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5 Mind-Blowing Realities About Race (That White People May Not Know)
Many White people may be surprised by some of the most basic realities of racism in America today. Don’t be one of them—get informed in this article from EGC’s Race & Christian Community initiative REWE, Race Education for White Evangelicals.
5 Mind-Blowing Realities About Race (That White People May Not Know)
by Megan Lietz
Megan Lietz, MDiv, STM, directs Racism Education for White Evangelicals (ReWe), a program of EGC’s Race & Christian Community Initiative. The intended audience of ReWe ministry and writing is White Evangelicals (find out why).
Race is a complicated subject. We’re all at various points of understanding race issues and their impact. I want to share five realities White people may not know that I believe can transform our perspectives about race.
Reality #1. Society—not biology—defines race.
Differences in skin color have existed throughout history. But the meaning we in the U.S. ascribe to skin color is an artificial social construction that emerged in the 17th century—and has changed over time.
No genes are shared by all members of a given race that determine qualities by racial classification. Our experience as racialized beings isn’t defined by our biology, but by our society.
Racial classifications have shifted over time based on the interests and influence of people in power. In the 20th century, Irish, Italian, Greek, Jewish, and Eastern European people were all considered “non-White,” and they experienced discrimination because they were not considered a part of the dominant racial group.
These groups gained privilege only when those in power expanded the definition of Whiteness to include their nationality. Similarly, people of color who petitioned for “White” status were denied it, based on changing—and, at times, contradictory—legal interpretations that allowed White people to define racial classification.
To learn more about how the concept of race is rooted in society, not biology explore this interactive website or this article from National Geographic.
To learn more about how the social construct of race developed over time, click here.
Because society has ascribed meaning to race, inequality is both created and dismantled by working towards societal change.
Reality #2. Racism Goes Beyond Interpersonal Interactions
What first comes to mind when you hear the word “racism”? You may picture personal biases or racist interactions between people. While this is one form of racism, organizations and social systems can also take actions that uphold the reality of racism.
Internalized
Race-based beliefs and feelings within individuals.
E.g., consistently believing that your way of doing things is better than that of your colleagues of color.
Interpersonal
Bigotry and biases shown between individuals through word and action.
E.g., leaders exclude people of color from a team because they “just aren’t a good fit with the team dynamic.”
Institutional
Discriminatory policies and practices within organizations and institutions.
E.g., resumes that have Black-sounding names are 50% less likely to get called for an interview compared to people with White-sounding names.
Systemic
Ongoing racial inequalities maintained by society.
E.g., in 2015, the median net worth for White families in the Boston area ($247,500) towered over that of Hispanic ($3,020 for Puerto Ricans, $2,700 for other Hispanics) and Black families ($12,000 for “Caribbean Blacks” and $8 for “U.S. Blacks”). Additionally, in 2014, Asian American individuals in Boston were more than two times as likely to find themselves in poverty compared to their White counterparts.
Total Assets and Net Worth By Race in the Boston Area
Because racism exists on many levels, racism can be at work in dynamics that don’t seem obviously racist. So we can contribute to racism without awareness or intention to do so.
Reality #3. Individuals can have an unintentional racist impact.
There’s false binary thinking in many people’s minds about racism that sounds like this: “Good people aren’t racist, racist people are bad people.” But well-intentioned people can have a racist impact without knowing it. Below are some realities that contribute to unintentional racist impacts.
Systemic racism
As larger social systems perpetuate racism (see Reality #2), people don’t have to be ill-intentioned, or even aware that they are helping these systems to do so. By supporting organizations and systems that contribute to racial injustice, we are complicit in their racist impacts.
Implicit biases
Unconscious personal biases and stereotypes shape how we see and respond to situations. We all have biases that don’t match our explicit beliefs. We may believe God created all people in his image and we should show no favoritism. But our unconscious reactions may not uphold this belief.
