Anthology Vol. 6 No. 1 May 2018 Diversity by Missio Nexus

MAY 2018 Vol. 6â&#x20AC;&#x201A; No. 1

Anthology

EQUIPPING GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADERS

Diversity Intentionally and strategically engaging every nation with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

ECFA accredits mission organizations who enhance trust in the areas of governance, financial management, and fundraising.

Enter Promo Code

MN500ECFA

Waives $500 Application Fee

Join today!

ECFA.ORG

FIND INSIDE

Features p.34

DIGITAL EDITION

Download the entire issue on your digital device at MissioNexus.org/ anthology/6-1extras. (You can download .epub, .mobi, and .pdf formats.)

ONLINE EXTRAS

Additional online content can be found referenced at the end of many articles. For example: 6 Find more diversity resources by searching on MissioNexus.org. 21 Find more on the African American Church and missions in the author’s EMQ article. 25 Read the original Missions Manifesto online. Login with your MissioNexus.org account to access online extra content.

p.26

Building structure and community. p.46

Breaking through humanity’s dark history of racism by the power of the gospel of Jesus. by John Piper

Changing organizational structures and policies to promote acceptance of cultural diversity. by Sheryl Takagi Silzer

THE SIN OF RACISM

CULTURAL AWARENESS

Achieving unity by grounding our ideas of ethnicity and “race” in the person and work of Jesus Christ. by Thabiti Anyabwile

Seeing the world in a way that is much broader than our own ethnic circles. by James Kim

MANY ETHNICITIES,ONE RACE

THE FROG IN HIS POND SNEERS AT THE OCEAN

Contents

In Every Issue

14 Seeing What They See

10 Editor’s Note

18 From Segregation to Interaction

17 Into the Word

22 The African American Missions Manifesto

59 Turning Points

51 Structure and Community Theory

60 The Last Word

MEMBERSHIP  MissioNexus  MissioNexus  MissioNexus

EMQ The Evangelical Missions Quarterly is the newest resource for members of Missio Nexus. 2018 marked its 55th year as a professional journal serving the worldwide missions community. Each issue, comprised of timely articles and book reviews, is available for members online and in the following digital formats: pdf, mobi, epub. MissioNexus.org/emq

Webinars

Connect with the Global Church As the largest gathering of mission leaders in North America, the Mission Leaders Conference provides numerous opportunities for networking and partnership in the Great Commission. Missio Nexus members receive $100 off registration at the Mission Leaders Conference 2018—Partnership. MissioNexus.org/partnership

By far, one of our most popular member benefits, webinars cover a diverse range of subjects and are presented by topicexperts. From mission mobilization to church planting, find the current schedule online by visiting MissioNexus.org/events. Browse the archives at MissioNexus.org/media.

Upcoming Events 24

CONFERENCE

ROUNDTABLE

2iC

How Diaspora Ready Are You? A 24 Event for missions agency leaders committed to diaspora engagement. Hosted at Converge in Orlando, Florida.

Our biggest event of the year—Mission Leaders Conference. Join other leaders in Orlando, Florida as we talk about partnership. Hosted at Caribe Royale.

The Denominational Leader Roundtable is an informal gathering for sharpening ideas and deepening friendships. Hosted in Los Angeles, California. For CEOs only.

A 24 Event equipping the Second-inCommand who are providing stability for thie organizations on a daily basis. Hosted at Pioneers in Orlando, Florida.

July 13–14, 2018

September 20–22, 2018

December 10–11, 2018

December 11–12, 2018

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

Discover why thousands of missionaries, mission organizations and summer missions groups choose Good Neighbor Insurance every year to save them money and keep them safe.

(480) 813.9100 Call for: • Special discounted rates for missionaries and non-profits • Insurance for individuals and families working overseas • Short-term group plans for summer teams and church missions projects • Very affordable employer healthcare plans from carriers like Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, IMG, GeoBlue and more!

www.gninsurance.com info@gninsurance.com

A TWENTY+ YEAR HISTORY

KEEPING

MISSIONARIES AND

TRAVELERS SAFE

RELATED CONTENT

From MissioNexus.org You’ll find a lot more content related to diversity online at MissioNexus.org. Here are just a few highlights.

Diversity Podcast EPISODE 21 In this episode Missio Nexus President Ted Esler interviews Bruce Johnson, president of SIM, and Brittany Gardner, a mobilizer with SIM, on SIM’s efforts to be a more diverse mission agency. https://missionexus.org/ missio-nexus-podcastepisode-18-2-2-2/

“We need to see the world as God sees.” Diversity with Michael Oh MISSION LEADERS CONFERENCE 2015—UPWARD Dr Michael Young-Suk Oh has served since March 2013 as Executive Director and CEO of the Lausanne Movement. He also serves as Board Chairman of CBI Japan, which includes a theological seminary, church-planting ministry and various outreaches in Ngoya, Japan. His plenary session at the Mission Leaders Conference 2015 was an inspiring and challenging message on diversity in the body of Jesus Christ. This resource is available to both members and non-members. View and listen online. https://missionexus.org/mlc-2015-plenary-diversity-with-michael-oh/

ONLINE EXTRA

Book Review Bridging the Diversity Gap, Leading toward God’s Multi-Ethnic Kingdom by Alvin Sanders. 240 pages. Reviewed by Jeffrey Fussner. https://missionexus.org/ bridging-the-diversitygap-leading-toward-godsmulti-ethnic-kingdom/

Find many more resources online by searching for “diversity” on MissioNexus.org.

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

Learn No other community offers so many best-in-class shared learning experiences. Research, book reviews, author interviews, thought leaders briefings, and an extensive digital media library.

Anthology

EQUIPPING GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADERS

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Ted Esler ASSOCIATE EDITOR & DESIGNER: Kurtis Amundson ADVERTISING COORDINATOR: Peggy Newell CONTRIBUTORS Kurtis Amundson, Thabiti Anyabwile, Richard Coleman, Ted Esler, James Kim, John Piper, Sheryl Takagi Silzer, Wendy Wilson MISSION STATEMENT To advance the effectiveness of the Great Commission community in North America in global mission. MANUSCRIPTS Please send an inquiry with a description of the proposed manuscript to anthology@MissioNexus.org ADVERTISING POLICY Advertising in Anthology does not imply endorsement by Missio Nexus. To request consideration as a possible advertiser, contact anthology@MissioNexus.org PERMISSIONS No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from Missio Nexus. Photos or images licensed by us from other sources, or used by us in conformity with the fair-use provision of copyright law, may not be copied without permission from the original source or without compliance with such fair-use requirements. ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE: COPYRIGHT Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ADDRESS CHANGE Please login and update your member profile online at MissioNexus.org.

Anthology, May 2018, Vol. 6, No. 1, is published twice annually by Missio Nexus for the benefit of its members. Atlanta Office, 655 Village Square Drive, Suite A, Stone Mountain, GA 30083-3307. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Anthology, Attention: Circulation, PO Box 398, Wheaton, IL 60187-0398. Copyright © 2018 Missio Nexus. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise provided herein under “Permissions,” or in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews, no part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher. For more information, write to Missio Nexus, Attn: Copyright, PO Box 398, Wheaton, IL 60187-0398.

Meet There is no better way to meet colleagues and activists actually doing the Great Commission. Face-to-face and virtual opportunities for you to make collaboration and partnership possible.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Breaking Through Ethnic Hatred by Ted Esler

CULTURES HAVE CORPORATE SINS.

In the United States we suffer from materialism, racism and other maladies. In the Balkans the prevailing sin is division, rooted in ethnic hatred. The Sarajevo church we worked with in the 1990s came a long way in overcoming this sin. Whether one was a Serb, a Croat, or came from a Muslim background, they were all one in Christ. In a city rife with division and hatred, there is little that could be considered more counterculture. It would be dishonest to say that this was easy. It was also a delicate balancing act because the division was not trite. There was real hurt, and we had to be very careful about maintaining unity. One morning a visiting speaker greeted the congregation with “Shalom, Sala’am aleykum, i mir,” which is really just wishing peace on the congregation in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and Bosnian. Sala’am aleykum, the Arabic, is an emotionally charged phrase in Sarajevo. To use it is to confirm one’s Islamic background. As soon as the words were said, the older women in the church began to weep. Over the next few days a serious rift in our fellowship emerged. “How,” I pleaded with God, “will we ever break through this and see

the church fully united in Christ?” I didn’t realize how artificial our unity was. Surely the work of a missionary could not be finished while there was such deep hatred in the church. God was about to bring the forces of His kingdom together to teach the church in a radical way that they should stand against hatred. Once again, war would be the instrument that would break through this stronghold. This time, it was the war in Kosovo. In January of 1999 NATO began bombing Serbian military installations as well as strategic roads and bridges. Tension in Bosnia grew as Yugoslav airplanes attempted to attack the NATO base in Tuzla. Within a few weeks the once-proud Serbian military was reduced to treaty signing, but before that point was reached, tens of thousands of refugees fled south to Macedonia and Albania. Several thousand Albanian Kosovars also made their way north and found themselves refugees in Bosnia—a nation already filled with refugees. Just outside of Sarajevo, a refugee camp sprung up, and a number of our team members began ministering to this newest wave of refugees. Since the social services in Sarajevo and the surrounding area were already overwhelmed, it was natural for our church to also consider the needs that the Kosovars had for food and clothing. The Sarajevo church had already begun to lay the financial groundwork for this outreach. It was about this time that I learned just how deep centuries of bad history could run in the veins of a Sarajevan. →

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

Engage Join the largest association of globally-focused organizations and churches in the USA and Canada. Representing over 20,000 global workers, 300 organizations and some hundreds of churches.

EDITOR’S NOTE

A view of Baščaršija, a bazaar and cultural center in the city of Sarajevo, the largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. People Groups Unreached: 3 (23.1%).

Mihal, one of the first followers of Jesus in our little fellowship, was an indispensable administrator. He could patiently wade through days of bureaucracy to get a crate of goods released from customs, walk a foreigner through the process of renting an apartment, or handle complex car registration and licensing issues. If ever I needed to visit while he was “on the job” it would be at some dismal government office where he would be waiting with a smile on his face. As Mihal and I drove to meet one of our team members who had just relocated to Sarajevo, I began to discuss plans for ministering to the Kosovars. Mihal fell silent and stared straight ahead—not commenting or showing any interest in this new endeavor. Finally I asked him, “What do you think about this?” “Ted-eh,” he replied gravely, “These Albanians are the dirtiest, most lying people you could ever meet. Take it from me; they will not be interested in Jesus. They aren’t worth our efforts, especially when we have so many needs already.” “But Jesus loves them,” I countered. “No,” he looked at me sharply, “These people are pigs.” I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I was stunned. This man, who himself was living with his in-laws because his apartment was destroyed, had no compassion for

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

the thousands living in shanties and U.N. housing. This man fellowshipped with refugees each week and worshiped with those who had warred on his own hometown. He experienced the forgiveness and love of Christ. How could he hold such hardness in his heart? I soon learned that the prejudice against the Albanian Kosovars was a staple of the local mentality. “These Albanians,” I was told by my landlady, “are all rich. They have money stored in their mattresses, yet they live like dirty animals.” Another told me: “You cannot trust them. They will stab you in the back at the first chance.” Fortunately, those in leadership in the church were not of this same mind. They worked hard for the Kosovars, providing food and helping in whatever way they could. A small humanitarian aid post grew up around the efforts of a handful of committed people—run and operated by the church, not the missionaries. In these early days of ministry to the refugees there was little spiritual fruit to show for these efforts. Good works, wrapped in Christ’s love, were the core of this outreach, and it was important work. Still, I could not shake the thought that if the new Christians in Sarajevo were not able to see that Christ can overcome these prejudices, what good was it that we made such forward progress in the ministry? If they were truly to become the overwhelming minority that God intended them to be, they needed to learn that even the most despised are loved by God. To love Him, they must also love them. This simple truth, which I thought was taught and grasped, was dashed by the reality of a deep-rooted hatred expressed by one member of our church, but held by many. Words were empty. It was going to take more than words to shake this hatred. “God,” our team prayed, “please shatter the spirit of division, and unite Your church against it.” While others were concentrating on these humanitarian-aid efforts, a couple of other team members adopted the Kosovar refugee camp. Joe and his wife, Rhonda, had moved into the area after living in Albania and learning the language. Greg joined Joe on many visits to this dreary patch of mud

