Race and the Gospel in Mississippi
— Monday, July 30th, 2012 —
As a Mississippian and as a Baptist Christian, I cringed the other day when I heard that the First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs had moved a couple’s wedding ceremony to another venue, to keep a controversy from erupting in the church. The controversy was that the couple is black. My first thought was the scandal this brought to my state. But, more importantly, the issue is the gospel itself.
The pastor of the church isn’t a racist. He moved the wedding, he says, to preserve peace in the congregation, since a small but apparently powerful minority were working behind the scenes to prevent this. The pastor, it is said, probably would have been fired over all of this and, he said, he didn’t want to ruin the couple’s wedding. By moving the wedding, he said, he wanted a “win-win situation.”
That’s the problem, in my view. The only answer to the ongoing struggle between Jesus Christ and Jim Crow is a lose-lose situation.
Back in the darkest days of the white backlash against the civil rights movement, author Walker Percy (who grew up in Greenville, Mississippi) asked what could be done to bring about peace in Mississippi. He answered that his first thought was to say the Christian ethic, but “the trouble is that Christendom of a sort has already won in Mississippi.” This kind of Christendom though, Percy argued, was a Stoic religion rather than a Christian one. Stoicism, after all, prized order and honor and stability and saving face.
Christianity is quite different from all that. It’s not just about moral rules. It’s not about simply maintaining order. And it’s sure not about saving face. The reason the Greek world found Christianity so scandalous is because it tore down everything the world saw as prize-worthy, including one’s racial identity or supremacy. You must not only crucify your desires and your ambitions, Jesus said, you must crucify your entire life, and find a new one in him.
That tends to upend things. And that’s what’s at stake here.
I don’t doubt that this Mississippi pastor has, what they kindly call back home, “a pastor’s heart.” He doesn’t want to stir up division and pit people against one another. And there are many, many situations in which that’s precisely what’s called for. In this case, though, the division is the gospel itself.
The early church thought they could put down controversy and solve division by keeping Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in separate places. The Apostle Peter thought he could appease Jewish opposition by not eating with Gentiles. The Holy Spirit disagreed. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul said that the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile in one Body is precisely the sign of God’s manifold wisdom that the Father is presenting to the rulers and authorities over this present darkness.
A church that prized carnal divisions over color of skin or cultural background is a church that isn’t finding its identity outside of the flesh and in a Jewish Messiah seated at the right hand of God. The church is made up of people who have lost everything. We are dead. We prize nothing about what we used to take such pride in, and we instead see ourselves as executed and raised in Christ. When we receive one another, and go around whatever obstacles the satanic order puts up, we’re confessing that what we have in common isn’t what we were born with, but what we were born again into: the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
So what’s to be done? It seems to me that the majority of the church is horrified by this. I think they can deal with it by doing exactly what the Apostle Paul did with Peter: to confront on the basis of the gospel, and to seek repentance and reconciliation. That’s what I think they should do, and will do. If not, the larger Body of Christ, particularly in the Southern Baptist Convention, should deal with this as an issue of defining importance for the gospel.
But, again, I think this church will take a different stand. And they’ll have to do this without a win-win situation. They’ll have to do it with a lose-win situation. They will lose some face and some reputation by saying, “We’re sinners and we’re wrong, and we repent.” Isn’t that what every one of us must do every day, as repentant sinners?
Mississippi Christians know, perhaps better than the rest of the country, just how satanic and violent racial supremacy can be. We have danced with the devil and we ought to recognize him when he returns. But that’s precisely why Mississippians ought to be the ones to lead the way in showing the church what biblical reconciliation and revival looks like.
But that means a lose-win situation. We lose face, we lose ourselves. We seek mercy and a new start. We repent, and don’t just rebrand.
45 Responses to “Race and the Gospel in Mississippi”
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Bravo!
Too many pastors — and Christians — are inveterate survivalists. The gospel doesn’t call us to avoid conflict as a top priority, but to be loyal to Christ.
This Mississippi girl is exceedingly thankful for a Professor who relentlessly defends the Gospel & the oppressed.
Were the couple seeking marriage members of the church?