For example, we may think that we don’t see Black men any differently than anyone else. But when we’re walking down the street at night, if we find ourselves holding on to our belongings a little tighter when we pass by a Black man, that’s a flag for us that we’re conditioned to see Black men as more dangerous than others.
This one-pager clarifies common misunderstandings about implicit bias—how it operates, and what we can do about it.
This test that can help reveal some of your own implicit biases.
Intent vs. Impact
What we say or do can have a different impact than what we mean. Even if we act with the best of intentions, by the time our action is translated through a history of overt discrimination, we may hurt another person in ways we didn’t anticipate.
Example
A Christian leader who lives in a largely White area of the suburbs is motivated to partner with city leaders for broader ministry impact. She enters a gathering with urban leaders who are mostly people of color and proceeds to “school” the city leaders about the importance of collaboration. She is assuming God wasn’t already working in the city in those ways, reinforcing historically degrading narratives about leadership capacity and the gifts of God among people of color. Such assumptions can be offensive to urban leaders of color and have a counterproductive impact, in race relations and beyond.
We are broken people in a broken world. Because we contribute to the problem, we bear a measure of responsibility in helping make things right.
Reality #4. Racism is a daily stressor to people of color.
A Day in the Life: How Racism Impacts Families of Color. Click on the infographic to expand.
Racism doesn’t just exist when people of color experience occasional, blatant, intentional racism. Racism profoundly impacts people’s daily experiences, both in everyday interactions and in ongoing disparities.
Subtle Racist Jabs are Commonplace, Accepted
People of color endure slights, indignities, and insults on a regular basis. These may come from people who don’t mean harm, but who don’t have the cultural awareness to know that what they are saying or doing may be hurtful. These incidents are called microaggressions.
For example, asking a person of Asian descent, “Where are you from?” may seem innocent. But remember that they get asked this question—sometimes in hostility—more often than you. The question implies that they aren’t American born. If they are American, it can make them feel like they don’t belong in their homeland, or aren’t welcome. While each incident may seem minor, repeated experiences add up to a demoralizing impact over time. “Did you grow up around here?” is a less presumptuous way to ask the same question.
See this chart of a broad list of microaggressions, what they can subtly communicate, and why they are problematic.
Disparities in Daily Life
People of color endure systemic racial inequalities in their everyday life. For example, a national study reveals that a majority of those in Black communities feel that racism has a negative impact on their daily experiences of neighborhood safety (80%), access to quality public schools (73%), access to financially viable jobs (78%) and access to quality, affordable healthcare (74%).
Take a look at this infographic for more examples and consider the way these realities might impact your life.
Microaggressions and systemic disparities have a demonstrated negative impact on the mental and physical well being of people of color. The stressors created by regular experiences of discrimination have been correlated with and are thought to cause both a measurable psychological burden and long-term adverse health outcomes.
While White people can choose how often to engage with issues related to race, racism is part of the daily experiences and stressors of people of color.
Reality #5. Racism Harms All of Us
Racism is one of the sins the enemy uses to separate people from God and one another.
God created humanity in right relationship with himself and each other. But when sin entered the scene, our relationships became broken, divorced from God’s design. Racism in America idolizes White physical features and White values as supreme over those of others, denying that all people are equally image bearers of God.
The negative impact of racism on White people doesn’t compare to its effects on people of color. But everyone is degraded by a culture sick with sin. Living in a society that elevates White values as supreme over others diminishes White people in the following ways.
As people of a dominant culture, White people may be more likely to do the following:
Be unreflective and unquestioning about our cultural values and assumptions.
Have a diminished capacity to persevere in the face of obstacles or discomfort.
Experience fear, anxiety, guilt, or shame around issues of race, and react in broken ways as a result.
Feel barriers to authentic and intimate relationships with people of color, as well as with White people who have different opinions on race.
Hold an incomplete view of God, as our theology and faith traditions are shaped mostly (or exclusively) by a Euro-American perspective.