EDITOR’S NOTE

where the U.N. had erected temporary structures. These ambassadors for Christ offered the Albanian Kosovars If they were truly to become the something others did not: friendship. overwhelming minority that They were soon explaining who Jesus God intended them to be, they is and what He did for them. Unlike many Christians who timneeded to learn that even the most idly share their faith, Joe and Greg despised are loved by God. To love boldly proclaimed Christ. It wasn’t Him, they must also love them. long before two young men, brothers, began to seriously consider the gospel message. First, one brother committed his life to Christ and then, a few days later, fellowship. The room went silent. All ears the other did as well. Their last name was strained to hear, and most anticipated the Albanian word for “Teacher of Islam.” something controversial to come out of his Their father was, in fact, the local imam at mouth. They would not be disappointed. the mosque in their hometown in Kosovo. “I love you, and I love Jesus” he said, with These young men were filled with a huge smile on his face. He went on to Christ’s love and joy. They were earnestly recount the love he received from so many studying the Scriptures and soaking in as Christians. It surprised him so much. He much of the Bible as they could. was taught many things about Christians, New believers are naive to the ways of but they didn’t turn out to be true. “church.” They haven’t learned the unwrit“I love Jesus so much; thank you for letten rules that are present in every congreting me love Jesus with you here today.” gation. They speak without realizing the As he sat down the room was silent. It impact of their words in this strange new wasn’t the uncomfortable silence that social group. So it was with two young Alhappens when somebody says something banian Kosovar Christians in the spring of inappropriate. It was the group recogniz1999, when they walked down the aisle to ing the Holy Spirit’s presence in this young join us for their first-ever church service. man and the awestruck reverence for the They had obviously never been to a Baptist holiness of the moment. In that moment, church before; they sat in the front row. worldviews shattered. Some of the church members already Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mihal. met these new believers and warmly I looked over at him and he was looking at greeted them, but most didn’t know who me. He had a small grin on his face and he they were. As it became apparent that they slowly shook his head back and forth. He were Kosovar Albanians, eyebrows raised mouthed the words “Praise God” and lifted and a few heads shook in disappointment his hands in a gesture of surrender. It wasn’t that these Muslims would be present for a moment of “I told you so.” It was Mihal’s our service. surrender to the overpowering God of love, A Bosnian church service is similar to and he was filled with a powerful wonder those held around the world in hundreds and awe of its strength. of cultures. There is singing, prayer, a time As we prayed together that Sunday of announcements, teaching, and fellowmorning, I realized that over and over ship. In our service we could take advantage again God crashed through the sin that was of the smaller size and usually the pastor prevalent in Sarajevo to present Himself allowed for a time of prayer requests to in radical ways. I was no more than a bybe presented from the group. One by one stander, placed there to watch and wonder people stood and talked about missing at how He accomplishes His will. When He relatives, a lack of a job, and concern for an performed these miracles He was calling on unsaved friend. me to worship Him. And I did. Then the younger Albanian brother stood up and turned to look at the little Ted Esler is President of Missio Nexus.

Seeing What They See

Seeing What They See by Wendy Wilson

The unreached among the Bedouins in the deserts of Africa and the Middle East number over 2,319,000.

DIVERSE CHURCH , diverse mission. If

the Great Commission is a calling to bring redemption in Christ into the diversity of all nations, people groups, cultures, and languages, how do we hope to be effective from where we live, from where we’ve been formed, and from what we see and don’t see? The growing conversation around diversity is an essential part of meeting that challenge to see more completely. And most of us are grappling with how to bring more diversity into our decision-making teams. While diversity has many aspects, one area that applies to virtually every human setting is gender. We are inspired to pursue the biblical ideal of men and women working together as co-regents of His creation, and as brothers/sisters and co-heirs in the Body of Christ to bring all to embrace Christ’s redeeming work in their lives. An increasing number of studies have affirmed God’s design by discovering that when men and women work together in strategizing and decision-making they

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

create more effective, sustainable, and profitable organizations. More alternatives are offered, more skill sets are used, and more out-of-the-box thinking occurs from both genders. In addition, change accelerates, modernizing old ways; a preference for collaboration takes hold, a longer and wider time horizon emerges, and a focus on preventing crises develops; financial performance is higher; and improved policies for women and families come to light— work-life balance, health care, child care, equal pay, education, community building, and diminished violence. 1 So while the topic of men and women serving together has vast tentacles, let’s consider one powerful aspect of what we gain by more fully stewarding the diversity of maleness and femaleness together in our gospel efforts: identifying a horrifying reality experienced by over half the population and half the church. Since we all see life based on our own experiences, by bringing men and women together it more fully portrays

Seeing What They See

the image of God in our understanding of issues of practice, violence, and assault, dignity strength and vulnerability as guiding forces in of the human being cannot be one of them. our world for good or evil. In most cultures, Part of the solution involves dedicated men alone hold most the power and authordiscipleship of believers, and certainly of ity in communities and families. Redeemed Christian leaders and pastors, that must men use their strength to redeem power address a more complete understanding structures—to empower, serve, and protect of the dignity of human beings, especially others. But unfortunately, fallen culture women. In too many cultures, women are too often promotes misuse of that power seen as property, large children, or domestic so that women experience daily fear and servants rather than God’s Image Bearers, vulnerability in being dependent on those full partners in God’s plan for humanity, men for permission and provision—husand co-heirs with Christ. Jesus Himself and bands, brothers, fathers, bosses, colleagues. the Apostle Paul, as men, spoke to the male Women often see vulnerability in others because power structures of the day, and brought they experience it in ways men do not. women as partners into their ministry As we move toward making the gospel circles in stunning ways considering culknown in any community around the tural norms. (e.g., Luke 10:38–42, Matthew world, exploited vulnerability is one crucial 28:5–7, and Romans 16.) The redeemed use arena into which we need women to show of strength is a powerful road to making us what they see, thus moving us all more the gospel known and redemption seen. dependently toward God and His Kingdom Pastors and leaders can see and teach the come on earth as it is in Heaven. dignity of women thoroughly and help I recently had a conversation with a their local bodies identify specific ways that mission leader and his wife who had overtheir dignity is violated. sight of about 600 churches in a region of Whereas first-world men and women Africa—a region where wife-beating is comexperience more benevolence in social and mon practice and not illegal. When I asked legal rights and protections, most of the about how they train pastors to address world’s men and women operate in social this problem as a way of growing a church structures that heavily benefit the strong that displays redeemed gospel living, he and ignore (or oppress) the weak. Whether responded that (1) they didn’t have that at the global or family level, too many problem in their churches, and (2) they women suffer at the hands of men who misdefer issues of how men take physical or social and women relate to the strength as a reason to We need to actively local culture. This was a diminish the women good man who loved who are often literally invite women to help God and his wife, and helpless. In every socius see what over half honestly didn’t see the ety, men and women the world’s population problem. In that same both suffer from the is experiencing in conversation, to his wicked use of strength surprise, his wife added to violate others—from their vulnerability. that this practice did inbullying, to domestic videed go on in their area. olence, to slavery. HowThis was a good woman who loved God and ever, in every society and home in every corner her husband, yet had never explored this of the world, women in particular suffer as rampant issue of abuse with him or her pasa result of their gender when, overall, men tor. Good men and women like these don’t have misused God-given physical strength intend to ignore such things and are usually that can overpower with intimidation or horrified by them. So, to the first point, we violence. The gospel sets this strength right need to actively invite women to help us see what (Philippines 2). Every form of strength is over half the world’s population is experiencing given to bless and empower others so that a in their vulnerability. To the second point, thriving culture of the Kingdom flourishes, while we certainly defer to the culture in many represented by the churches that are meant

Seeing What They See

We need both men and women to bring their eyes and experiences to what is happening around us in order to reach the world.

to be local expressions of counter-cultural Kingdom relationships. We need both men and women to bring their eyes and experiences to what is happening around us in order to reach the world. For too long and in too many places where the church has had a presence, violence and diminishment of women continues as embedded and even acceptable cultural practice. Women are too often without advocates or access to legal protection from rape and violence, silent and fearful, without access to health care or education, and without economic participation or personal resources, leaving them with few options. Maternal mortality, aborting or withholding food and other resources from infant/young girls in preference of sons, killing or abandoning widows when their husbands die or cast them out, terrified child brides being sold to much older men, rape as an ongoing vestige of post-war societies, genital mutilation as a form of chastity, domestic violence and inhumane control of women who are subject to the whims of husbands/ fathers/brothers, fear of attack or abuse just walking unprotected to work daily, selling women into sexual slavery without any legal recourse, and the horrific list of abuse related to gender goes on. God’s people are to be characterized by active concern for the plight of the oppressed and helpless (Isaiah 58, Psalm 10:17–18, Acts 10:38,1 Thessalonians 5:14–15.) The progress of the gospel has always been most successful when we reach into suffering with the love of Jesus! Women understand vulnerability and recognize it in ways we need to incorporate into our Great Commission efforts. Not only do women more quickly

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

recognize the suffering born of vulnerability, they are also very resourceful in developing ways to address it. We want to actively engage them! We can strengthen our mission efforts by promoting platforms and projects within our missions to address the specific suffering and vision of women. We can also look for ways to partner with other organizations in our spheres of influence who are doing so. More candidates are choosing an organization based on its commitment to utilizing, nurturing, and promoting its women in broad and integrated ways. If an organization cannot provide a meaningful place for their particular service, they will choose one that can—or create and found a new one. We want to better capture these important opportunities and resources! The burden of carrying the redemptive needs of a lost world is too heavy, too deep, and too wide for our brothers to see or address by leading alone. We need to see what women see as well. What an opportunity for God’s people to lead the way in displaying to the world a radically different kind of caring community that courageously and honestly reaches into these places of vulnerability and strength. The calling as brothers and sisters in Christ is to be a different kind of people who encourage one another, prefer one another, sacrifice for one another, honor one another, show compassion to one another, advocate for one another—and help each other identify and address the needs of the world. As mission agencies and churches, bringing gender diversity more fully into our strategic decision-making structures can give us greater vision and effectiveness in discovering what men and women see together, relieving suffering with courage and creativity, and bringing the good news of Christ to bear more fully for transformed lives and communities. References are available in the online version of this article. Recommended reading: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and Half the Church by Carolyn Custis James. Wendy Wilson is the Executive Director of the Women’s Development Track and serves Missio Nexus as a Mission Advisor for the Development of Women.

FURTHER STUDY

Into the Word These verses parallel the themes discussed in this issue. Study them, meditate on them. Be ready always to give an answer for the hope within you.

Seeing What They See 14 | LUKE 10:38–42 The Sin of Racism 26 | PHILIPPIANS 2:3 Many Ethnicities, One Race 35 | ACTS 17:26

FROM SEGREGATION TO INTERACTION

A small church in rural Kenya. People Groups Unreached: 32 (29.1%).

From Segregation to Interaction by Richard Coleman

IF I’VE HEARD IT ONCE , I’ve heard

it a thousand times: “Sunday is the most segregated day of the week.” When some of my brothers and sisters in Christ hear this oft-quoted statement, they assume the end game should be multiethnic churches comprised of members representing a variety of hues and ethnicities. They for good reason, see such congregations as counter to the troubling disunity within the Body of Christ, particularly as it exists in the United States. For, when a church is truly multicultural,1 a special oneness takes place. The world sees the power of Christ at work, and the congregation experiences the beauty and strength that each culture brings. After all, wouldn’t it be great to have fellowships here on earth that resemble the heavenly scene recounted by John the Revelator? Clearly, there won’t be segregation in heaven, so why should local churches be monocultural or monochromatic? Attacked with this line of reasoning, many an American pastor has been made to feel guilty over the lack of diversity within their churches. My guess is that white pastors have faced this critique at a greater frequency than their ethnic minority counterparts.2 This is understandable given our nation’s ugly history of racism, even and

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

especially within the church. However, is it fair to critique white pastors solely on the number of black and brown bodies in the pews? If so, what percentage would get them off the hook—5%, 10%, 25%? And then how many types of people are required for the pastor to pass the diversity test? At some point, it becomes subjective. I have had more than one conversation with such conscientious leaders who seem to feel a sense of shame that their best efforts have not led to an influx of diversity. Lest I be misunderstood, my intention is not to tell these pastors to stop trying. Rather, my hope is to encourage them to approach the task differently. There is another way. While I respect the view that the creation of multicultural churches is the answer to combat Sunday segregation, my thoughts are that multicultural churches are simply one way of tackling this age-old problem. And this solution will likely be the exception, not the norm. To all the pastors who have a bona fide call and passion to start a multicultural church, go for it! However, for the majority of leaders, such a church will never be a reality. And that is okay. For starters, people have preferences. These preferences are often core to how believers experience God. Basic anthropology would say that when it comes to spiritual matters, people move toward the forms that communicate meaning for them. For example, in the summer of 2013 I had a very memorable, Spirit-filled worship experience in Nakuru, Kenya with an ethnically-diverse group of Kenyans. During one particular time of worship, each ethnic group had

From Segregation to Interaction

Multicultural churches, while they are beautiful, will to a small degree address our Sunday segregation issues. But the model to bring about the most change, that of having local congregations interface, will have a much more profound impact.

an opportunity to come to the front of the room and present a song. I enjoyed each presentation, but the Masaai leaders’ musical offering impacted me profoundly. The Masaai believers led us in song as we together jumped up into the air and landed firmly, the ground shaking beneath our feet. We grunted and moved our necks back and forth in traditional fashion. The experience was amazing for me, but it was so much deeper for my Maasai brothers. I wonder how long the novelty of such a worship style would last if that became the primary worship expression in a multicultural church. Just picture Joel Osteen and the Lakewood congregation jumping and grunting in the former Compaq Center every Sunday. Not gonna happen. Further, if there are let’s say 5 distinct cultures in a local church, does each culture get a Sunday to showcase its styles? “Uh, excuse me pastor. Next up in the rotation is southern gospel Sunday. We had salsa praise last week.” This taking turns can work for a while, but what happens when additional cultures are added? Do they have to wait until their numbers reach a certain threshold in order to get into the rotation? What often happens in my experience is that the congregation settles on a worship style that reflects the cultural norm established by the leadership or the majority. Everyone else simply assimilates to the established style, but what is in their hearts does not die. Assimilation is not wrong, but many people are not willing to swap their heartfelt forms of worship for someone else’s. The issue is not necessarily selfishness as one might assume.

