In all humility and love it’s time to talk that talk! Let ya boy keep it a bean and talk smack for the good of people in general, but more specifically for the Lord and His Bride; the Church. If you are reading this and say, “uh oh, did he say church? This ain’t for me”. STOP, don’t leave, this is for you too.
Why Black People Leave the Christian Faith & the Church
Distortion of the Image of God
In America the Church, especially certain denominations, have not just tolerated racism but promoted it’s existence. Jesus is presented in art within the church as a weak white man (not implying there’s weakness in European peoples) who doesn’t care about the plight of black people in this country. Not only that, with such an emphasis on the Reformation and Enlightenment periods black people are made to think that this faith that was once for all delivered to the saints has its roots in European culture. If it did start there, then a European origin wouldn’t make it less true, but it seems that it develops within a context of power and wealth among European culture, when in reality it began among a marginal group of people of color. The beauty of the new creation and new people of God is that it begins with an impoverished man who is none other than God become flesh. Jesus willingly chose poverty and ministered directly to those rejected by society. It is in weakness that we see the power of God manifested in the world. His power is demonstrated in this poor Jesus dying for sinners as he is rejected by the elite in society. The early church also was made up of many poor peoples and the apostles made sure that when they preached that the poor were to be remembered. In fact the early church sold their property in order to redistribute the wealth (chill fam, this isn’t a Marxist idea 🤗) among them so that the poor would be elevated, and not just spiritually. Paul has to rebuke the Corinthian church for their neglect of the poor in worship. I am speaking obviously to classism here, but in our country today the overlap with race and class is so pronounced I am using racism and classism somewhat synonymously in this blog.
Younger black people have peeped game and recognize that many churches simply don’t care about the poor, especially poor blacks, in our society and this doesn’t match the message that is found in the Bible. Many churches that speak on the issue of racism, injustice, and inequity, and who may be in the hood still have racist and classist practices. Who are the decision makers in your church? Who are the leaders in your church? I have seen many who are called elders who couldn’t exposit a text of scripture if the existence of the earth depended on it, but somehow they are called elders. Usually these men are wealthy, and often are white men; sometimes women. Those who are making financial or other important decisions usually fall into these categories as well. When black people are promoted in the church they still have to answer to a white guy, or predominantly white board, and are never able to rise up and speak boldly without having someone ready to pull the strings in the background. If you happen to read this and have black people on staff in your church just ask them to speak freely without fear of repercussions concerning their job.
When young black people see that the Christian faith has nothing to say about the injustices they’ve seen in their communities their entire lives, or that the church isn’t built for them to be authentically black, then the Image of God is distorted. In other words the church in America is lying about the character of God and His concern for all peoples. In Genesis God calls Abraham and says that an offspring is coming from Abe’s lineage who will be a blessing to all people. Israel who descends from Abe are told to care for the marginal and the immigrant because God redeemed them from slavery. Israel is scolded when they don’t reflect God by doing justice in the midst of the nations because the light of God is placed under a bowl and hidden from the nations that don’t know God. When you open the New Testament Scriptures the church is called to take up this mission and the goal is to be a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual people who become one. Unfortunately many in the American church don’t want to truly become one Body, or one new man as Paul says. We want to preserve patriotism and the American Dream so much in the church that we naturally value those who worship the flag, independence, wealth, and overcoming. This creates a built-in firewall to protect against those who call out the hypocrisy of what the flag should represent, the economically dependent, and the weak. And because this country and the church here promotes whiteness through art and academia, I will add we have a firewall against those who refuse to code-switch within predominantly white spaces, especially the black person. This is not a reflection of the God and Christ of the Scriptures.
