re: Create a Reconciling Community of Faith

All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

— 2 Corinthians 5:18

As the youth pastor at Mosaic Church in Little Rock, in 2007, Amos Gray put together a historic evening to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the integration of Little Rock Central High School (1957). Little Rock Central is a registered National Historic Site in recognition of the role it played in desegregating public schools following the US Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

On the platform that night was Amos's aunt, Elsie. Elsie was one of three African Americans to integrate Hall High School (Little Rock) in 1959. Also on the platform was a white female classmate of Elsie's at Hall High, a woman we'll call Mary. To offer a lesson in civil rights history, Elsie and Mary spoke that night of race relations then and now, of progress that's been made, and of what remains to be done.

Although the two women did not know one another personally in high school, Mary had never forgotten that Elsie was one of her classmates. That evening, she recalled witnessing some of the harsh treatment that Elsie had endured. As the only African American in Hall High's class of 1962, Elsie shared that fellow students had treated her unfairly and often directed hatred toward her. She carried this hurt and a measure of bitterness toward her classmates through the years. Not once did she attend a class reunion.

The significance of Elsie and Mary being involved with Amos that evening was that they had attended Hall High together at the height of the civil rights movement, yet had otherwise not spoken to each other in fifty years. With this in mind, Amos had brought these women together half a century later to encourage and model the power of lament, forgiveness, and reconciliation before the diverse students and adults of Mosaic.

Reflecting on their historic days in high school, Elsie and Mary not only enlightened those in attendance that night but also listened to each other's hearts. Throughout their lives painful memories had affected them deeply. By the end of the evening, however, both women had come to see themselves as sisters in Christ. Amos had the historic and heartwarming opportunity to lead the women in a prayer of forgiveness and reconciliation. Afterward, Elsie embraced Mary as Mary expressed sorrow over not doing anything at the time to help end the harsh treatment Elsie had endured. Throughout the sanctuary, tears were shed.

Elsie and Mary went on to spend even more time with each other in the years following the event. Together they attended Hall High's fiftieth reunion of the class of 1962 in 2012.

Racism Is Ultimately a Spiritual Problem

This story illustrates the unique platform a multiethnic church has to promote and encourage authentic reconciliation in a diverse and often polarized (along the lines of race and class) society. Indeed, a church of living color can become an anchor of hope within its community. In sowing seeds of reconciliation, its good work will bring glory to God (Matt 5:16). Sadly, though, the far more common segregation of local churches today has the world looking elsewhere for advice when it comes to matters of race, class, and culture.

For example, the day after a jury in Sanford, Florida, found George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, USA Today's front-page headline (July 15, 2013) asked, "After Zimmerman verdict, can nation heal racial rift?" Similarly, we might ask: Given the historic alienation between whites and blacks, as well as between whites and Native Americans, in the United States; the complex realities of undocumented immigrants among us; and human nature itself, is racial reconciliation even possible?

Many believe that our society is without hope in this regard. We, however, think differently.

Yes, it is incumbent upon local churches and, therefore, on the pastors who lead them to pursue and practice the ministry of reconciliation, something to which we, the body of Christ, have been called. That we should do so is expected by Christ himself, as explained by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.

To be clear, the ministry of reconciliation the Apostle Paul has in mind is not only to be pursued at a personal level (in seeing individuals reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ); it is to be pursued at a corporate one as well (in seeing men and women of varying backgrounds reconciled to one another through the blood of Christ, in and through the local church, as explained by Paul in Ephesians 2:11-22).

According to the latest research, churches today are ten times more segregated than the neighborhoods in which they exist, and twenty times more segregated than nearby public schools. To our collective shame, eleven o'clock on Sunday morning remains the most segregated hour of the week. Thus, the hope and benefit of reconciliation remains elusive; for it cannot be fully realized in our society until we first deal with systemic segregation in the local church. This we can do; this dream you can realize, by transitioning your church to living color.

Of course, measurable progress will require more than wishful thinking. Since "racism is ultimately a spiritual problem, it will require a spiritual solution." Therefore, the primary purpose, task, and responsibility of the local church is to promote reconciliation between individuals and God, as well as between individuals themselves, for the sake of the gospel. This is what the Apostle Paul has in mind in reiterating to the churches of Galatia what Christ told a legal expert in Luke 10:23-27. After explaining that in Christ (that is, for Christians) what matters to God is not one's vain attempt to keep the Law but rather one's faith working through love (for God and neighbor), Paul writes: "All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself" (Gal 5:14).

With such things in mind, encouraging racial reconciliation in society without first establishing it in the church will likely generate more rhetoric than results. To advance a credible witness, we must re:MIX the church.

To date, however, the inability, unwillingness, or lack of intentionality on the part of local church pastors in seeking to bring diverse people together as one in the church has rendered us, collectively, impotent in the eyes of society on matters of race, class, and injustice. In other words, people instinctively look elsewhere for answers; they do not look to the local church.

For example, when tensions arose after a grand jury failed to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the national media turned to lawyers, government and law enforcement officials, actors and actresses, educators, journalists, psychologists, sociologists, and the like, for understanding and...