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

Take for instance the majority white, suburban, jean-wearing, coffee-drinkingin-the-sanctuary, pastor-sitting-downwhile-he-preaches church I attended for three years. My initial experience was one of fascination and intrigue. That soon began to change as I began to long for more familiar cultural expressions. But, I suppressed those feelings all in the name of unity. Granted, the leadership of the church didn’t seek to make the church truly multicultural, but I digress. If this was my experience, and I was one who showed up with a certain degree of cultural curiosity and exposure, what would it be like for others with no such background? Enter the African-American granny who needs a healthy dose of whooping and who connects deeply with her AME tradition. She does not necessarily have a disregard for diversity. Could it simply be that she connects best with God a certain way? For believers like her who identify closely with certain styles of worship, people who in my estimation make up the bulk of our churches, there is nothing wrong with them attending a church that resonates with their Christian tradition. This is not the issue central to segregation, nor is it a violation of the oneness found in Ephesians 4. On the contrary, the global Church (note the capital ‘C’) is called to be diverse, not necessarily the local church.3 We understand this in relation to doctrinal differences, but we have a harder time accepting this with ethnicity. Perhaps this is why different congregations interacting together will be the more common solution than the formation of multicultural churches. The primary roles of the pastors would be to convey their allegiance to the same Lord, express mutual regard for one another as family in Christ, demonstrate a posture of welcome to all, and highlight their shared mission in Christ. This should then lead to initiatives that bring together local churches to worship, fellowship, and do mission together. What does this look like? A white pastor serving in Gainesville, Florida befriended an African-American pastor from a nearby church. The two pastors spoke from each other’s pulpits. They facilitated choir swaps and even a joint

From Segregation to Interaction

choir. The two pastors and their wives also had dinner together in each other’s homes and at restaurants on multiple occasions. The white pastor invited his pastor friend to go on a short-term missions trip to Lesotho. The African-American pastor hadn’t taken such a trip before, so the trip especially bonded the two of them together. Back at home, their churches joined hands and did local missions together. Relationships began to form. People who were regular participants got into each other’s lives outside of the planned activities. All the while, both pastors emphasized to their respective congregations that despite their differences, there’s only one Church. What if other pastors took the same initiative? By worshiping together, believers experience diverse expressions and have the opportunity to encounter God in unfamiliar ways. Hearts are knit together as one group ushers the other into its unique worship and focus on the one true God. By hanging out together, believers get to know each other informally. Kickball games, picnics, cooking classes, movie nights: the possibilities for interaction are endless. Fellowship helps to tear down barriers and build genuine friendships. Too much of our bickering is between people who have spent no significant time together. Finally, by doing mission together, believers from different churches model John 13:35 just as effectively as if they attended the same local church. Such was the case with the two churches from Gainesville. The recipients of service will see the diversity and won’t care whether or not the synergistic team is from a multicultural church. The sight alone is powerful. Churches will always be segregated based on preferences. An accordion doesn’t

ONLINE EXTRA

capture some believer’s hearts the way a saxophone does. Insert theological, ethnic, linguistic, and other differences, and the point is clear. Multicultural churches, while they are beautiful, will to a small degree address our Sunday segregation issues. But the model to bring about the most change, that of having local congregations interface, will have a much more profound impact. Only in heaven can we speak in our own languages and worship in our own styles without having to assimilate or water down our unique expression. But, for the here and now, this is what is most important: Churches must be willing to welcome all, and they must work hard to maintain the unity of the Body (note the big ‘B’). The local Black Reformed church should periodically worship with the Korean Presbyterian church. The local suburban white church should fellowship with the Hispanic Baptist church. The local inner city multicultural church should do mission alongside a Nigerian Pentecostal church. After all, we are all one Church. References are available in the online version of this article. Richard Coleman has been a missions trainer and mobilizer for nearly 20 years. He recently resigned from his role as senior director of mobilization and candidacy with TMS Global in order to pursue an opportunity in E. Africa with the same organization. Richard also proudly serves as a Perspectives instructor and volunteer within the Lausanne Movement.

Find more on the African American Church and missions in the author’s EMQ article “Where Are All the African American Missionaries?” at MissioNexus.org/anthology/6-1-extras

THE AFRICAN AMERICAN

Missions Manifesto Ratified Revision (-) January 20, 2007. Columbia International University, Columbia, SC.

Editor’s Note: It has been over ten years since the following manifesto was signed in Columbia, SC. The work done on this manifesto continues to be relevant to the North American missions community.

INTRODUCTION

We do humbly acknowledge that God has called the African American church to a unique role in helping to fulfill the Great Commission. We acknowledge that God has endowed the African American church with its own cultural distinctive, uniqueness and giftedness, borne out of a history of slavery, Jim Crow segregation and oppression. In the furnace of affliction, God has given us a word of redemption for and special sensitivity towards the oppressed and disadvantaged. We acknowledge that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have successfully used this sensitivity to empower our own communities: to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, and to release the oppressed. We acknowledge that the African American

Church is part of the Body of Christ and is thus commissioned to take the Gospel to the world. We confess that we have a rich history of missionary involvement in Africa. Throughout the 1800’s there was a considerable African American Missions presence in Africa. God has placed the African American Church in position to make a critical impact on world evangelization. As the wealthiest Black people group on earth, He has given us the human and financial resources to help take the gospel to the world. He has opened the window of opportunity for the church to evangelize and empower the poor, imprisoned, blind and oppressed of the world. In order to take our place on the world stage, we acknowledge that a new way of thinking is needed. We cannot work in isolation. We must work together to create a unified force.

Declaration For this reason, we representatives of the African American missions mobilization community with a heart to the evangelization of the whole world, do declare that we are committed to fulfillment of God’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20) through the mobilization of African Americans to the global mission force.

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

MISSIONS MANIFESTO

We Affirm: NO.

Purposeful Involvement GLOBAL EVANGELIZATION: We affirm that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is

The Gospel of truth to all people and thus shall be preached to all nations with the goal of “Making Disciples” of all nations. We affirm that there is no other way to be saved except through Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). We declare that as a part of the global body of Christ, we will engage in global evangelization (cross-cultural evangelism and discipleship) spreading the message of salvation to the whole world (Matthew 28:18–20). UNIQUENESS: We affirm that as African Americans, we have a unique contribution to make in the world and endeavor to take our rightful place in the global missions effort, not subservient nor superior to others, but as joint-heirs and equal partners with all believers within the body of Jesus Christ.

NO.

Historic Legacy

We are concerned that after several generations of obstacles our churches have greatly lost touch with the breadth of the mandate to take the Gospel to the world and that our churches have little exposure to the spiritual climate in nations of the world today.

HISTORICAL HINDRANCES We acknowledge that our history is full of hindrances to engagement in global evangelism such as Jim Crow segregation in the US, colonial leaders abroad who did not see the value of our contribution as missionaries, and our focus on the challenges facing the African American community in the U.S.

The Centrality of the Local Church We believe that the local church is central in God’s plan to advance His Kingdom throughout the earth. The responsibility to proclaim the gospel rests with the whole church. We declare that we will seek to expose African American churches to: 1) The biblical mandate for global witness; 2) Our heritage in crosscultural missions; 3) The magnitude of the current unreached peoples of the world; 4) Best practices for training and equipping the local church for missions; 5) Historical & cultural barriers to missions mobilization.

CONTINUED COMMITMENT We are thankful for the example and fortitude of people like George Liele who was willing to indenture himself to another in order to take the Gospel to Jamaica; and Betsy Stockton who indentured herself to a white family in order to serve as the first single woman missionary from the United States.

NO.

Church Engagement

Full Church Engagement Every member within the church has been gifted for service in God’s Great Commission. We believe that the entire body of the local assembly of believers can and should be engaged in God’s global purposes by giving, praying, sending, going, supporting, hosting and/or training.

Healthy Church Engagement We acknowledge that it will take a renewed commitment on the part of every local church to center its development and growth, its preaching and teaching, its conversation and conduct, its fellowship and witness, around the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the advancement of His Kingdom throughout the world. We commit to work with our churches to move to greater internal health for greater external victory. We will strive to see our church families victorious at home so they can be victorious abroad.

MISSIONS MANIFESTO

NO.

Strategic Engagement Strategic Mobilization. We understand that the obstacles of the past have left many of our churches unacquainted with our role in global evangelization.

BEYOND THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

PARTNERSHIP

LONG TERM COMMITMENT

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

PREPARATION

APPROACHING THE FIELD

We believe that the principle of Acts 1:8 instructs us to be witnesses among those who are near and far, to those culturally similar and those culturally dissimilar from us. It is too small a thing that we in the African American community should think that we are called only to see the restoration of our own people into right fellowship with God. God calls us to see people of other nations reconciled to Himself also, Isaiah 49:6. We declare that we will be witnesses for Christ in our own communities, and also in communities in other parts of the world.

We affirm what God, through His Word, repeatedly demonstrates: His grace supernaturally provides for everyone that He calls into full time missionary service (Acts 14:26; 15:40). We also reaffirm our commitment to actively participate in “the grace of giving” by financially supporting missionaries and missions work around the world (2 Corinthians 8:1).

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

We understand that there is increasing involvement of peoples from various cultures in cross-cultural outreach. We believe that unity in the body of Christ is a part of our witness. We affirm that though many others are engaged in the mission force, we offer a special sensitivity to oppression and deprivation. Our ethnicity is now a global cultural force, and a platform for the Gospel. In the reconciling power of the Gospel, we declare that we will partner with others where it is strategically wise for the glory of God in making His name great among the nations. This includes partnering with Whites and other ethnic groups on the worlds mission fields. We understand that Western missionaries have experienced great successes and made many mistakes in the past. We declare that we will seek to learn from the past and prepare ourselves to minister with cultural sensitivity, biblical accuracy, and in Christian unity.

We acknowledge that the primary charge of the Great Commission is to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). We value the support provided by our churches to National churches in other countries and the increase in short-term missions among African Americans. We see value in short-terms missions. But we declare need for long-term relationships that would result in lifetime commitments to completing the Great Commission. We declare a need for greater personalization of the Great Commission through lifetime commitments to missionary service.

We affirm that our experience as a people have prepared us in unique ways. We declare that we will approach the mission field in a holistic manner, with cultural sensitivity, and a contextualized message.

MISSIONS MANIFESTO

Conclusion We believe that God has called the African American Church to take its rightful place as a significant participant in His Mission to reach all nations with the good news of His Son, and that its participation is essential to God’s plan to reach the nations. We therefore, commit to purposeful involvement in cross-cultural evangelism and discipleship. We embrace our historical legacy that has equipped us for present day service. We affirm our local churches as the primary agent for fulfilling the Great Commission. We agree with the Manila Manifesto that the whole church is called to take the whole gospel to the whole world. We declare that we will by the grace of God, intentionally and strategically engage God’s calling to the nations as a lifetime commitment.

We declare that we will by the grace of God, intentionally and strategically engage God’s calling to the nations as a lifetime commitment.

