Vision: The Elders of Gospel Life Church desire that all disciples of Jesus would be equipped to think, believe, and act towards issues of race/ethnicity in ways that are God-glorifying, Gospel-centered, Biblically faithful, missionally motivated, & culturally sensitive. We acknowledge and grieve that the Church historically in America has many times failed to courageously and Biblically address issues of injustice, racism and division. We earnestly pray that when it comes to these ongoing discussions and struggles, we can faithfully live out Micah 6.8, “What does the LORD require of you? To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” We acknowledge that there are many resources out there that address these issues – some are helpful and others are not. We pray that the following resources will inspire you all the more to seek racial justice, reconciliation and harmony for the good of the Church and the glory of Jesus Christ.
What follows below is a list of resources that we as elders feel are helpful for the reasons listed. We do not agree with every part of each of these resources, but we still recommend them and see them as worthy of your time and consideration. We realize that people are going to have different views on these issues and so do we at times as elders. However, we hope that this page will encourage you to seek a greater understanding, compassion and humility in how you interact with people who you disagree with. We hope that this list and studying these resources will foster greater love and unity in the Church at large and here at Gospel Life Church.
The following “Justice Document” was carefully created by the Elders and serves as a foundation for how to think about issues of justice Biblically. We are in full agreement as elders on the content of this document.
We highly recommend reading this first before jumping into any specific resources on race.
“Statement on the Gospel & Justice” (March, 2021)
Once there is a Biblical understanding of justice and the Gospel, we believe it is helpful to consider one’s posture & attitude towards the difficult issues and debates surrounding race.
We recommend Pastor Scott Sauls’ helpful book on our posture as followers of Jesus, “A Gentle Answer: Our ‘Secret Weapon’ In An Age Of Us Against Them.”
We are grateful for people of color in our church and the community who came together as a panel on 8/26/2018 to talk honestly about racial reconciliation. Click here for the audio.
We also hosted a Zoom Q/A with Bill Bird, local pastor of Greater Dimensions Church in June of 2020. Click here for the video. Click here for the audio only. This Q/A shows a healthy, mature discussion on the topic of race.
The elders also did a Zoom in October, 2020, explaining our Biblical views on race. This Zoom includes a number of ideas that led to the writing of the Gospel & Justice Statement. Click here for the video. Click here for the audio only.
There are lots of conflicting definitions of “Racism” in our society. We find the following definition from Pastor Duke Kwon helpful: “Racism is the sinful devaluation (or overvaluation), subordination (or supraordination), and exclusion (or preferential inclusion) of God’s image-bearers on the basis of ethnicity, culture or race. It is an idolatrous ecosystem of beliefs, behaviors and social structures that assigns value or advantage based on ethnicity, culture or race. Racism is individual and structural, behavioral and attitudinal, conscious and subconscious, explicit and implicit, active and passive.”
Here is a 25 minute sermon by Pastor Kwon on Galatians 2.14-21 (Paul confronting Peter for his prejudice) entitled, “Justified: Race & Grace.”
We highly recommend Pastor Tony Evans’ sermon on Ephesians 2 called, “Race & Reconciliation.” (42 minutes)
Tony Evans does a great job applying the Gospel (Ephesians 2.1-10) to the issue of race, which is addressed by Paul in Ephesians 2.11-22.
We also recommend the writings of Dr. John Perkins. His book, “One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race and Love” is a balanced, Biblical and gracious challenge to the church to unify around the Gospel and our common identity as God’s people.
Dr. Eric Mason is an Acts 29 pastor and author ministering in the inner city of Philadelphia. We recommend his book, “Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians In America To Confront Racism And Injustice.” Dr. Mason is not talking about “Wokeness” in a secular or “liberal” way, but rather a Biblical way. In Ephesians 5.13-14, the Apostle Paul calls believers to wake up. Dr. Mason is asking the Church to wake up to and take seriously our responsibilities as followers of Jesus to love our neighbors, serve the poor, defend the marginalized, and speak up against injustice. We especially appreciate Chapter 2, where Dr. Mason reminds us that justice is a key Biblical theme in both the Old and New Testament.
We also recommend Professor George Yancey’s writings.
Yancey models a posture of humility as he explains and considers 4 different popular perspectives on race. He highlights how each perspective touches on a truth found in God’s Word. However, each perspective is incomplete. The solution is not found in the world, it is found in the truth of God’s Word and the Gospel. Reconciliation and unity can only be realized by engaging with one another for a complete understanding.
Here is an article he wrote called, “Not White Fragility, Mutual Responsibility.”
If you like the article and want to learn more, check out his book, “Beyond Racial Gridlock: Embracing Mutual Responsibility.”
Here at Gospel Life Church, we have adopted Yancey’s principle of “Mutual Responsibility” and added 2 others when talking about 3 of the necessary ingredients of racial reconciliation:
- Mutual Respect – We must be willing to honor other ethnicities and cultures – to see the good in each culture. And we must resist the sinful tendency to elevate our own culture/ethnicity over others. All cultures are created by God, and all humans are made in his image. Paul in Romans 12.10 says, “Love one another deeply. Outdo one another in showing honor (respect).” Paul says it this way in Philippians 2.3-4, “In humility, consider others as more important than yourselves.”