@Andrew Lindsey, if this was the issue then, it should have been made clear to the couple before, or at the point of objection. From all accounts, I stand to be corrected, it was a racial issue.
@Andrew Lindsey, they were indeed members of the church.
The pastor should have confronted the wrongdoers to their faces, just as Paul rebuked Peter to his face, on a very similar issue, incidentally.
@AStev,:
It is easy to say that he should have confronted the wrongdoers to their faces, but what if this was this man’s sole source of income?
It appears to me folks are missing the reality of being dismissed from a SB church for whatever reason, no unemployment to draw, no secondary income to rely on.
It is just too easy to say what most of us in the same situation would have to give a lot of thought as to what we would do, and it does not appear he had very long to make a decision.
Just my 1 cents worth.
Um, Tom Parker,
I can honestly say what I would have done. I was recently fired from a church for standing for truth. Among the complaints by a really small group (it was small, but then again, the church overall is a small church) that led to my ousting was preaching against the docttrine of a Oneness church down the road where family and friends of church members attend, not willing to partner with them on VBS, after much patience, politely rebuking the members for not being hospitable to younger visitors I was inviting to the church (well, even my mom didn’t think she could fit in with them and she’s 60), and a whole host of other stupid reasons.
Sometimes, people can and do actually know to go down if necessary to not compromise the Gospel.
Here I am, after three weeks and no income, and no job. I disagree with your analysis, it isn’t something just “too easy to say”…I’ve been there, and it is easy to do rather than capitulate and compromise. Could I have kept my job? Could I have made other decisions rather than standing on Truth? Certainly, but not at the cost of the Gospel.
I am currently living that reality of being dismissed from a church…voted out bya slim majority of people who propted the vote at a business meeting most of the church didn’t attend. I wouldn’t change my position on those issues for anything.
For the record, the majority of the “small group” at my church was a bunch of grumpy old women. :)
@AStev, he absolutely should have done what is right and confronted those people without any thought as to what he might lose personally. The Gospel must not be compromised for any reason, God is faithful, and He will provide for His own.
Tom, you’re saying we should obey the Gospel as long as it doesn’t cause us any inconvenience? as long as it isn’t difficult?
Sad.
There is only one race, the human race. Racism is sin.
Pray for this church and this pastor. But it is premature to condemn a church for a public decision they might not of made; or to condemn a pastor for a private decision of which we do not know the details.
My family and I have endured at least one attempt (maybe two, not clear) to fire me over race issues in the local church. I have learned these two lessons about pastoral ministry in crisis: (1) All problems like these land on the pastor’s desk and he always becomes the focus of the issue; (2) pastors will never deal adequately with these issues until they fear losing their integrity more than their jobs.
@David Mills, well said Brother. The fear of man is a snare. God help us to treasure Him, and our integrity before and under Him above all else.
This pair were treated far better than Jesus treated a Canaanite woman. They were not even called dogs.
Matthew 15:21-28
What I am about to say will, I’m certain, will cause people to miss the point I am trying to present.
First this church has the right to do whatever it desires as long as it doesn’t break the law. I didn’t say it was right. Simply put…why is this news? Black churches can say and do whatever they want the world does not respond. The black community can have massive amounts of black on white crime and the news says nothing. One church makes a decision that contradicts political correctness and everyone freaks out. White America is not really interested in reliving the failed civil rights movement. Give it up. Racism will never leave America when one race can do whatever they want and never be held accountable.
@ACS, Oh my…”as long as it doesn’t break the law?” Brother, we are kingdom people. We as followers of Jesus Christ, are saying this kind of act is an abomination to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we preach the gospel, we are not merely calling people to a “decision for Christ”; but preaching that the whole life may come under the gospel of Christ. If the world wants to promote hate and division, that’s fine; but never, never, the Church of Jesus Christ.
ACS, the backdrop of this saga, and the Church of Christ in the USA is that, churches that preached ’sound’ doctrines, permitted for many years the slavery and abuse of another human being on the basis of his colour; worse, he justified this horrendous act with the Bible!
And if there are churches, black or white (what abominable definitions), that preach segregation and racism, they are nothing but frauds. They are not preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I do not care for “White America”, or “The black community…”; I care for the testimony and glory of the Church of Jesus Christ; a church that is full of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue (read Revelation, this is how it ends).