APPENDIX

Historical Commitment We acknowledge that we have a rich history of missionary involvement in Africa particularly from 1800–1900. There were many developments that profoundly affected the African American missionary movement. One of which was the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution intensified European activity in sub-Sahara Africa. Colonial powers began to fight among themselves over territory and rights to the vast resources of the African continent. In 1884, European colonial powers met to carve out geopolitical boundaries in Africa. The aims of the African American

ONLINE EXTRA

missionaries were seen as a direct threat to the commercial interests of the colonial powers. Black missionaries were marginalized and within a few years, the entire African American Missions movement was devastated. As a result, the church associated Missions with trauma and developed Missions amnesia. By the early 20th century, the church focus was not on missionary efforts outside of the United States. Missions history was lost inside of a generation and the missions consciousness of the African American church was practically obliterated.

We are not reproducing “Appendix B: By the Numbers,” because the statistics on the world’s unreached are different today than in 2007. Find the full copy at afammissionmanifesto.org.

the

26â&#x20AC;&#x201A;

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

S I N

R A C I S M The history of humanity is a history of racism. Human sin, a supernatural devil, and an evil world system collude to weave pride, greed, fear, lust, and racism into all human institutions. Only where the gospel of Jesus breaks the power of this darkness does the fabric of sin begin to unravel. BY JOHN PIPER

Previous: 1.1 million people lost their lives to racism in this exermination camp in Oswiecim, Poland. People Groups Unreached: 5 (15.6%). Opposite: The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, in Berlin, Germany.People Groups Unreached: 27 (29.3%).

DEFINITIONS

Let’s be crazy and start with definitions. This is crazy because racism is the sort of thing where it pays to be vague. Everybody’s against racism. Even racists. So why not just get on with the article and avoid trouble? Besides, it sounds fishy, asking for definitions. Like you’re trying to evade something. Find a loophole for something. Well, I’m not. Just the opposite. I want to slam shut all escape routes. I want to close the loopholes. Definitions can do that. I don’t like walking in a haze of imprecision. People do escape things that way. But they also fall off cliffs. I don’t think that agreement which only survives in a fog is worth much. So here goes. These are my definitions. I didn’t borrow them from anywhere. They simply tell the reader what I mean when I use these terms. If they overlook MY AIM IN THIS ARTICLE is to reduce the instinctive, important realities, that’s because I white, evangelical reaction against the idea of structural have blind spots, or prejudices, or a racism or systemic racism. Not that I assume only whites, or short memory, or all three. Hence the only evangelicals, have problems with these terms. But vulnerability of attempting definithat’s the group I know best and relate to most closely. tions. My strategy is to show that, if your mind is BibleRace. The difficulty of defining saturated, you would consider it absolutely astonishing race is captured in the fact that if structural racism were not pervasive wherever sin is Barack Obama will forever be known pervasive. In other words, Bible-shaped people should as America’s first black president expect to see structural racism almost everywhere in a although genetically speaking he is fallen world. as much white as black. Why? Mainly My other strategy is to show that structural racism is because we have elevated skin-color, a child of structural pride, and a sibling of the fraternal hair type, and facial features to the triplets, structural greed, structural fear, and structural lust. defining level of racial differentiation. My assumption is that Bible-shaped people are going Which means that the genetic basis of to resonate with the idea that pride, greed, lust, and fear our usual way of conceiving of race is are imbedded in social structures and institutions like about .01% of our genetic makeup. entertainment, advertising, capitalist business processes, Moreover, the line between races, university tenure procedures, the practices of party conceived this way, is impossible to politics, and more. draw. There are too many appearanceSo this is a very limited goal. It will leave the reader variations of each race. They merge at with several, “So then are you saying …” questions. If I the edges. Not only that, but there are don’t say it, it might be best not to assume I do. just as many, or more, differences of

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

greater physical and intellectual significance within such appearance-based groups as there are between them. This inclines many of us to want to speak of the one human race in God’s image, rather than giving undue weight (with historically destructive power) to the divisions of humanity based on non-essential surface differences. Nevertheless, virtually all of us who share this concern have little choice but to use the terms “racism” and “racist” because of the injustices that exist historically and currently based on such nonessential differences. And there is imbedded in the term “racism” an assumption about the meaning of the word “race.” For that reason—in order to use the term “racism” in a way that relates to our present situation—I do not define “race” scientifically or sociologically, but on the basis of appearance, with all the ambiguities and disadvantages mentioned above. A race is a group of people distinguished primarily by skin color, but also by facial features and hair type. I choose this simplistic, street-level definition simply to be able to communicate when I talk about racism. Racism is an explicit or implicit feeling or belief or practice that values one race over other races, or devalues one race beneath others. Racist, as a noun, refers to a person who is characterized by racism without hating, renouncing, and seeking to eliminate his own racist attitudes and actions, and the harmful effects of them. The implication is that while everyone, as sinful and self-centered by nature, is tainted with racist tendencies, not everyone should be labeled a racist. Racist, as an adjective, refers to the quality of any feeling, thought, act, speech, object, idea, expectation, norm, rule, policy, law, procedure, or anything whatsoever, which embodies or expresses racism. Structural racism is the cumulative effect of racist feelings, beliefs, and practices that become embodied and expressed in the policies, rules, regulations, procedures, expectations, norms, assumptions, guidelines, plans, strategies, objectives, practices, values, standards, narratives, histories, records, and the like, which accordingly disadvantage the devalued race and privilege the valued race. Implicit in this definition is the important fact that structural racism, therefore, may have its racist effects even if non-racist people now inhabit the institutions where the racist structures still hold sway. With those definitions in place, I turn now to show why it would be astonishing if structural racism were not pervasive in institutions where sin is pervasive. The reason is that human sin, a supernatural devil, and an evil world system collude to weave pride, greed, fear, lust, and racism into all human institutions.

THE GLORY AND IGNOMINY OF MAN

The biblical worldview attributes to human beings great glory, and great corruption. Humans began as the apex of God’s creation on earth (Genesis 1:26, 31). And the redeemed humanity will one day, as children of God (John 1:12), be conformed to the incarnate second person of the Trinity (Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:2), share his rule of the universe (Revelation 3:21), judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3), and be “the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23). This glorious destiny is owing to God’s merciful intervention into the present evil of humanity. It is not owing to our worth or our intrinsic ability to improve ourselves. God sent his Son into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15; John 3:16).

PERSONAL HUMAN SIN

In our present condition, apart from God’s saving grace, we are all, without exception, sinners (Romans 3:9–23). We have exchanged the glory of God for his creation (Romans 1:23). By nature, we prefer other things to God. We are darkened in our understanding (Ephesians 4:18). In our natural, fallen condition, we do “not accept the things of the Spirit of God,” but regard them as folly. We are “not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). In our unwillingness to submit to God’s law, we show that we are deeply “hostile to God,” even when we feel warm thoughts about him in our unsubmissive selfishness (Romans 8:7–8). We are “slaves of sin” (Romans 6:17). In this condition, we are “alienated from the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18), and are “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Not only did God send his Son as a Savior into this horrific human insurrection, but he also exerts a common grace to restrain humanity from doing as much evil as we would if he didn’t (Genesis 20:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:6–7). But even so, the amount of evil that man commits against man is incalculable. Listen to the words that the New

Below: The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe viewed from above.

Testament uses to describe the kinds of sins that humans commit against humans: malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, gossip, slanderer, arrogance, insolence, boasting, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, heartless, ruthless, hated by others and hating one another (Romans 1:29–32; Titus 3:3). And what is the effect of all this sinfulness on racial and ethnic relations? The Bible uses one main word: “hostility” (Ephesians 2:14). If you let your eyes run back over the list of sins in the previous paragraph, asking, with each word, what its effect would be on our attitudes to other races, you will not be surprised by that. If we are “malicious,” how much more with those different from ourselves. If we “murder,” how much more those who are different. If we “deceive,” how much more the alien. If we “slander,” how much easier it is to slander those who are different. If we are “arrogant and insolent,” how easier to exalt ourselves over those “others” we see as inferior. If we “hate,” who better to hate than those not like us. The history of humanity has no chance in a million to not be a history of racism. Where racism does not hold sway among unredeemed sinners, it is because common grace has restrained it. But be assured: in the very soil of the culturally restrained disapproval of racism, other sins are growing strong, ready to corrupt the appearances of racial harmony.

SUPERNATURAL DEVIL

Now add to this fallen condition of the human heart the fact that in the world there is a great supernatural power working at odds with the purposes of God. He is called “the devil and Satan” (Revelation 12:9), and “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30), or “the god of this world [who] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4). He is “the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). His deceit goes hand in hand with his intent to destroy. “He was a murderer from the beginning. … When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He does not work alone, but has demonic subordinates who do his destructive work in the world. He is called “the prince of demons” (Luke 11:15). When Paul described the demonic adversaries of Christians, he said, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

No sin is more systemic and structural than pride. It is woven into every human institution. Therefore, the power of human depravity to produce racism—along with every other sin—is compounded by the supernatural demonic power to secure and intensify that evil. This supernatural influence is so pervasive in human affairs that John says that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), and Paul says the “prince of the power of the air … is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Since his age-long modus operandi is lying and killing, can we be surprised if he works through all the social institutions of this world to cultivate misunderstanding, distrust, bias, partiality, suspicion, ill-will, antagonism, hostility, murder, pogroms, lynchings, ethnic cleansing, holocaust, genocide? The persistence, the pervasiveness, and the global scope of racist horrors and ethnic strife bear witness to a kind of evil that fits the biblical picture of supernatural deceit and death.

EVIL WORLD SYSTEM

Then, add to human depravity and supernatural demonic power the fact that the Bible sees this collusion of human and super-human wickedness as producing a “present evil age” (Galatians 1:4), a “present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12), and a “world” that we should not love (1 John 2:15), whose wisdom is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:20), whose spirit is not of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:12), whose form is passing away (1 Corinthians 7:31), whose elementary principles are enslaving (Galatians 4:3), and which we must overcome (1 John 5:4). Sin in the human heart and mind and deeds is strengthened and extended by Satan into a global matrix of evil called the “world” or this “evil age” or “this present darkness.” The point of this language is to help us see that the global and

historical reality of evil is greater than the sum of its human parts. Evil in the world is vastly more than the sum of individual human sins. The effort to capture this reality leads many to use the phrase “world system” for the biblical word “world.” In this worldview, I can think of no sin that is not systemic or structural (I’m using the terms interchangeably).

FATHER-SIN OF ALL SINS

The great granddaddy of all sins is pride. Pride is the love of self-definition, self-exaltation, selfdependence, and superiority over others, including God. Therefore, pride prefers being served over serving, being praised (when strong) over praising, being pitied (when weak) over pitying, and being respected over respecting. At the bottom of pride’s happiness is self, not God. God abhors pride (Proverbs 8:13; Amos 6:8). “The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:11). It was the downfall of Satan (Jude 1:6), and then of the human race. Adam and Eve embraced self-direction, and self-dependence, and selfexaltation when they rejected God as their trust (Genesis 2:16–17; 3:6). No sin is more systemic and structural than pride. It is woven into every human institution. Selfish ambition, vain-glory, looking out for our own interests first, valuing the world over God—these are the building blocks of all human life and institutions, until “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5) replaces the “mind of the flesh” (Romans 8:7), makes the glory of God supreme (Philippians 2:11), and frees us to “count others more significant than [ourselves]” (Philippians 2:3). Until then, even philanthropy (1 Corinthians 13:3) and Christian ministry (Philippians 1:17) are systemically suffused with

selfishness and the diminishment of God. Only where the gospel of Jesus breaks the power of this darkness and puts the grace of God at the bottom of life, and the glory of God at the top (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12), does the fabric of structural pride begin to unravel. Otherwise, the exaltation of man and the marginalizing of God are imbedded in the policies, rules, regulations, procedures, expectations, norms, assumptions, guidelines, plans, strategies, objectives, practices, values, standards, narratives, histories, and records of every human institution.

THREE CHILDREN OF FATHER PRIDE

The fraternal triplets born to pride are greed, fear, and lust. I call them fraternal because they are not identical. But I call them triplets because their motivational DNA is so similar. Greed is the desire for the wherewithal (usually money) to get what satisfies me, while regarding God as unsatisfying and people as expendable. Pride creates and nourishes greed as the unbending principle of self-centeredness beneath unredeemed desire. Fear is the anxious mirror image of greed that dreads losing what greed craves. It spurns God not only as satisfaction but also as protection (Isaiah 51:12–13). Therefore, other people are not only expendable; they are threatening. The only respect and kindness that greed and pride can show is manipulative. Who can I use to get what I want? Who must I eliminate to keep what I have? Pride creates and nourishes fear by feeding the all-governing predisposition that I deserve what I want. Lust is greed’s little brother. His craving is narrow, but as strong as death. He only wants sensual pleasure. Greed may crave a great library. Lust just wants the librarian to take her clothes off. He is a weathervane twisting in the winds of sexual stimulation.

