Reading Time: < 1 minute
In this current milieu of social justice and racial reconciliation, the evangelical church in America is expected to be all things to all people. This is particularly the case regarding the expectation of churches composed of primarily of white congregants to pursue ethnic congregational diversity solely for the sake of ethnic diversity. But is that truly the church’s mission? In this episode of the Just Thinking podcast, Darrell and Virgil discuss the reported “quiet exodus” of black Christians from white evangelical churches; and why such departures are often the result of misguided – and unbiblical – expectations of the church.
Resources
Related episodes
- N/A
Related blog articles
Related external media
- A Quiet Exodus: Why Black Worshipers Are Leaving White Evangelical Churches (New York Times)
- Sunday Morning Segregation: Most Worshipers Feel Thier Church Has Enough Diversity (Christianity Today)
Support
To support the podcast, please click here or copy/paste the following link into your browser – https://justthinking.me/support/
Disclaimer
© Darrell B. Harrison and Just Thinking…for Myself 2012-2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Darrell B. Harrison and Just Thinking…for Myself with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
I enjoyed this. I agree that many Christians today see church as “What can you do for me?” They forget that believers come together to serve one another and worship God. I’m currently teaching James to a group of women and keeping it in proper historical context has helped these women understand that the early church dealt with similar issues. Many were relying on religion to satisfy God, many were showing partiality to the rich, and many were rushing into teaching God’s word when they shouldn’t have been. We see this today as well!
My heart goes out to Miss Pruitt because that church, or any church, should not have used their sanctuary to push politics. That would have turned me off, too. My hope is that more and more churches stop using their pulpit to push social justice or political agendas. We need to remember what James called “pure undefiled religion” and that was to serve one another and worship God by doing works He has appointed for us to do! All of this pleases Him. It isn’t about what pleases us.
This episode was so good and timely! Darrell is an amazing teacher of the word of God. I too am an African American woman who attends a church with predominantly white people. In fact, I am the only black there and I’ve been there 6 years. At first it never bothered me, I wanted Jesus, His gospel and truth so badly. It wasn’t until I became engrossed in social media and started seeing posts of the so-called “reformed” Christians who would push the “lets be racially sensitive or ‘woke’” agenda that I started wrestling with the temptation to be unsatisfied with my “felt needs” not being met. That’s when I became aware of the racial stuff.
But God be praised for his providence because since following Darrell on Facebook and Twitter I would always see an article, Facebook post or now a podcast that would refocus my attention on the gospel and what the real issue is.
I’m thankful for the reminders and the consistent pointing to the gospel. I attend a very biblically sound church and I know it was God who put me there regardless of racial make up.
Y’all the real MVP’s!
Thank you,
Yolanda
I absolutely loved this episode. I remember when God regenerated me and my family and I were searching for a “real church” the first thing my husband said was ” I don’t care what color the people are on the inside, all I care about is are they teaching the word correctly.” We literally abandoned every felt need we thought we had because we were so desperate for the truth of the Gospel.
I am convinced that the reason why Miss Pruitt and others tend to look for churches that “work for them” is because not all, but most times, they are unconverted. They are looking for a feel good Christianity and not the God of the Bible. When you are hungry, you don’t care what’s on the menu, you just want to eat. You will overlook what the choir sounds like, what kind of seats the church has, how great their children’s ministry is, etc. None of that will take precedence over the pure word of God being preached. Everything else is vain and fruitless.