“Racism will never leave America…”; maybe so, but it can sure leave the Church of our LORD and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
In His love and grace
@ACS, “Political correctness”? Seriously?
You said you were afraid your point would be missed. Was there an actual point? or did you leave it off?
Are you writing as a believer an an unbeliever.
@ACS, Racism in any guise has no place in the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ,our gospel message when preached correctly, demands that we forsake our own misguided notions of what is politically correct, we are not of this world,we serve a higher authority.Take up your cross and follow me,does not mean that it is coated with feathers and Oh so comfortable. Racism will never leave anywhere including America,if it is allowed to have dominance over the Christian doctrine of Grace.
Yes it is easy for us to say “This is what should have been done”, but the reality of the possible results would be very frightening to many of us and could prevent us from doing what we should have.
It is our responsibility as Christians to guide our fellow Christians and keep them on the path of redemption. That’s not always easy and sometimes leaves many of us with a bad taste in our mouths.
Christ didn’t come to earth in human form to find favor with the leaders of the populace but to fulfill His purpose and find favor with His Father. He took all the chastisement and physical punishment they could dish out and remained steadfast in his purpose; to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of all so we could all be found blameless before God.
I can understand the pastor’s decision of not stirring the waters of malcontent, but I can’t see him stopping at that point and not at least teaching tolerance in one or more of his sermons in weeks to come.
Yes it is easy for us to say “This is what should have been done”, but the reality of the possible results would be very frightening to many of us and could prevent us from doing what we should have.
It is our responsibility as Christians to guide our fellow Christians and keep them on the path of redemption. That’s not always easy.
Christ didn’t come to earth in human form to find favor with the leaders of the populace but to fulfill His purpose and find favor with His Father. He took all the chastisement and physical punishment they could dish out and remained steadfast in his purpose; to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of all so we could all be found blameless before God.
I would love to hear his future sermons.
It is really easy for us to say what should have been done, but not easy to do.
i can understand the pastors decision of not stirring the water of malcontent, but I would love to hear his sermons on this subject in the future.
Christ didn’t take the easy way out. Thank God.
As someone who is also in the ministry, this is situation is disturbing on so many levels…the church minority that did this completely missed the point of the scriptures in this. Jesus constantly met people where they were instead of condemning or standing in any form of prejudice. He was often criticized for sitting or eating with sinners and tax collectors, and He always took the opportunity to spread the Gospel wherever He went. These minority Christians who started this have much to answer to God for. They used their position and power in the church to pressure the pastor to go against the very Scriptures he was teaching, and they turned this entire thing into a socio-religious-political, all because of the color of someone’s skin. What these misguided individuals have not realized is that Jesus is not white…the people of the region are not white, and the Scripture describes him as the color of burned bronze in more than one place…so it is foolish to use what God intended simply as a diversity amongst people (the color of the skin) as a dividing point of religion. However, the part that particularly appalls me is that the pastor LET these individuals influence his behavior which was obviously wrong and against scripture in order to protect his job all the while telling everyone that his motivation was to keep peace. One of the primary things that someone in the ministry MUST be willing to do is to stand for what is right even if he/she is the only one standing. That means ZERO compromise of the scripture and the principles that it stands for. That means being willing to stand at the spear point of ridicule, criticism, and maybe even persecution (in this case possible loss of job). After all, Jesus set the very example that we are supposed to follow, especially those of us in the ministry. And yet, another minister who feared for his job chose the way of the world rather than the way of the Word. Jesus said you cannot serve both God and money, so that means sometimes you have to choose. What this pastor SHOULD have done is to marry the couple anyway and use the opportunity for God to minister to them. What he SHOULD have done is to openly rebuke the sinfulness of the actions of these individuals…my personal preference would have been in a fiery sermon on ministering to people regardless of color, religion, race, etc. What the pastor SHOULD have done is to leave his career to God and accept whatever “punishment” the church voted to do…if the church kept him, then it was God’s will…if it voted him out, then who wants to pastor a racist church anyway…at that point, the Holy Spirit is going to have a difficult time moving on the congregation until hearts change on a deeper level…INSTEAD of all of that, this pastor has completely embarrassed this state, his community, this church, and more importantly he has damaged the image of Christians and the love of God that has already been under attack for so long. I honestly do not know how this pastor can tell his congregation that they have a duty to go evangelize and to minister to people in the community when he clearly did the opposite. It is hypocritical to say one thing and do another, and that was clearly the case here. I am ashamed of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who caused this, ashamed of the pastor who fell prey to their pressures, and embarrassed for Christians everywhere. I can only hope that God can use this opportunity to change backwards thinking and to change hearts to have a true compassion for people and their standings with Christ rather than focusing on incidentals such as the color of their skin.