Pride gives birth to racism. Structural pride gives birth to structural racism. 32

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

In the lustful heart, God is repressed, and people are objectified. As long as they serve sexual euphoria, they are wanted. Otherwise, they are disposable. When pride is not busy creating self-righteous ascetics, it creates and nourishes lust by feeding the mindset that the body’s desires are its rights. Lust is, therefore, especially good at shrinking the human soul to a tiny cauldron of craving which has the effect of blinding the soul to glorious things like the image of God in every person and every race.

INSTITUTIONALIZING PRIDE, GREED, FEAR, AND LUST

When the Bible speaks of “this present evil age” and “this present darkness” and “this world,” it is reminding us that the systems and structures of the world are permeated with sin—like pride, greed, fear, and lust. The point is not that institutional policies, rules, regulations, procedures, and more can feel pride, greed, fear, and lust. The point is that they reflect, embody, preserve, and advance them. They institutionalize the mindset of the proud, greedy, fearful, lustful people who create them. While Satan is the “god of this world system,” and while humans are, at best, only partially freed from the “mind of the flesh,” and while God’s common grace restrains only some of the cancer of pride, metastasizing in every human institution, there will always be structural pride, structural greed, structural fear, and structural lust. There will be policies that promote a visible pecking order that feeds on and furthers pride. There will be strategies of cut-throat competition that grow with the nutriments of greed. There will be procedures of micro-management that waken and exploit fear. There will be assumptions of dress that exploit lust.

INCONCEIVABLE ABSENCE OF STRUCTURAL RACISM

In such a world, it would be inconceivable and utterly astonishing if there were no such thing as structural racism. In this world of sin and Satan and a decadent world system, it is incomprehensible that one sin would be privileged to escape systemic expression. This is true not only for statistical reasons, but for organic ones. Racism is the spoiled child of pride. And structural racism is the sturdy child of structural pride. They are organically connected. Pride gives birth to racism. Structural pride gives birth to structural racism. Racism is an explicit or implicit feeling or belief or practice that values one race over other races, or devalues one race beneath others. Why do we do

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Germany.

this? Because of pride. Egotism. Haughtiness. Vain-glory. What could be clearer than the fact that we devalue other races in order to exalt our own, and gain the advantages that go with it? This is why racism is also the sibling of the fraternal triplets greed, fear, and lust. We value our own race, and devalue others to gain benefits (greed), avoid perceived loss (fear). And all the while lust aids and abets the process by sucking the vestiges of decency out of our souls.

REMEDY: THE MIND OF CHRIST

I conclude, therefore, that in a biblical worldview, structural racism is a given. It finds expression everywhere that pride, greed, fear, and lust do. Where cultural winds blow against it, which thankfully they do today, it tends (tragically) to go underground. But beware of thinking that, because structural racism is pervasive, it is the decisive cause of all injustice or all inequalities. The pervasive presence of one type of cancer cell in the body does not make it the cause of every malady. Therefore, it is seldom helpful to wave the flag of structural racism without putting the finger on specific manifestations. The likelihood may be high that it played a part. But a good physician does his tests. Jesus Christ is the decisive antidote for the disease of pride, greed, fear, lust, and racism. The only sin we can successfully defeat is a forgiven sin, and only the death and resurrection of Jesus secures that forgiveness before God. When we are united to him by faith, his death and righteousness counts as ours. Our punishment is past (because of his death); our perfection is imputed (because of his righteousness). Now we are in a position to make war on pride and greed and fear and lust.

In Christ, the God-opposing “mind of the flesh” is crucified (Galatians 5:24). In Christ, the God-exalting “mind of Christ” is created (Galatians 6:15; Philippians 2:5). At the heart of this newness is the miracle that “in humility [we] count others more significant than [ourselves]” (Philippians 2:3). That is the end of pride, greed, fear, lust, and racism. Humility and servanthood replace pride and selfishness. Generosity replaces greed. Peace replaces fear. Covenant love replaces lust.

UNDAUNTED IN DOING GOOD

This kind of person—this new creation in Christ—not only renounces racism in his heart and deeds, he also seeks to discern and dismantle the structures that grew up around it. One way to do this is to invite different ethnicities to look closely at the way an institution works and tell you what they see. You may not agree with their assessments, but we have little hope of overcoming blind spots without seeing the world through other eyes. The person who has the mind of Christ is not surprised by what he finds in the fallen world. Nor is he inclined to spend much of his energy blaming others. He knows too much of his own sin and remaining imperfection. He is not utopian or naïve about the limited possibilities of justice in this fallen world. Nor is he paralyzed or daunted by those limits. His job is not to create the kingdom of God. His job is to magnify the all-satisfying greatness of Christ, and do as much good as he can (1 Peter 2:12; 3:11, 17; 4:19). John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org.

MANY ETHNICITIES, The idea of “races” is fiction. There is but one human race descended from one parentage, all of whom are created in the image of God spiritually, rationally, morally, and bodily. Our failures at unity is a failure to ground our ideas of ethnicity and “race” in the person and work of Christ Jesus. BY THABITI ANYABWILE

Y, DISCIPLING A GENER ATION THAT SEEKS PEOPLE INSTE AD OF PROGR AMS

by Barbara Neumann

Previous, top row, from left: AfricanAmericans in United States (significantly reached); Persians in Iran (unreached); Wolof in Senegal (unreached). Previous, middle row, from left: Akan-Fante in Ghana (significantly reached); Akan in Ghana (significantly reached); Maasai in Kenya (significantly reached). Previous bottom row, from left: Swedish in Sweeden (significantly reached); Han Chinese, Pinghua in China (partially reached); Tai Man, Shan in Myanmar (unreached).

SYSTEMATIC SILENCE

erhaps the longest running conversation between Blacks and Whites in America is a conversation about race. It’s a conversation that started in 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia as slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade began. The conversation moved through the Civil War, through Reconstruction, through Jim Crow segregation, and into the Civil Rights movement. And the conversation continues today in battles over affirmative action, racial profiling, and other problems in an increasingly diverse nation. In all of these conversations, the topic is “race.” Everyone talks about “race.” Lurking behind all this controversy and influencing our very identities are notions of “race.” From time to time this discussion of race has been theological in nature. The Civil War, as historian Mark Noll recently pointed out, could be understood as a theological crisis.1 When both the opponents and advocates of slavery raised the question of African humanity, a theological anthropology was in view. One part of that crisis involved disputes over “race.” When the “brotherhood of man” became a favorite slogan for many African-American leaders and some social gospeliers in the Civil War’s aftermath of Reconstruction,2 a theological anthropology was pressed into the service of social and political causes. But this ongoing conversation about race raises several questions. First, if race is a matter of theological anthropology, why has there been so little contemporary theological reflection on race? Perhaps more importantly, it’s worth asking if this idea of “race” is even biblical? I’m not sure it is. And if it’s not a biblical idea, we’re forced to ask whether the very way in which we think about “race” as a category is itself a product of the Fall. My hope is that as we consider these foundational issues, we will become better at talking about the uncomfortable topic of race, and maybe even discover why our competency for handling racial problems isn’t much better today than it was in 1619 or 1925.

Does the gospel of Jesus Christ have anything to say regarding how we’re to understand race? A survey of several prominent and otherwise useful systematic theologies suggests, “No, Jesus and the gospel are silent on race and race-related issues.” Not one of the popular systematic theologies I consulted for this article included an entry for “race” or “ethnicity” in their indexes. Several authors do briefly touch on the topic of race. William Shedd and R. D. Culver list the “racial solidarity” of humanity in sin in their indexes.3 Wayne Grudem includes references to racial equality in the church, the gospel call to all racial groups, the imago Dei giving all races dignity, and racial equality in Christ.4 For his part, James Montgomery Boice calls Christians to speak out against “racism” and to oppose what he called the “secular church” and its gospeleclipsing agenda.5 Charles Hodge, writing during a time when the racist attitudes that Grudem and Boice rightly lament were near their peak, refutes the “anti-scriptural theories” of man’s evolutionary origins in chapter one of his systematic theology, but then he hardly addresses the “race question.” Shedd’s attention to race is worse still. He includes supplemental notes that approvingly cite Agassiz’ contention that it is “ever so abundantly demonstrated that [the African race] was but an improved species of ape and [Europeans] a degenerate kind of God.”6 We may conclude that major theologians in the Reformed tradition have largely either been silent or unhelpful on the issue of race and humanity. Turning to monographs devoted to theological anthropology is no more encouraging. Anthony Hoekema understands

Originally published as “Many Ethnicities, One Race,” 9Marks Journal 4, no. 6 (2007): 54–61, © 2007 by 9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: info@9marks.org. Toll Free: (888) 543-1030. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

the importance of the doctrine of man and asks a number of pertinent questions about helping Christians face the “pressing problems of today’s world,” but then he fails to answer them in the rest of his book, at least on the topic of race.7 Two recent volumes which offer theological and philosophical discussions of human being and personal identity are likewise silent on race and ethnicity.8 Few are the number of thinkers like Douglas R. Sharp who address at some length the issue of race as an important topic for theological reflection and concludes that “both race and racism are deeply embedded in our social and cultural lives, that they have been working for a long time to shape American national history as well as our personal and communal identities, and that on all counts they are wrong.” Sharp continues, “race and racism challenge Christian faith and contradict the gospel of Jesus Christ because they are expressions of human sin.”9 May his tribe increase. For the most part, systematic reflections on race have been the province of ethnic minorities and volumes on “racial reconciliation.”10 And judging from that literature, at the end of nearly 2,000 years of theological reflection, basic questions still abound. Where are we when it comes to understanding what it means to be human? Is our “race”—in the sense that idea is used—in any way essential to that understanding? Should it be? In my opinion—humble, I pray—we have a ways to go yet. But the way forward may involve such a renewing of the mind that our generation may balk and remain silent like many of our theological heroes did. Nonetheless, there is an opportunity for us if we have faith and courage enough to seize it. We may for the first time be able to advance a theological anthropology that biblically and thoroughly answers the “race question” and thus provides the church and her leaders with handlebars for steering through what has been a theological, social, and political quagmire for nearly four centuries.

Girl from Myanmar. People Groups Unreached: 49 (33.6%).

IMAGE, BODY, AND CULTURE: UNITY IN ADAM

The obvious place to start in constructing a doctrine of man is with Scripture, and in the beginning with the Genesis account. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:26–27). Man, male and female, is made in the image of God. Historically, great Christian minds have wrestled with precisely what this image consists of. Generally speaking, theologians understand the image to include certain rational, spiritual, moral, governmental, or ruling capacities and functions. Some have also distinguished between “broader” and “narrower” senses in which man bears the image of God. The “broader” sense refers to those ways in which man continues to image God after the Fall, as with man’s intellectual capacity, spirituality, moral agency, and natural affections. The “narrower” sense refers to those ways in which man does not continue to image God after the fall, as with God’s perfect righteousness, holiness, and knowledge.11

From top: Tuareg man in Morocco; Moroccan woman. People Groups Unreached 27 (87.1%).

BODILY SOLIDARITY WITH ADAM

Few have given much attention to the image and its relationship to bodily characteristics. Some who do will focus on the body as the “home” for the soul and the means through which other capacities are exercised. Culver is unequivocal: “The whole of man, soul and body, is ‘in the image of God’ and ‘according to his likeness,’” even if not every aspect or part of the human being is in the image of God in the same manner.12 I don’t think we have to get caught up in the debate over the precise relationship between body and soul in order to affirm that we humans image God bodily. Our in-God’simage existence is embodied and biological. From there, it’s necessary for us to observe the biological unity of all humankind. As Louis Berkhoff writes, “Scripture teaches that the whole human race descended from one pair.” He continued, The subsequent narrative in Genesis clearly shows that the following generations down to the time of the flood stood in unbroken genetic relation with the first pair, so that the human race constitutes not only a specific unity, a unity in the sense that all men share the same human nature, but also a genetic or genealogical unity. This is also taught by Paul in Acts 17:26, “And God made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.”13 We may safely conclude that insofar as genealogy is concerned, the Bible plainly records that there is only one race. With regard to bodily properties like skin color, we may also conclude that, though differences exist, all people are made in the image of God—male and female; black, brown, and white; red-haired and black-haired. There is nothing about bodily distinctions that either disrupt the organic or genetic unity of humanity (Acts 17:26) or obscures the image of God in some groups with certain biological properties. Strictly speaking, the Scripture knows nothing of our contemporary notion of “races.” People may have different skin color (or hair color), but they do not therefore belong to different “races.” The idea of “races” is, therefore, a fiction. There is but one human race descended from one parentage, all of whom are created in the image of God spiritually, rationally, morally, and bodily. (Hereafter, I will use “race” or “races” in quotations to refer to the common notion of multiple races rooted in biological differences, and the term race without quotations to refer to the biblical teaching of one humanity descended from Adam.)

