Humans have done horrible things in the name of the Lord. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition for two.
In the U.S. slavery thrived under the cloak of Christianity for hundreds of years.
So much so that some people in my culture consider Christianity “the white man’s religion.”
I think of our Indigenous brothers and sisters and how they’ve been, and continue to be, mistreated and disenfranchised.
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I've been a huge fan of sport climbing since the Olympics. These are manufactured climbing walls that challenge the world’s top climbers. It’s exhilarating. But there’s also rock or boulder climbing. That doesn’t always sit well with me.
People who ‘discover’ a boulder name it the craziest things like “The Game” or “European Human Being.” These names border on the ridiculous. I see the climbers with their fancy shoes and harnesses and wonder how humans used to scale rocks and boulders, not for fun but for survival.
There’s a tradition I’ve heard of in some Indigenous communities where anyone who sets foot on the land must introduce themselves to the elders of the area and bring a gift. It’s a sign of respect both for the people already there and for the nature surrounding them.
I wonder how many climbers took this approach when ‘discovering’ boulders. Very few to none, I would imagine.
And while I don’t agree that animism is the way God would have us to live, I do believe we are to be good stewards of the Earth. As we can see, we’re not. Florida, California, and Texas seem to be the canaries in the coal mine signaling a change in the way the Earth responds to our inhabitation. Wildfires, floods, hurricanes increasing in intensity each year, some even occurring outside of the times we usually see these weather events.
How would the Earth have responded if we kept the traditions of respect for nature and integrated them into the Western way of living. I would imagine things would be very different. Maybe it’s because we’re coming up on Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s because these thoughts tug at my mind. Maybe it’s because accusations of serving a White God linger with me.
I know, of course, that Christianity began in Africa. God’s Word says He called His Son out of Egypt.
14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet [Hosea]: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
The Gospel of Matthew Chapter 2 Verses 14 and 15
There are also many mentions of African nations in the Bible. Dr. Eric Mason, during the Acts 242 conference, would even say it was Africans who first shared the gospel with Europeans.
Racial Healing Ministries - Where They At?
Another Christian thought leader, Dr. Esau McCaulley, advocates for ministries in the church around racial healing. He argues we have ministries for children, for singles, for former drug addicts and alcoholics. We have ministries for the divorced, ministries for singing, ministries for dancing, ministries for women, ministries for teens. Yet in all of these ministries, there’s nothing a Christian can use as a community resource when they want to heal from racial trauma or come to terms with their own biases.
Ministries like this would have been crucial to the church’s survival during the Pandemic and the Racial Reckoning following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.
A ministry like that may have kept more people in the church. After the pandemic, there was a great falling away and few people returned to the church pews.
I was one of them.
The church I went to was multicultural but the dominant culture and leadership was white or European or Western.
Because of that, a Black person, particularly a Black woman dedicated to loving God would have a hard time living in community with people who reject her story, her pain, her challenges around race and racial justice.
A racial healing ministry would have been a safe place for me to work through the trauma and see things from a Christ-like viewpoint. Yet, here I am. Churchless.
Can a Churchless Christian Make It to Heaven?
I pray. I read the Word. I watch sermons on YouTube. I use Bible apps. I even fast from time to time. (Side note: Fasting changed my life and pulled me closer to my Creator.)
But consistently attending a church? Being part of a church community? I haven’t found anything or anywhere yet. There’s a rejection of anything that isn’t European/white. And when churches do try to embrace other cultures it comes off as patronizing.
While good intentions are, well, good, they don’t stop the effects of hurt, of pain, of an offense. The lack of attention towards and respect for other cultures shows up in many ways in the multicultural church.
The church I used to go to had an excellent pastor who drew people to Christ and gave groundbreaking sermon series. During the pandemic, the church let him go. They positioned it as mutual but it wasn’t. There was something wrong between the executive pastor and this dynamic pastor. It came to a head during the pandemic.
30-second version: One Sunday during virtual services there was lots of songs and worship music. I couldn’t understand why. Then the executive pastor came out and said there wouldn’t be a sermon that day and that the pastor would no longer be at the church.
It was shocking. He’d done nothing wrong, they said. He had no moral failure, they stated. So why did he have to leave? No one had an answer for that.
Now, this dynamic pastor was white but he respected other cultures. He was open and respectful. He was on the cusp of doing a series on racial reconciliation right before this split happened.
I’m saddened by all of this.
After the pandemic, I didn’t go back to that church. I haven’t been a regularly attending member at any church since.
God sees me. God hears me. He knows my heart. I yearn to be part of a community. I yearn to live life with other Christians. I yearn, also, for a place to worship that accepts and celebrates all cultures equally.
Family Church as an Oasis
I do give tithes to our family church, though. It’s a little Missionary Baptist church in a small town my mom has lived in since her retirement. When I first moved to this state I attended and served there. It was, and still is, home for me.
But I live in another area now and my circumstances have changed.
I say all of this to say I do love Jesus. I have a difficult time reconciling the church’s vision of Jesus with the culture I grew up in. Where is the place where being Black, Hispanic, Indigenous is a staple and a consistent part of church services?
If you know, please hit me up. Let me know how it works. I want to go.
Palate Cleanser
One bright note: Here’s a clip of Dr. Eric Mason at the Acts 242 conference in Atlanta in early November. I imagine this is what the melding of Black culture and true anticipation of the Kingdom of God looks like.