Thanks for this. It’s time we live out the true meaning of the gospel and realize that it runs against racism of all kind. Racism has no place in the Christ community.
I came to your blog after reading the latest news from Crystal Springs the way I head for my water bottle during a ridiculous workout. I knew I’d get what I needed, and from the perspective I needed it. My Mississippi heart breaks that this is even an issue, but my Christian heart is confident in the assurance that the cross of Christ has overcome much uglier messes.
@rebekah johnson, My Christian heart says, Will I be willing to take up the cross myself next time I am faced with a similar decision that threatens my financial prosperity? My flesh is scared and indecisive. My spirit must pray with others about this. By God’s grace, I was married in a church (I am married accross, ethnic, racial, and national lines) in a church that once banned black members. Perhaps God will use this couple’s decision to be married to move the church (i.e. the people, the pastor, the deacons, the saints) in the right direction. Every day saints are prejudiced. The cross kills pride & prejudice.
“When we receive one another, and go around whatever obstacles the satanic order puts up, we’re confessing that what we have in common isn’t what we were born with, but what we were born again into: the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.”
Way to put it all in a nutshell. Nicely done. This brouhaha reminds of the one late last year about the couple that was asked to leave church because one had one color of skin and the other had another color. (http://www.jennyraearmstrong.com/2011/12/02/how-does-god-really-feel-about-interracial-marriages-or-what-year-is-it-people/)
Amazing that this still goes on.
Blessings,
Tim
@Tim,
Yes! I think that verse about flesh giving birth to flesh but the spirit giving birth to the spirit has direct application here.
Excellent point, Tim!
I am surprised that the satanic news media directs the thoughts of a learned Christian. All without sin cast the first stone. Having recently spent a week in “Louieville” ,KY, it unfortunately appears that sin is flourishing & racism abounds. Maybe you should get the log out of KY’s eye before you get the speck out of MS’s. But, everyone has to have a whipping boy & the nation has selected poor Mississippi. Has racial strife never been manifested in any state other than Mississippi? Are Southern whites the only racist? Can a black person be racist?
I have shared the gospel with hundreds of black & white people. When I do so, I do not discriminate. It is “one size fits all”.
The news media likes to stir up discord, especially racial. Before one jumps on the satanic band wagon, one may be advised to ask some questions?
(1) Are both Christians?
(2) Have either been involved in a divorce?
(3) Are either a member of this church?
(4) If not, why did they select this particular church?
(5) Should the church like government give special rights & privileges to blacks over whites, or are we all children of God?
(6) Should the church stand on the word of God or bow to political correctness?
I personally have no confidence in the news media in its reporting of any thing “Christian”. The dark does not understand the light.
But for your prepositional phrase “in Mississippi”, I would not have responded.
As a Mississippi Christian and Pastor, I am deeply saddened by this. I pray for those that seem to forget that God’s love extends beyond the color of skin.
In some ways, it is hard to believe this still goes on, but in other ways, it is not.
We certainly need to pray for this pastor, the couple that was affected by all this, and for the people in this community who can’t see the beauty of the gospel for the ugliness of sin.
If there’s one good thing to come out of this, it is the empirical evidence that racism is still real, in spite of what some deniers claim.
As a Hispanic, I understand this issue. Lived it. Enough said: Jesus came to save sinners not “Baptist”.
Great comments, Dr. Moore
In a democratic process, a pastor is called to lead or oversee a church. When he attempts to lead, he is handcuffed by the same democratic process that elected him. When he escapes the handcuffs and seeks to lead anyway, he is fired by the democratic process that called him.