THE PROBLEM WITH SYSTEMATIC SILENCE

What does that mean for our theology? It would seem that an adequate theological anthropology must deny that “races” rooted in differences like skin-color is in any way a reality—that “races” don’t exist. Differing skin colors? Sure. Different races? No. But strangely, my admittedly limited

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

survey of the anthropological literature suggests that few theologians have walked to this logical conclusion, and even fewer have been so inclusive in their definition of humanity “made in the image of God” as to include specific reference to skin color as a marker of race.14 Rare are the theologians like Hodge who carry out their discussion of the unity of the human race against the explicitly-stated backdrop of race relations or questions about race.15 In light of the sparse references to race as skin color in the Bible, this general silence in the systematics would ordinarily not be a problem. If the Bible doesn’t give much attention to the idea of “race as skin color,” why should our theologies? The answer, of course, is that our theological anthropologies are not developed in a historical vacuum, but in a context prejudiced against sound biblical thinking on this topic.16 We’re left pondering the question: How are we to think about “race” (skin color) given the organic unity of humankind? The omission is problematic, then, because (1) the contemporary conversations about “race” assume a biological definition, or at least assume that “race” is phenotypically identifiable (skin color); (2) the silence leaves room for racial assumptions that are not biblical; and (3) the silence allows for social constructions and actions rooted in mistaken notions of personal and group identity. To state these problems in another way, we could say that our allegiance to “races” is a form of idolatry17 (if not poor mental health). They are constructs inherited from the alienation produced by the Fall. We build them, and then they shape us (Psalm 115:8). But just as “an idol is nothing at all in the world” (1 Corinthians 8:4), so too “races” are nothing. Therefore, the first step forward in advancing a new anthropology is to affirm the negative—that there is no such thing as “races” as we have construed and practiced them.

OF RACE AND CULTURE

Insisting upon the genetic unity of humankind and denying the reality of “races” only gets us so far. Though our contemporary notion of “races” is foreign to Scripture, diverse cultures and ethnicities are not. “Ethnicity” is a fluid construct comprised of nationality, language, culture, and sometimes religion. Unlike “races,” ethnic differences are observable and real. So, for example, my administrative assistant, Meg, and one of our faithful church members, Hugh Chin-Sinn, are proud Jamaicans. They share nationality, language (patois), and cultural patterns, but Meg is white and Hugh is black. Conversely, both Edwin Machingambi and I are black, have African names, and speak a bit of the same language (Swahili), but we are not ethnically of the same group. Edwin is Zimbabwean and I am an American nationally, culturally, etc. Ethnicity is an imperfect or fluid construct; however, it’s more precise than “race.” And as J. Daniel Hays points out, the ethnic diversity of the biblical world is far greater and much different than we imagine.18

Theological Anthropology SCRIPTURE Starting with the Scriptures we can see the construction of the doctrine of man and ethnicities. IMAGE God created man imago Dei, in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27). Man’s original nature represented God in righteousness, holiness, and knowledge. BODY As humans, we image God bodily. The whole human race descended from one pair (Acts 17:26). Certain biological properties in some groups do not obscure the image of God or disrupt the genetic unity of humanity. CULTURE Diverse ethnic differences are observable and real. Ethnicity is a fluid construct comprised of nationality, language, and cultural patterns. The ethnic diversity of the biblical world is far greater and much different than we imagine (Revelation 7:9). REDEMPTION The completed work of Christ on the cross brings all nations into union with Christ, restoring his people to the full image of God and culture of holiness, righteousness, and true knowledge (Ephesians 4:21–24).

So how are we to understand ethnic culture as it relates to humanity, the image of God, the gospel, and the church? This question requires a longer response than space here permits. But for now, it is important to establish that ethnic culture is not the image of God but is a product of that image. Genesis 5:1–2 and 9:6 indicate that, after the Fall, man in some sense maintains the image of God. He has lost the perfect righteousness, holiness, and knowledge of God, but he remains a creature in God’s image. Interestingly, it’s during this period of ancient history that the development of human culture occurs. The implements and accidents of culture are scattered throughout the early record. Cain’s children build cities (Genesis 4:17), begin animal husbandry (4:20), play music (4:21), and forge metals (4:22).

Fundamentally the Christian individual’s identity is grounded not in the old ideas of ethnicity and “race” but in the person and work of Christ Jesus. However, the development of human culture was not an amoral or neutral process. Culture, like humanity, is fallen and idolatrous. The development of culture led to the perversion of marriage (Genesis 4:19), murder and vengeance (4:23–24), universal wickedness (6:5, 12), and eventually the universal judgment of the flood (chapter 6). Fallen culture also finds expression in the families, geographic distribution, and language confusion following Babel (chapter 11). There are at least two reasons why we must remember that human culture is a post-lapsarian development: (1) to prevent us from wrongly rooting human culture itself (as opposed to the capacity for cultural production) in the original creation of God, thereby making ethnic human culture seemingly unquestionable or intractable; and (2) to prevent us from overlooking the fact that what God is doing in redemptive history, in part, is restoring his people to the full image of God and the culture of holiness, righteousness, and true knowledge befitting life in the image.

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

From top: Handmade shoes in Turkey; Handmade Mayan shoes and belts in Mexico. Right: Traditional shoes in Iran.

Below: A mother and child in Peru. People Groups Unreached: 8 (7.7%).

In other words, we have let our fallen cultural constructs of “race” over-determine who we are as individuals or groups. As Dave Unander observes: “Identity, an accurate and appropriate understanding of oneself, is often a casualty of racism and bigotry.”19 The damage to healthy, biblical identity occurs because we uncritically take real cultural differences, root them in an imagined and often idolatrous trait like “race,” and proceed to engage the world on this basis. So much of our identity is rooted in a racialized and cultural self-understanding that the pillars of our persons would appear to tremble and collapse with any significant re-examination of the notion of “races” or fallen culture. But conforming to a biblical standard is the only antidote for centuries of distortion, abuse, and neglect. To advance a theological anthropology that addresses and perhaps helps reverse the abuses and errors of earlier periods, we must disentangle humanity (particularly redeemed humanity) from their productions (cultures). We must be able to say that the human being made in the image of God is something distinct from the culture he has created, and we must be able to jettison all of the cultural developments that are contrary to what it means to be human in the image of God. This represents for most of us a daunting risk of faith and spiritual renewal of the mind (Romans 12:1–2).

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

THE CROSS, THE NEW HUMANITY, AND REDEEMED CULTURE: UNITY IN CHRIST

The fall of man into sin is the reason racial animosity, hatred, and divisions exist. Apart from the corruption of man and man’s view of himself, God, and the world, we would not have witnessed the scale of misanthropy we have witnessed through the centuries. And this habit of racial thinking, hatred, and action belongs to the nature and disease of sin from which we need to be redeemed. The question is, has God done anything about “race” and racism? (And it is both “race”—which is evidence of unbiblical thinking about man—and racism we should be concerned about.)

THE CROSS AND THE NEW HUMANITY

Perhaps the best place to see God’s answer is the letters of Paul. There we find that God has indeed answered in Christ, and he has done something more profoundly wonderful than most people have imagined. Consider the apostle’s words in Ephesians 2:13–17: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. (ESV) Here the apostle holds up for the church at Ephesus, which is comprised of both Jewish and Gentile believers, the implications of Christ’s completed work for a doctrine of man. What’s his main point in these verses? Through the completed work of Christ on the cross a new humanity is created, one involving all nations and making them into “one new man” through union with Christ. Christ has taken the old race of Adam and made them one new spiritual race or ethnicity. We are no longer Jews and Gentiles in the earthbound, fleshly, divisive, and hostile sense; we are now God’s workmanship, a new nation and household, and a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new reality is something already accomplished by Christ. Notice the past tense action of Ephesians 2. Gentile and Jew “have been brought near;” Christ has “made us both one” and “has broken down” the wall of hostility dividing us. These past tense phrases refer back to the cross. The new humanity was created “by the blood of Christ,” “in his flesh,” “in one body on the cross.” The new spiritual unity with Christ surpasses in glory and power the organic unity of Adam. This unity with Christ entails the gradual recovery of the

image of God lost in Eden (e.g. 2 Corinthians 3:18). Because Jesus Christ is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3), the icon or “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), those united to Christ are also being restored to the image and likeness of God. As Paul explains, this new humanity—these Christians—“have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:10; see also Ephesians 4:22, 24). He goes on to write of this new humanity, “Here there is no Greek and Jew … but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11). Fundamentally the Christian individual’s identity is grounded not in the old ideas of ethnicity and “race” but in the person and work of Christ Jesus. “We regard no one according to the flesh,” and “all this is from God” (2 Corinthians 5:16, 18).

REDEEMED CULTURE

If our view of man rests not only on the organic unity we have with Adam but also on the spiritual unity Christians have in Christ, then we must be willing to jettison any ethniccentered, divisive understanding of humanity we inherited from our fallen ancestors. If the contemporary idea of “race” belongs to the Fall, then it may rightly be considered one aspect of what Paul calls the “elementary principles of the world” (Galatians 4:3). How many of us grew up learning that “race” and all its entailments were part of the ABCs of how the world works? But those “elementary principles” enslaved us. The apostle writes, Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? (Galatians 4:8–9 ESV) The particular concerns Paul faced were ceremonial observances and the enslaving pull of the Law. But we may just as well include worldly views of “race” and culture among these elementary principles. “Race” is an idea that enslaves. The good news is, Christ died for our freedom (Galatians 5:1). This means that not only does Christ achieve our redemption through the cross, he also provides the liberty to live according to a new divine culture. The apostle’s words in Colossians 2 resound for our time: See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the [basic principles] of this world rather than on Christ. … Since you died with Christ to the [basic principles] of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules? (Colossians 2: 8, 20)

Most likely, we all need to shed much more cultural and racial baggage than we realize.

We must not submit our identities to human tradition and rules, because we are a new humanity living in a new culture. Having been freed by Christ, we regain the ability to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1). The “new self” we are called to “put on” departs from the old practices and human traditions of Jews and Greeks. In this new culture of a new humanity, the most fundamental thing is to grow in Christ likeness and love for the ways of God. The character and word of God must define us. Human invention must not. Therefore, when we assume that ethnic cultures are morally “neutral,” our cultural preferences and expressions will become seriously misdirected. As one theologian put it, “Theology as a reflex of cultural or racial identity can never really transform that identity.”20 Most likely, we all need to shed much more cultural and racial baggage than we realize. Moreover, if Christ has purchased by his blood a new humanity for himself, we must not rely on any approach to “racial reconciliation” (technically, a misnomer) that either is not the gospel work of Christ or that equates racial reconciliation with the gospel. The gospel does something more glorious and profound than merely reconcile man to man, and it certainly does something more glorious than make cohabitation between former “racists” sufferable. By the power of God, the gospel first reconciles us to Christ. Then it remakes us in his image as one new humanity. And then it enables us to share a new and holy culture of godliness. In our failure to recognize Christ’s work in this regard, we may be living beneath our inheritance, inadequately expositing the gospel work of Jesus, or worse, betraying that work by clutching the elementary principles of “race.”