It may be natural to gather with those who we share cultural preferences with, but that doesn’t mean we should. We love Paul’s letters, but he consistently preaches against such behavior. In fact the letter to the Romans unpacks the deep things of God and His Gospel in order to instruct Jews and Gentiles to get along in the same church. They are told to present their bodies (plural) as a living sacrifice (singular). They were to collectively gather and be one new people, but we intentionally avoid such gathering to satisfy our ethnocentric attitudes. We plant churches with the strategies of the world in mind; establishing churches in the suburbs and gentrified areas because the brokies in the hood can’t afford to sustain a church. SHAME ON US! Lord help us to look like Jesus and move like he moved on earth. Black churches exist, not because we wanted to do our own thing, but because white leaders treated black members as subhuman like the constitution that we worship. Listen to what one article records:
One reason I love this is because Ethiopia is one of the first places the gospel went outside of Judea and one of the first churches in history was established. If you read this and are black, the gospel didn’t start in the west, nor did black people first receive it through slave holders who used the Bible as a means of control. A black man was in Israel and had a scroll of Isaiah and Philip interpreted how Jesus was the Savior of the world. It was a North African man who carried the cross of Jesus. Before we even get to the New Testament, we hear about Moses having a dark skinned wife from Cush. If my understanding is right, Cush would be modern day Sudan. If you read the genealogical record of Jesus there are multiple African people who are his ancestors. This country and the church in this country may try and erase the African heritage from the history of the U.S. and the church, but it cannot, and you shouldn’t be prepared to walk away from a faith that your Ancestors held in a state of freedom and prosperity, and you definitely shouldn’t abandon the faith that they preserved in the bonds of slavery.
It is time for Christian leaders and pastors to stop playing politics in the church. Some of you are obviously power hungry and it is quite disgusting. The gift of the gospel isn’t for sale or self interests and personal agendas. Not only are some looking to preserve power within the larger political landscape in society, but they are pulling that trash into the church via denominational institutions. Jesus doesn’t need your White House, denominational boards, or Christian celebrities. He will build His Church as He promised, and it will be completely multicultural in both look and practice. What I hope to do is inspire some to start practicing it now so that the love of Christ would shine brightly in this country against the dark night of injustice and inequity.
A Way Forward
Prioritize the Poor and Marginal
Many have pulled away from the table in order to wave a flag of orthodoxy fused with patriotism. We refuse to eat with those social justice warriors in the faith and the only black people allowed at the table are those who know their role. Peter pulled away from the table and was called out by Paul. Many try and say it was because of religious reasons, and not racial reasons, but that’s simply shallow reasoning in my opinion. To be a Jew in Paul and Peter’s day was to esteem Jewish culture above others. There was no bifurcation of culture and religion for the Jew. So when Peter stopped eating with uncircumcised gentiles when members of the circumcision party showed up, it wasn’t just a rejection of people who refused to have their genitalia cut. It was a rejection of those who ate different and who refused to conform to a Jewish-centric concept of Torah. So Paul keep it a bean with Pete and says you’re wrong fam, eat the pork chop and chill. Paul’s reasoning: you are out of step with the gospel. I’m sure Peter’s theology on paper was dope. The problem was his racist actions. Come back to the table fam.
One way we can do this is to choose our residence in a place that is filled with minorities and the poor. No knock to the burbs but too many of us move their for comfort and safety, and that is not the call of the church. This is not our home, why get comfortable. If we are honest with ourselves we condemn the prosperity gospel, and rightfully so, but we we value the same lifestyle. In fact one theologian recently sought to defend suburban housewives from the ideology found in wokeness…😂 You have to laugh at the absurd sometimes, it will aid your soul in loving those you disagree with. If you throw a party, don’t invite the rich and those just like you, they will repay you and you will have your temporal earthly reward that will decay. When you spread the table invite those who cannot repay you, and your Father in heaven will spread the eternal banquet before you beloved. Therefore, go and dwell among those who can do nothing for you and labor to elevate them in this life. Many like to show up for short-term missions with food, games, and a message, but if the church is God’s strategy for missions then why not plant the church there and live? In other words, don’t take your ball and go home, make the hood home.