- Mutual Understanding – We must also seek to understand why people from other cultures think and live the way they do – why they are upset or sad, why they are celebrating and happy. Both sides must be committed to understanding the other side – putting themselves in each other’s shoes, so to speak. We must be willing to genuinely learn from other cultures. Paul speaks to this in Romans 12.15-16 when he says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” And again in Philippians 2.4-5, “Everyone should look not to his own interests but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.”
- Mutual Responsibility – People from both majority culture and minority culture must admit shared responsibility in building unity and seeking reconciliation. Both sides have areas of blame and responsibility – it is not all one group’s fault. And the attitude cannot be, “If they fix their side, then maybe I’ll fix mine.” We all have bias, pride, and self-centeredness in our hearts. We all need the Gospel and God’s grace to be transformed into the image of Christ, and to be empowered to be ministers of reconciliation and agents of peace (2 Corinthians 5). “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12.18).
We also appreciate the perspective and writings of Professor Jarvis Williams. Here is a helpful article on the 9 Marks website called, “Racial Reconciliation, the Gospel & the Church.” He does a good job explaining what Biblical, Gospel-centered racial reconciliation is, and teaching that it is much more than just diversity or multi-ethnic ministry.
Pastor Tim Keller has written and preached on this topic a lot, and we find his voice helpful. We recommend his book, “Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just.”
One of the issues that is debated in the church is systemic/corporate evil and/or corporate responsibility. Here is a helpful video clip of Keller teaching his views on this topic called, “Racism & Corporate Evil; A White Guy’s Perspective” (25 minutes).
Another issue that has caused a lot of debate is “Critical Race Theory.”
We highly recommend Dr. Keller’s excellent article addressing secular theories like “CRT” called, “A Biblical Critique of Secular Justice and Critical Theory.”
Another book we find helpful is by Thaddeus Williams (professor/author), and it is called, “Confronting Injustice Without Compromising the Truth.” Williams does a few things really well in this book, namely: reminding us that Biblical justice is first vertical between God and man before it is horizontal between humans, strongly calling believers to be involved in doing justice in their communities, and discussing wisely the issue of interpreting discrepancies and not necessarily jumping to the conclusion that it is because of racism.
Pastor Kevin DeYoung has written a series of articles on race for The Gospel Coalition that we find helpful:
“We Must Find A Better Way To Talk About Race!” (cry for Christian maturity, kindness, humility and grace in our discussions on race).
“Thinking Theologically About Racial Tensions” (series of 5 articles written in the summer of 2020 that are highly recommended, practical to church life, and uniquely nuanced/balanced).
Here is an excerpt from DeYoung to give you a taste of why we recommend these articles:
“For whites, it can feel like redemption is always out of reach. If you don’t have animus in your heart, you have implicit bias that you can’t see. If you haven’t personally done anything against black people, other whites have, and you bear their shame. If you speak out, you should have listened. If you stay quiet, your silence is violence. If you do nothing tangible to counter injustice, that’s sinful indifference. Try to take the lead in fixing things, you may want to check your privilege. Your institution shouldn’t be all white, but it shouldn’t engage in tokenism. You should celebrate diversity, but without cultural appropriation. And any disagreement with the fundamental contours of this one-way conversation is just another manifestation of white fragility.
In other words: guilty, guilty, guilty.
And for blacks, it must feel like even the barest recognition of the ongoing effects of racism is a bridge too far for most whites. Because whites are often preoccupied with their search for innocence, they fail to muster even meager sympathy or understanding for black pain. If you want to talk about policing in America, we will bring up black homicide rates in Chicago. If you want to talk about criminal justice reform, we will mention the black abortion rate. And if that doesn’t adequately move the guilt from our shoulders to yours, we can always talk about our black friends, insist that we are color blind, or weaponize pull quotes from Thomas Sowell.
In other words: guilty, guilty, guilty.
There will be no moving forward in these matters if every step forward for one side means a step backward for the other. We have a common ancestor in Adam, and, if believers, we have a common Savior in Christ. Our way forward must be a common morality that appeals not to racial difference, but to the best in what we can be by the Spirit working through the word. Our identity, our strength, our power must come from our character, and ultimately from Christ.
If our racial tensions are everywhere about sin and guilt, then it stands to reason that one of the most essential things we can do as Christians is to rest in Christ and encourage others to do the same.
If I am truly free and forgiven in Christ, I can be honest with my indwelling sin.
If I’m genuinely secure in my adoption as God’s precious child, I can choose to love others—undeterred by their misunderstandings of me—rather than using them for my own sense of superiority, righteousness, or absolution.
If I know how much God has forgiven me, I can eagerly give to others what they don’t rightly deserve from me.
To be clear, there is no comparing the aggregate sins of white people against black people versus the sins of black people against white people. This is not a Pollyannaish plea for all of us to just forgive and forget. But it is a plea for the gospel to occupy the center of any Christian conversation about race. Not just the gospel for others—yes, that of course. But the gospel for ourselves too—the gospel that searches, the gospel that saves, the gospel that sanctifies. How might your participation (and mine) in our racial tensions be different if we didn’t instinctively prepare, in every racial encounter, for some combination of recrimination for guilt and reestablishment of righteousness? What if we encountered others not as a means to securing our identity—be that as victim, as innocent, or as absolved—but as an opportunity to meet a whole person with our whole person? What if the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection—while not the only thing we need to talk about—is the one thing that can make all the rest of our conversations meaningful, honest, and hopeful?
If sin and guilt got us into this mess, perhaps justification by faith alone through grace can get us out.”