THE PENULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF THE WISDOM OF GOD: THE CHURCH

What does all this have to do with our corporate lives as Christians? Are there any implications for the local church? There is an all-too-hasty conclusion that reconciliation and the new identity in Christ await fulfillment in the age to come. Many limit the teaching of Scripture on these points to the ultimate consummation of all things and skip over what the Bible’s anthropology has to do with us today. That approach, it seems to me, is a mistake. The failures at racial unity are glaring. But no less glaring is the need for Christ’s work to shape and change our thinking and actions across ethnic lines now. The failures simultaneously remind us of our future hope and our present need. The fact that Sunday noon remains the most segregated hour in America teaches us that the sin of racial thinking is real. We might be helped with our challenges at living out the new humanity in Christ by asking, “If there is one human race descended from Adam made in God’s image and likeness, and if there is one new humanity being restored to the image and likeness in righteousness, holiness, and knowledge, where will this new humanity be displayed? Where is its home? Where is it lived out?” The Bible’s answer to these questions is “the church.” Here, again, the impulse of some will be to draw a distinction between the “universal” church and the “local” church. And already having allowed for the worldly idea of “race” to create space in their thinking for division, many will conclude that “local church” and “mono-ethnic church” are synonyms. Some may insist that the “homogeneous unit principle” is not only permissible but best in building the church, while others may adopt an ecclesiological parallel to the “open but cautious” position used for spiritual gifts. They’re not prepared to deny racial and spiritual unity, but they’re leery about how to practice it. With one voice, all of these positions contend that living the new humanity achieved by Christ belongs to the “last things,” and it’s the last thing taught or cultivated. But have we considered how much of the New Testament addresses this issue of racial solidarity in the concrete reality of the local church? Ephesians 2:11–22 exhorts unity across ethnic lines in the local church(es) at Ephesus. Wherever there are references to the universal church in the letter to Ephesus they are not used to justify delays in Christian unity in the local church. Or, consider the establishment of the office of deacon in Acts 6. An entire New Testament church office is created to preserve cross-cultural/ethnic unity in the local church. And Paul rebukes Peter to his face for Peter’s ethnically-inspired hypocrisy when it came to fellowshipping with Gentiles in the presence of Jews (Galatians 2). In Ephesians 3, the Apostle Paul reminds his Jewish and Gentile Christian readers of the “mystery” he taught, a

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

mystery “not known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:5). The mystery of God now made known is “the Gentiles are fellow heirs [with Jews], members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (3:6). What has been brought to light for everyone is “the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God … that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (3:9–10). In other words, the creation of this one new humanity—Jew and Gentile—displays the once-hidden plan and diverse wisdom of God. This display is “through the church.” The establishment of peace and unity between Jew and Gentile in the church signals to the watching universe that God is wise. Israel’s middle wall of separation, a wall God himself had erected as a display of his holiness, gives way to the church as the display of unity and peace accomplished by Jesus to the praise of the wisdom of God. But what will the watching universe conclude if all the Whites are meeting in one building, all the Blacks in another, all the Asians in another, and so on? Will it perceive this wisdom? If our anthropology insists that “race” is a fiction and Christians are a new humanity, it may be that a mono-ethnic local church in a multi-ethnic neighborhood or city is biblically unwarranted. Our local church mandate will shift from striving for the easy unity of loving people who look like us to the seemingly more difficult task of loving “others.” But this will only be more difficult if the “other” is actually an imagined other. If we recognize our fundamental unity in Adam, and our greater unity in Christ, questions of separation will be seen for what they are—a display of man’s wisdom but not God’s. And we’ll prove again that God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8–9). On the other hand, if pursuing this reconciled reality becomes a “chore,” then we’ve made it a “human work,” failing to recognize that “burnout … is a theological problem— namely, a kind of Pelagianism.”21

THE ULTIMATE CELEBRATION: THE NEW JERUSALEM

The Lord has declared the end from the beginning. Not one thing will ever threaten the success of his plans or the power of his will. And for our encouragement, he has given us a glimpse into the end for which we were made and remade in Christ. Revelation 5:9–10 and 7:9–10 record the scenes for us: And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9–10 ESV, emphasis added) After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9–10 ESV, emphasis added) This is the glory that awaits the race of Christ. The redeemed from every people, tribe, language, and nation enjoy the glorious presence of the Lamb, worshipping him with one voice, singing of his wondrous salvation. The Father shed the blood of the Son to effect this eternal reality. The redeemed will be in that place with glorified bodies (1 Corinthians 15:44), “bearing the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49), “being like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Our living on this day is preparation for our rejoicing on that day. As we eagerly reach forward to Christ beyond the veil of this life, we desperately need for this eternal view to bleed down into our temporal understanding and practice. That day is not an argument against genuine racial solidarity in the church this day. If anything, it is an encouragement for the pursuit of it now. Ironically, denying that “races” exist doesn’t lead to the denial of all differences. It leads to the affirmative action of seeking the multitudes who as one man bow together to the risen Lamb.

By God’s grace, we are one nation, one new and redeemed humanity in Christ.

CONCLUSION

Recently a woman from the Maryland area visited First Baptist Church (FBC) of Grand Cayman. After the service, she excitedly told me how she had driven around the island looking for a place to worship. She was drawn to FBC because of the diversity she saw. “It’s a little United Nations in here,” she exclaimed. I smiled at her encouragement and gave God thanks for the unity and peace he has worked in the body. As I write this article, I see that our visitor was almost correct. The church is diverse, yes. But we are not a miniature United Nations (plural). By God’s grace, we are one nation, one new and redeemed humanity in Christ. May it increasingly be so with all of Christ’s church. References are available in the online version of this article. Thabiti Anyabwile serves as pastor with Anacostia River Church and is the author of several books, including: Reviving the Black Church; The Life of God in the Soul of the Church; The Gospel for Muslims; What Is a Healthy Church Member?; The Decline of African-American Theology; and The Faithful Preacher. He blogs regularly at The Front Porch and Pure Church.

c u l t u r a l awa r e n e s s

What can we do to promote greater acceptance of cultural diversity in the church and to recognize and change aspects of our organizational structures and policies that exclude Christians from other cultural traditions? BY SHERYL TAKAGI SILZER

THE GREAT COMMISSION in Matthew 28:18–20

commands believers to make disciples of every nation. Over the past century American mission agencies have been seeking to fulfill the Great Commission. The results of their mission efforts are disciples from many nations that will be present in the multicultural throng in Heaven praising God together (Revelation 7:9). The scene before the throne is a beautiful picture of global unity and harmony. The question arises: Does God want us to enjoy this unity and harmony here on earth in our mission organizations and interactions with people from other cultures? If so, how can we reflect the heavenly model in our organizations? The United States is the most culturally diverse it has ever been. It is predicted that by 2055 there will be no ethnic majority.1 According to the Migration Policy Institute in 2016, the percentage of immigrants and their U.S. born children is 27% of the population.2 The percentage of immigrants who identified themselves as Christian in 2017 of the Pew Research Center was 61% of the immigrant population. At the same time the number of Christians in the U.S. dropped from 78% in 2007 to 71% in 2014. These statistics reveal the changing face of Christianity in the United States which is also reflected in the global world.3 If God intended us to experience unity and harmony here on earth and in the United States, what would that look like? How would it be different if our churches and mission agencies were characterized by unity and harmony? Do immigrant members feel welcomed and safe in white majority churches and organizations? Do they feel they belong and that people care for them? A sobering thought is how we treat believers from

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

other cultures who are not like us. Do we treat them as brothers and sisters in Christ? Or do we consider ourselves better than others? According to recent analysis, racism is alive and flourishing in our institutions in the United States: Questions of unity and diversity are the most pressing to face the United States today … Will increasing diversity lead us to greater tolerance and respect for one another? Can we overcome the legacies of racism and inequalities that stretch back to colonial days? (emphasis added)4

Although these comments come from the secular arena, they reflect mainstream thinking which also impacts the church. We might ask ourselves why there are so many ethnic churches today. Is it because of a shared language and culture? Or might it be because immigrants do not feel at home or welcomed in a church made up of primarily European Americans? What can we do to promote greater acceptance of cultural diversity in the church and to recognize and change aspects of our organizational structures and policies that exclude Christians from other cultural traditions? One of the things I suggest to foster the unity and harmony we have in Christ, is to gain greater awareness of our cultural differences in order to recognize how the American culture contributes to exclusion and discrimination. The United States has been described as a country of individualists, and cultural diversity is interpreted as “each to his own.” That is, each person is seen as unique due to their individual circumstances or upbringing. Immigrants are viewed as individuals who each have a different personality rather than a

different culture. Such a view of culture suggests that we do not need to understand cultural differences but only accept the differences. That is, until a person’s differentness inhibits my individualism or prevents me from doing what I want to do, I can easily accept them. The focus on the individual enables Americans to embrace cultural differences abstractly in our thinking but doesn’t require that our thinking impact our behavior. The expectation is that I take care of myself, and, therefore, other people should take care of themselves as well; we have no cultural sense of responsibility of others. However, there is much more richness to culture and cultural ways of doing things than just making a person feel unique. What was God’s intention in recognizing culture and language in Heaven? When people from every language, culture, and nation worship in Heaven, what does that say about the differences of their cultural ideals? Mary Douglas, a socio-cultural anthropologist, suggested a way to understand cultural differences that would enable people to recognize how their own culture differs from others. She also posits that we each have a system of justification that separates people based on their cultural type or preferences for doing things in their own cultural way. Douglas suggests that all cultures can be understood from the perspective of two dynamics—people are different (Structure) and how they are the same (Community). These two dynamics describe the underlying reasons that people do things in the way that they do. Their responses to cultural differences creates a system whereby people maintain their cultural type. For example, what are the things we complain about? Do we complain when people prevent us from achieving our individual goals? When meetings don’t start or end on time? When people allow personal situations to interfere with their work? When people say “yes” but they really mean “no”? Or that some people expect you to share resources with them without repaying? These are just a few examples of cultural differences that you may face in your everyday life working with people from other cultures, even here in the U.S. Douglas says that the two dynamics of Structure (how people are different) and Community (how they are the same) can be either Strong or Weak forming four main cultural identities that motivate us to do things in the way we do: Weak Structure / Weak Community, Strong Structure / Weak Community, Strong Structure / Strong Community, Weak Structure / Strong Community. One cultural type has weak structure and weak community because the focus is on the individual— whatever the individual wants or decides is right. The focus is on the self. People in this type expect

There is much more richness to culture and cultural ways of doing things than just making a person feel unique. that others feel the same. “I am only responsible for myself.” The second type has more structure but still weak community. The focus is on doing things according to the system, rules, or the proper way to do things. The focus is on the system. People in this cultural type expect everyone else to also follow the rules. “You can’t fight city hall.” The third type has more structure and more community and shapes a hierarchical system where people on the top make the decisions but do so in order to care for those underneath them. Everyone belongs, even though they all do not have an equal status. “The nail that stands out gets pounded down.” The fourth type has less structure but more community and shapes a system in which people do everything together and share their resources in common. “I am because we are.” These four types of people are represented in today’s American society. Many younger people (some older ones too) who have grown up in American culture and educational systems, learn to focus on the individual because that is how they succeed. Only by individual effort can they graduate from school. Each person gets paid for his or her individual work. An American child is asked from an early age what they want to eat, what they want to do, what they want to wear, etc. They grow up making individual decisions. This cultural type is driven by the global consumer market that is affecting the young people around the world. Douglas says that a society cannot exist without any order or structure if it is full of Individuating people. Therefore, people set up institutions (government,

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

schools, companies) to establish order. However, the institutions can be full of Individuating people who create rules and change them frequently. This Institutionalizing cultural type is predominant in Western European groups (British, German, Swiss, etc.). Hierarching and Interrelating people have a strong sense of community/family identity and differ greatly from the previous types. Most of the world (Asians, Latins, Africans, Middle Easterners, Pacific Islanders, etc.) represents these two types. In these cultures the family is the most important part of life. Parents take care of the children, nurture them, and continue to have input into their lives. When the parents get old the children reciprocate the care their parents gave them as children. Strong family/community cultures are also a combination of Hierarching and Interrelating values depending on who a person is relating to. Douglas’ four cultural types provide a picture of the multicultural throng in heaven. Unfortunately harmonious interaction with people from other cultures is not the norm for the North American church or missions agencies. We often act as if we are superior to other people and feel that they should conform to the way we do things. In fact, we often insist that things be done our way because that is the right way. For example, because much of mission endeavor is funded by U.S. donors we require foreign recipients to conform to U.S. institutional laws. Strong community cultures have a different view of how to handle finances—that is, people share when there is a need. Co-workers from Strong Community cultures consider some Western financial regulations to be unbiblical. These are only a few of the ways that the lack of cultural awareness among large American organizations continues to discourage the unity and harmony we have in Christ. If we truly believe that God intends us to experience unity and harmony here on earth, what are some of the steps we can take?

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What things do I complain or get upset about? Do I direct the blame towards a people group that is different than me? 2. Can I identify which cultural type explains my response? 3. Is this the response God would desire me to have towards cultural differences? For more information see Biblical Multicultural Teams: Applying Biblical Truth to Cultural Differences, Silzer, 2011. Sheryl Takagi Silzer, PhD is a multicultural consultant serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL International.

Structure and Community Theory 2. INSTITUTIONALIZING

Strong Structure

Weak Community

1. INDIVIDUATING

3. HEIRARCHING

Strong Community

Weak Structure

INDIVIDUATING PEOPLE Don’t like to be told what to do. They get upset when others try to tell them what to do. They also don’t like it when anything prevents them from achieving their personal goals. HIERARCHING PEOPLE Prefer top-down authority and therefore do not like it when lower status people do not show respect or when they question the leaders’ authority. Everyone knows their place in the hierarchy and as long as they submit to authority, things generally will go fine. They don’t mind being told what to do. These people prefer attending to the needs of others in the group before they accomplish work goals.

4. INTERRELATING

INSTITUTIONALIZING PEOPLE Don’t know what to do if there isn’t a clear rule or policy. They only know how to do things if there is a rule. These people like to do things in an orderly manner. When a meeting doesn’t start or end on time, they complain or get upset. INTERRELATING PEOPLE Prefer everything to be equally shared among members of their group. This includes taking responsibility for one another. However, they prefer to be able to give their opinion because that makes them feel a part of the group. People in this kind of society get upset if someone has more and doesn’t share.