Love Black and Poor Souls and Bodies
Love by sharing this worlds goods with those who don’t have. The white church in America is the reason a black church exist, and the white church has continued to ignore the poverty and persecution of the black church and black people. Many of us shouldn’t just live in these areas, but we should plant churches in these areas. Too many mega churches are moving somewhat near the hood and are bringing self-help theology with a very shallow gospel. This sort of theology won’t hold those who are facing brutal injustice from within and without the community. Sermons that tell me to have a good attitude or that gives steps to better finances and marriage won’t keep someone who lost a loved one to police or gang violence. Walking into a multimillion dollar facility with a light show makes no sense when a person can’t pay their light bill and have no lights in the house. Let’s stop adorning buildings with the latest tech and beautiful architecture that cost millions, and let’s begin adorning the lives of the people in struggling communities with our worldly treasure. Are buildings with amenities helpful? Sure. But flourishing people in the covenant community are a much more effective witness to the world around than Jesus Land style churches. A corporate body with a continuous haves and have-nots is not a good look yo. Why reject unity at any point when we can pursue it at every area in life?
Let’s start corporately weeping with those who are literally witnessing and experiencing bodily harm, even unto death. Being for law enforcement and the courts isn’t at odds with being for the fair treatment of the poor and black community. In fact, if you are for the latter, you will inherently strive for a better version of the former. Black people are leaving churches, and in worst cases the faith altogether, because evangelicals (of all colors) seem confused on what the proper response is to injustice.
It has become nauseating to watch people expound the great doctrines of the faith while forgetting the poor and oppressed. The apostles examined the gospel of Paul to make sure they all had the right doctrine. After examination of the theology they told Paul, “make sure you remember the poor”, and Paul’s response was, “the very thing I was eager to do”. The church isn’t just those who have made a profession, but includes those who will make a profession, yet if you look at how we plant churches in the states, then you would think that God is primarily concerned with saving affluent white people. If you look at seminary’s today you would have to conclude that white people comprehend theology more, and that theology primarily is done to be published in books. The Word of God didn’t just become in-scripturated brothers and sisters, but it was in-fleshed. Go set your theology on the ground among those who have no hope in this country. Make sure that theology doesn’t just come from your mind through your mouth, but let it emerge from your heart through your hands and wallets.
Raise Up Black Leaders
Everyone likes to use a black face to communicate to black people when it suits an agenda that usually isn’t advantageous at all to black people. Slave holders did this with preachers and in many cases it backfired. Nat Turner is the most explicit case and I’ll let God be judge alone on the validity of his response. Frederick Douglass and other abolitionist and civil rights activist are other examples of such backfire. King was great until he started to give messages that affect the money. He wasn’t killed because his great oratory skills, but because he started to hold people accountable to putting their collective money where their mouths were. The modern day example is giving people slanderous voices like Candace Owens, and in the evangelical space you get guys like Samuel Sey and DB Harrison. People like this speak harshly toward the black community and somehow white evangelical keep promoting their voices. White people forward their videos and podcasts to their few black friends in hopes of creating a black conservative patriot. Jesus didn’t come to create American patriots. He came to turn people into disciples who would make up His multiethnic eternal Kingdom. He didn’t even come to make disciples of the Reformation or John Calvin. He most certainly didn’t mean to turn men into disciples of slaveholding and slave promoting puritans. He came to turn people into disciples who’s theology transformed their life. Therefore, promote black people who love their community. Do this by identifying those with gifts for vocational ministry and doing whatever it takes to properly equip them. Then share the power within the church by allowing freedom of expression and decision making.
Conclusion
I know many are fighting agains true multiculturalism by slanderously labeling people as Marxist and social justice warriors, but the truth is that in our capitalistic and Eurocentric society we have learned to value white and green. Many of these dissenting voices want power and money, and mission requires sacrifice. Let’s not continue the trend of hating poverty and blackness in the church. The Father of the Church that Jesus paid for with His precious blood wants poor and black people to come in, because His blood is worth more than silver, gold, and green. God bless family! Keep it a bean with those in your circle.
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