We Need To Talk About Race: Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches

by Ben Lindsay

We love people less when we ignore how God made them. And we are nothing without love (1 Corinthians 13).

integration is not assimilation, where people leave their culture behind to be accepted into another. Integration means being included in, and creating and contributing to, church culture.

and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?’

White people may ask, ‘Why must I make all the effort?’ The answer is easy: you’re the majority culture and you are part of the power structure, whether you know it or not.

There are certainly moments when we should put the heavy coat on and fight the power of racism in the strength of Jesus our conquering lion. Then there are times when we are to leave the coat outside, close the door and rest in green pastures with Jesus, our Shepherd.

We are to look after ourselves and not neglect the wellness of our mind, body and soul in our fight against racial injustice.

‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.’ (vv. 34–5).