Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart

by Christena Cleveland

The metaphor of the body of Christ explicitly articulates the need to value different perspectives—to be ideologically interdependent.

She also concluded that perhaps the two groups had differing access to convenient transportation. She began to realize that the wealthy white women perhaps needed to recognize their privilege and forfeit it in order to achieve true unity.

In fact, in many cases, the divisions are the result of the higher-status group systemically oppressing the lower-status group.

“Why don’t more people of color come to our church?” The entitled sentiment behind this question is antithetical to Christ’s crosscultural, privilege-abdicating example in the incarnation.

Even though all involved were interested in giving everyone equal status, the high-status people fell into old patterns of domination and oppression.

I need help with examples of what that looks like

Many people of color who attend predominantly white churches and Christian colleges and seminaries talk about feeling explicitly welcomed by the majority group but implicitly excluded and disempowered.

a focus on explicit, individual actions can easily lead people in the majority group to ignore the implicit, collective actions that communicate to people of color that they are not at all welcome and they are not equal members of the group.

And then I implicitly showed them that they weren’t by powerfully contributing to a class culture that only gave voice to the dominant group.

I wonder what my educator friends would say to this. Mass education implicitly needs to cater to the majority in order to be effective. The jigsaw method discussed earlier seems like it would have a hard time being applied in large survey classes described here.

so heavily influenced by white culture that any other collaborating cultures are rendered invisible.

majority culture

We dishonor the image of God in diverse people when we require them to assimilate to the dominant culture in our church, organization or event.

if you’re not willing to do the uncomfortable work of addressing and eradicating power and privilege differences in the church and beyond, you shouldn’t bother with unity and reconciliation.