism, but I am hesitant to do so. I’m reticent not only because race is deeply controversial, but because tensions are high, and the issues are complex. More importantly, I’m still trying to understand the dynamics. However, I’ve been reading widely about racial history in the U.S. and the global context for years. I’ve been pursuing a multi-cultural vision for over 20 years and have learned much by making mistakes. I have had many conversations with church leaders of various races in the U.S. and around the world about these matters. Still, I feel in over my head all the time. Yet, at some point, it is time to move beyond learning and begin to say something. I need to do more than send out an occasional Tweet or Facebook post.
I’m not expecting to convince everyone to agree with me. I expect to be accused of divisiveness among white people. But I cannot ignore the long-standing division of the church into separate racial groups, which undercuts our Christian witness in this country, and feel faithful to our Lord, who prayed for unity among his followers. My goal is to move those with ears toward greater love, understanding, humility, justice, and unity. In particular, I aim to help reconnect a segregated church in America and foster greater racial justice and righteousness among those who support and work in the world of missions.
Still, why am I addressing this topic? I lead a global missions organization. At Mission Resource Network (MRN), our focus is primarily outside the United States. When we work with Americans, it is typically with a view toward what God is doing outside our home country. So why would I wade into the explosive issue of racism in the USA? Why in an election season during a pandemic-driven recession? Where is the upside for MRN?
1. Conscience demands it.
Racism is evil. It cannot be defended in any form. Ideally, it should go without saying, but not talking about race screams loudly in our current context. This matters. We must take a clear stand. Racism is slippery. It adapts constantly. It takes cover under other concerns and tries to avoid being named. But name it we must. We get more of whatever we tolerate. Racism must be called out and denounced without equivocation.
Racism is the belief that some races of people are better than others. It assumes a false racial hierarchy (biological and/or cultural). Pooling people into groups by skin color and historic regions of origin, and then making judgments about those people and their cultures in mass, is an inherently distorted and unjust way of thinking. It is dehumanizing and dangerous.
Racism is the most common cover story used to justify the abuse of power the world has ever known. The lies of racism have been leveraged to vindicate more oppression, suffering, and killing than any other idea known to humanity. It is the world’s most deadly idea. When you add up the impact of the big events alone, such as the Nazi Holocaust, the North Atlantic slave trade, King Leopold’s abuse of the Congo, the genocide of Native American people groups, to name a few, the numbers spiral into multiple tens of millions quickly. There is no counting the cost of racism. It must be given no quarter. Racism kills in mass and destroys the lives of far more.
2. The Gospel requires it.
The gospel is not just a transactional formula for how to go to heaven when we die. It is the announcement that God has entered into our world as King through His son, Jesus. He came in the form of a despised minority in an oppressive empire to redeem and unite humanity. He was killed by evil forces for telling us the truth about ourselves and was buried as a shamed failure. But then in a massive reversal of all previously known reality, He rose from the grave victorious over all sin, evil, and death as the one true King, to redeem and restore everything in the earthly and heavenly realms.
The gospel is about the “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21). It is about all of creation being set free from bondage to decay (Romans 8:18-21). It is about proclaiming good news for the poor, freedom to the prisoners, and release for the oppressed (Luke 4:18). It is about eliminating the unjust ranking of people by ethnicity, social class, and gender as we come to understand that all are made one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). It is the announcement that God reigns, and only He reigns. The gospel is about recognizing that God is no respecter of persons and welcomes all people equally (Acts 10:34-35). It is about healing and uniting all language groups as the curse of Babel is reversed (Acts 2). It envisions the uniting and healing of all ethnic groups (Revelation 21:1-5).
The gospel is about proclaiming and modeling God’s justice and righteousness in the kingdom of God as the prophets long demanded and anticipated. To be complicit in racism or perpetuate injustice and inequality by commission or omission is anti-gospel. It is anti-Christ.
3. The mission needs it.
The churches of the western world have been remarkably committed to spreading the message of Jesus worldwide, especially in the last century. The positive impact this has created, particularly since the end of WWII, is astonishing. It is one of the things that we should take great joy in as people. However, the rarely acknowledged reality is that there has been a lot of white superiority in the thinking and practice of the missions world. The western (or white) way has often been presented as the right way. Too often, missionaries have distrusted the ability of the local people in the countries where they served. Too often, westerners have failed to listen to them respectfully or trust them with leadership unless it satisfied our models or practices.
In addition, people of color make up less than 1 percent of the American missions’ workforce. The relative lack of American people of color in global missions is both a symptom of and accelerant of the racialization of our churches, contributing to problems in churches around the world. This is a huge issue that will not go away on its own. It can’t be addressed if it isn’t recognized.
Finally, national leaders worldwide are watching what is happening in the USA, and if we are silent in this moment, we will lose credibility with our global partners. We must speak clearly about racism in our country and work for racial justice and racial harmony in our nation and greater unity among our churches here if we expect to be taken seriously as global partners outside the USA.
4. Our organization supports it.
At MRN, we’ve been talking about the importance of overcoming racial division and injustice for a long time. We have issued apologies for past wrongs to leaders in countries around the world, and we have sought to follow the lead of national leaders in relationships of mutual submission and collaboration since well before I came here in 2010. We have been pursuing greater connection to churches of color in the U.S. and seeking to be agents for peace and unity long before this current racial crisis. We still have a long way to go. But rejecting white superiority and taking a strong stand against racism is not a change in policy, vision, or direction for us.
In the coming weeks, I will be writing more about this deeply complex issue. I won’t post all these in a row, nor engage in partisan politics, but I will address issues related to race periodically. I hope you will read with grace, an open heart, and a willingness to wrestle with hard truths for the sake of God’s mission. We must deal with this now and not pass it on to another generation.