No Pastor should have to deal with that. But, Southern Baptists are too stubborn (sorry Mark Dever) to take the unbiblical idea of democratic processes out of the BF&M.
I have an interesting background question. How long has the pastor been there? It is difficult to imagine a pastor serving in a Southern historically white church for a year without, at some point, addressing racism. Sin is sin. Racism is so fully condemned not only by “love thy neighbor” but by every command and truth of New Testament scripture that it should have been addressed long before now. The battle, if battle there must be, should have been fought long before now. If evil remains so deeply precious to the hearts of some church members, then the battle has been delayed too long.
As for “blaming” the pastor, I cannot say because I do not know about the actual circumstance. I do not know how he handled it. I do not know the maturity of the Christians who are being married, who may have accepted this in the knowledge of their Lord’s humility, as an act of love to their church family. I do not know how it all came about. He may have handled it with such wisdom, and their love may be great enough to bear with the weaknesses of their brethren, that God may be glorified in their sacrifice. I just do not know.
But I know that the evil of racism is old and amazingly strong in too many of our churches and too many of our lives. I hear such comments from Christians as would stop your heart. This church must deal with its racism. Perhaps, now, it will do so.
I have engaged in Kingdom work in a local church to the extent that I was booted out a little sooner and less politely than wanted and been booted out for standing for the poor & “sinners” who were seeking God’s kingdom. It’s not easy, but possible. By God’s grace, I later found work in another state and am now a bi-vocational missionary. Not easy, but I am seeing God do amazing things. I am a Certified Peer Support Specialist, and as the trainers for the certification called us, I am a missionary of hope. To be an embassador of joy is no guarantee of income, but does motivate you to enjoy whatever you are doing every day, regardless of the payor.
I fail to see what the objection of the church was to the marriage. If one or both people getting married were memebers of the church, then the church had already been racially integrated. Why would even racists be opposed to two members of the same race getting married?
I suspect there might be something else going on that got left out in the reporting.
one of the saddest things that I’ve witnessed as Christan of 30+ years is that out of all the most practical and cultural things preached about in churches, racism is rarely ever talked about. Especially in light of how it’s actually, wait for it, Sinful. It actually takes place quite often, and not surprisingly in black churches. But, for the many “white” churches that I’ve been at it’s never mentioned. Sort of like the sin of gluttony, which comes as no surprise because so many Americans are guilty of it. Let’s face it, in so many ways the “gospel” has been very compromised in America, most preach and teach on what is comfortable. To white people in the suburbs, living the cushy life, they don’t want to hear the bible verses about caring for the poor and oppressed, nor do they want to hear about how they may harbor racist feelings buried deep in their hearts. It’s too inconvenient. Yes, even Reformed suburban churches are like this. We all conveniently hide from biblical truths that cause discomfort.
For a large part, you will rarely fing blacks and minorities in this country who are blatant racists. The culture in general does not support this type of things. From a young age we are taught that God created all people equal. Because of history, this gospel truth is a reality that we live, so it’s almost obvious to most of us, unless you are of course raised in the rare home where people teach racism. However, I do not believe this to be so for most white families including Christians. I have many a white Christian who’ve confided in me that they were raised in racist “Christian” environments. It’s the elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge.
Having been saved for 30+ years I’ve seen the real life affects of this in numerous churches. Some that I’ve attended that were diverse quickly become all black once the scales have tipped to majority black. Slowly but surely the white people start to disappear. It’s amazing, you wouldn;t believe how many times I’ve seen it happen. Another odd thing that I’ve noticed is that diversity almost exclusively comes about by way of African Americans attempting to integrate with whites, but the opposite is Extremely rare. With the exception of some Charismatic churches (because of their history) I’ve witnessed some brave white people who are willing to attend all black spirit-filled churches. However, you will almost NEVER find this is black Baptist or Methodists churches. It’s always impicity implied that black people and hispanics have to “come to” white churches if we all desire diversity.
I didn’t make any of these comments above to argue or stir up dissention, just to open up honest dialogue hoping to help us all. God Bless.