The

FROG in His POND SNEERS at the

OCEAN CHALLENGING MINISTRY LEADERS TO SEE THE WORLD IN A WAY THAT IS MUCH BROADER THAN OUR OWN ETHNIC CIRCLES. BY JAMES KIM

“WOW!” This was the response from the Communications Professor after my first sermon in front of the class. Naturally, I came off the stage and sat down in my seat with a little bit of pride. But what came out next from the Professor deflated me. “I never heard an Oriental speak English so well!” The year was 1997, and I was studying in the Southern United States. Incidentally, the Professor had helpful points about my sermon, that encouraged me to not give up preaching—which I was considering even before I got started. Before me, most of the Asian students that he encountered were international students, so, I’m not holding any grudges. However, it did awaken me to the perceptions and assumptions that others would have of me. Even in my role at Pioneers-USA, the missions agency that I had joined that same year to recruit missionaries, I felt the distinction of being an Asian-American in a predominately Anglo-American organization. When I first joined, the database had over a thousand names, and we were not sure where each person was in the process of joining our organization—the names had been gathered over years of visits to churches, conferences, and Bible Colleges, to name a few. I wrote a letter to each one to introduce myself and to ask them to call me if they were still interested in missions and joining Pioneers. When the phone calls started to come in, one of the inevitabilities was that at the end of the conversation, people would ask, “So … Kim … that’s an Asian last name?” When I told them that it was, they would

say, “Wow! You have virtually no accent!” If they knew that it was a Korean last name, or once I told them I was born in Korea, they would begin to tell me about how much they like or know about kimchi. These conversations over the phone and in person surfaced the reality that even in ministry, my last name, my appearance, and my slight accent (a blend of Baltimore, New York, Southern, and a hint of Korean) would be distinguishing identifiers that pointed out that I was not part of the majority. In hindsight, I know that each person was trying to connect with me in what they thought would be a “connection point” for us. However, being one of the first non-white persons to come in to a “white” organization, and trying to fit in, those comments were small daggers that left me bleeding from multiple wounds, wondering if someone more like them would be more effective in this role. I had thought, naively, that those who were wanting to become missionaries and the staff of an international missions agency, would not point out the fact that I am a visible minority. I also thought that superior attitudes, prejudice and bigotry would be absent in this sphere of ministry. After all, these were people who took the gospel to other cultures and contextualized the message to those cultures. I was disappointed then, and in many ways, I am today more weary and skeptical than I would like to be in this regard. So, why didn’t I quit? Because the benefits far outweighed the difficulties. Let me just share three among many.

“I never heard an Oriental speak English so well!”

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

VERCOMING THE INFERIORIT Y COMPLEX. In Janu-

ary of 2003, the leadership of Pioneers-USA came to me and asked me if I would consider becoming the Mobilization Director. Although I felt that I had the skills to do it, I found many reasons why I could not say yes. I had too many fears: that I didn’t have enough experiences, that I might fail, that I would not be accepted because I was not white, etc. However, I also did not want to say no to a golden opportunity. And, in my gut I knew that the Lord was asking me to do it. So, I found a compromise. I asked if I could serve as an Interim Mobilization Director, and that we should look for the best possible candidate. I secretly hoped that I was that person, but my inferiority complex just would not let me accept it without a “safety net.” I ended up taking the role six months later. That same year, I was on a trip to the Middle-East with the Founders of Pioneers, Ted and Peggy Fletcher, as well as some of the key leaders of Pioneers. We entered Iraq a few days after the bombing of the Canal Hotel where the United Nation’s Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed. It was a strategic window, preceding the chaos of what happened in that part of the world afterwards. We, the leaders of Pioneers, went to assess how we might be able to place workers in that country that had been closed for so long. During that trip, we met with a key Iraqi pastor who had been exiled to Jordan and returned to Iraq not too long before our arrival in his homeland. God had used him in Jordan to plant multiple Arabic churches, and was using him to plant churches in Iraq in that short time between March (end of Desert Storm) and August (when we visited), 2003. In our meeting, every time I asked him a question, he would turn to a white person to answer. It was as if I didn’t exist for him, or that I was not a leader in this organization. Sadly, my white brothers didn’t even notice. I understand that for many, a non-white American was hard to grasp at the time, let alone a non-white leader, but those incidences continued to fuel my inferiority complex. There are many things that God used to put me on the road to recovery from my inferiority complex. One of the ways was to provide white mentors like Web and Sharon Lippert. They have been my spiritual parents ever since our trip together to Haiti, where they led the short-term team that God put me on to

bring me to Himself. Dr. Jack Frizen (Uncle Jack) who, as a resident consultant to Pioneers on loan from the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association, not only mentored me, but became part of our family (our kids miss him dearly!). Also, there were the leaders of Pioneers who may not have fully understood my insecurities, but treated me as an equal. The Pioneers leaders were not perfect, by any means, as they missed cues like the ones I mentioned above in Iraq. However, most of them did not seem to act out of their sense of superiority. They were passionate about their calling, humble enough to share their own insecurities, and led me to the Throne of God as often as they could. I can’t say that I am completely cured from my inferiority complex, but God has used the past twenty-one years to bring me closer to being like Jesus through the people and experiences that He guided me through.

REEDOM TO BECOME ALL THAT GOD INTENDED ME TO BE . Back

in the late ’90s, it was still very hard for a young Korean-American to be a Christian leader. Although many of the Korean-American churches were thriving, much of the leadership came from the Korean speakers (or the first generation). The English speakers (1.5 or second generation) either had to contend with leading in a smaller English ministries or break out into an independent church situation. And with so few mentors who understood the nuances of immigrant ministries, it was hard to become all that God intended us to be. Many of the would-be leaders of the KoreanAmerican churches became successful in their professional careers, but in the Korean-American church, were relegated to being “second class” leaders. Many were left out of consideration for roles such as deacon and elder. When I joined Pioneers, one of the freedoms that I felt was the empowerment that I was given from the leadership of the organization. They gave me a role and trusted me to figure out how best to get the job done. When I failed, they stood with me and helped me to stand back up. Therefore, I have learned to give the same kind of freedom to those whom I am leading. One of the key roles of a leader is to develop those whom they are entrusted to lead into what God intended them to be—Pioneers gave me that opportunity. That is why when a new person joins a team I am leading, in my first conversation with them I say,

Both the NEGATIVE and the POSITIVE experiences have HELPED me to see the world in a way that is much BROADER than if I would have stayed within my own ETHNIC CIRCLE. “You are on this team. We have vetted you, and we felt that you are the right person to join our team. So, you don’t have to impress us—you already did. Now, go and fail. And when you do, I will stand with you.” Most of the time, the new team member loves the freedom to risk, and proceeds to exceed our expectations of that person. It is because when someone is empowered to become what God intended them to be, they thrive. I came to this knowledge for no other reason than it was the way that I was treated by the Pioneers leadership at every level.

HE OPPORTUNIT Y TO SWIM IN THE OCEAN R ATHER THAN IN A POND. The Japanese have a proverb

that says, “The frog in his pond sneers at the ocean.” I remember some of the “leaders” that had authority over me in the KoreanAmerican church that I was attending with this type of attitude toward my desire to serve with a predominantly white organization. They warned me about the “discrimination” that I will feel, and the missed opportunities that I will have if I left for the “other side.” Some even thought that I was “selling out.” And in some ways, that may have been true, but the truth is that I was simply obeying God’s will in my life and following where He led. Obeying God’s will for me to become a pioneer in joining an Anglo-American organization allowed me to see the world in a way that I could not have imagined. Both the negative and the positive experiences have helped me to see the world in a way that is much broader than if I would have stayed within my own ethnic circle. It would be easy to condemn my white colleagues for not noticing the slights that I felt in situations like the one described in Iraq. However, when one considers that is just normal for a white leader, it falls on people like me to help them to see it, so that they can better respond the next time. In

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

this way we begin to move the “waters” in the white pond so that a growing stream will begin to flow to the ocean. The mixing of the waters of these various ponds is happening around the globe whether we like it or not. According to the United Nations Report on Migration from 2015, 244 million people were living outside of the country of their birth. That was 3% of the world’s population, and the refugees only accounted for 40 million people.1 Ethnically mixed marriages are on the rise,2 and cultures are in flux. We are now living in a world that Andrew Walls calls Reverse European Migration, where the effects of the past 500 years, where the Europeans went out to conquer the world, is reversing.3 The waters of the oceans are mixing. In the past twenty plus years, I have been challenging many Asian Christians interested in ministry to go outside of their ponds. On the one hand, I spoke of the benefits that they can receive, both personally and for their own ethnic groups. And on the other hand, I asked them to consider the benefits to the other culture as he/she is injected into that culture. Because God gave the same message to others, the Church in North America is beginning to be led by people from different ethnic backgrounds. This is good news. But much work still needs to be done. That is why it is important for us to recognize that those who are in positions of leadership, no matter what their ethnic background, must make sure that the people whom they are leading are given the opportunity to: overcome their inferiority complex (or insecurities), have the freedom to become all that God intended them to be, and given the opportunity to swim in the ocean that is rapidly changing. The Church in North America, and around the globe, will need Christians who are biblically grounded, culturally agile, and growing in character and intimacy with Jesus Christ to lead those who are seeking clarity in an era of confusion, to Him. I am thankful to God, the mentors that He brought into my life, and the colleagues that He surrounded me with to sanctify me. References are available in the online version of this article. James Kim is Executive Director of Pioneers Canada.

TURNING POINTS

Thoroughly Equipped? Anthology is not merely meant to inform. We want to encourage, provoke, and stir up action among our readers. The Great Commission matters and so the way we do mission is important. In gospel proclamation we need to be prepared to think and act biblically. Here are some thought-provoking questions on this issue to consider and discuss. Share your comments with us on social media. Follow us @missionexus     

SEEING WHAT THEY SEE. Fallen culture

page

often promotes misuse of power—to enslave, dominate, and abuse. How do we as redeemed men and women use our strengths to redeem power structures? How can we more fully steward the diversity of maleness and femaleness together in our gospel efforts to a lost world?

THE SIN OF RACISM. Do you recognize

structural racism? Have you considered inviting different ethnicities to look closely at the way your institution works? Ask them to tell you what they see. You may not agree with their assessments, but there is little hope of overcoming blind spots without seeing the world through other eyes.

page

MANY ETHNICITIES, ONE RACE. Have you

page

34 page

seen a failure at unity because ideas of ethnicity and “race” where not grounded in the person and work of Christ Jesus? What steps have you made towards unity and peace in the body? What does it mean that we are one nation, one new and redeemed humanity in Christ?

THE FROG IN HIS POND SNEERS AT THE OCEAN. What challenges have you faced that

brought you outside your own ethnic circle? Are you guilty of wrong perceptions and assumptions of others because of their ethnicity? Have you encouraged others in ministry to go outside of their own cultural ponds?

THE LAST WORD

Passionate Admirers In Every People Group

When Paul says, “Praise the Lord all you nations, and let all the peoples extol him” (Romans 15:11, author’s translation), he is saying that there is something about God that is so universally praiseworthy and so profoundly beautiful and so comprehensively worthy and so deeply satisfying that God will find passionate admirers in every diverse people group in the world. His true greatness will be manifest in the breadth of the diversity of those who perceive and cherish his beauty. His excellence will be shown to be higher and deeper than the parochial preferences that make us happy most of the time. His appeal will be to the deepest, highest, largest capacities of the human soul. Thus, the diversity of the source of admiration will testify to his incomparable glory. —John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions

ANTHOLOGY / MAY 2018

Visit Missiographics.com

Our Partners:

Thursday, September 20â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Saturday, September 22, 2018 Caribe Royale, Orlando, Florida

Meet Our Line-Up of Plenary Speakers

Leith Anderson

President of the National Association of Evangelicals

Thabiti Anyabwile

Author and serves as Pastor with Anacostia River Church

KĂ¤rin Butler Primuth CEO of visionSynergy and Missio Nexus Board Member

Dick Brogden

Author and oversees Church Planting for Live Dead in the Arab World

David Pierce

Founder of Steiger International and singer at No Longer Music

Join other Mission Leaders in Orlando. Learn from 70+ influential speakers and 9 specialized workshop tracks. Meet mission and church leaders from 25 featured networks. Engage deeper with multiple networking opportunities. All focused on partnership in the Great Commission.

Anthology Vol. 6 No. 1 May 2018 Diversity

Articles inside

The Sin of Racism

From Segregation to Interaction

Seeing What They See