Contribute to racial tension, hatred, and violence in our homes, communities, and world.
Have more limited imagination and creativity due to complacency in the status quo.
Have more limited exposure to the enriching cultures, perspectives, and assets of people of color.
Struggle to work across racial lines in addressing shared concerns and contributing to an improved society.
Reflection Question
How have you been diminished by a society that assumes the supremacy of White values?
Conclusion
Racism is one more reminder that we live in a fallen and hurting world—a world where the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy in ways we can and can’t see. But with God, there’s hope of redemption. God continues to call humanity back to himself, working to restore the right relationships God intended in creation.
We have much work yet to do. God, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, has redeemed and is redeeming us in our brokenness. God can heal us and make us agents of healing as we invite him to do transformative work in our lives.
Pray with me
Lord, help me to see where I’m blind.
Help me to reflect on what you are showing me, even when it makes me uncomfortable.
Help me to open myself up to your work in me so that I can experience freedom, healing, and wholeness.
Help me to be a part of the restorative work you’re doing in the world. Amen.
Take Action
Racism is complex and multi-layered. If simple answers were enough, racism would not persist as it does today. We believe that growing as an agent of racial healing happens best in a learning community. RCCI cohorts are White evangelicals learning together about race.
Boston Racism: Pathways for Spirit-Led Action
To express Jesus' love in these times, Boston White Evangelicals will want to face the realities of the city's racism. Find pathways for reflection and action, suitable for both starters and veterans in the struggle for racial understanding and reconciliation, with links to the Boston Globe Spotlight on Boston Racism.
Boston Racism: Pathways for Spirit-Led Action
By Megan Lietz, Director of EGC’s ReWe Initiative
Megan Lietz, MDiv, STM, directs Racism Education for White Evangelicals (ReWe), a program of EGC’s Race & Christian Community Initiative. The intended audience of ReWe ministry and writing is White Evangelicals (find out why).
Black people in Boston are treated differently than White people to this day. The Boston Globe’s compelling December 2017 Spotlight on Boston racism examines how.
Church, Jesus calls us to a love that heals, restores, and sets free. To express Jesus' love in these times, we must take the time to understand the problem of racism in Boston. It negatively shapes the daily experiences and life paths of people of color, who make up more than half of the Boston community. But no one is exempt from its influence. Racism impacts people of all races—in heart, mind, spirit, and body.
If you haven't done so already, I urge you to prayerfully read the Boston Globe’s spotlight on racism, linked below. Following that, I also offer some pathways forward—questions for reflection and suggestions for Spirit-led action. May we engage what it means for us to bear Christ’s presence in our communities today.
The GLOBE Spotlight on BOSTON RACISM
OVERVIEW
A quick overview of the Boston Globe's Spotlight Series on Race in Boston
Full Series
Boston. Racism. Image. Reality: The Spotlight Team takes on our hardest question
Though Boston is commonly perceived as a progressive city, many Black people feel unwelcome here.
A brand new Boston, even whiter than the old
If people of color are not given genuine influence in city planning and development, existing channels of power will favor the status quo.
Color line persists, in sickness as in health
Black and White people are three and four times more likely to attend certain hospitals than others, thus shaping their access to medical care.
Lost on campus, as colleges look abroad
Highly-recruited international students are coming to Boston at the expense of serving the African-American community in our own backyard.
The bigot in the stands, and other stories
Our celebrated sports teams have revealed and contributed to the racist reputation we’d like to shake.
For blacks in Boston, a power outage
Though Boston is a “minority-majority” city, the power holders in politics, business, and law are overwhelmingly White.
A better Boston? The choice is ours
Seven suggestions for addressing racism in our city.
Responses ACROSS THE CITY
Don’t stop at reading the articles themselves—learn from readers' responses:
Boston Globe Race Series Not News To City’s Blacks, Shocks White Readers
Readers Offer Solutions After Globe’s Series on Race in Boston
Series about Race in City Sparking Dialogues
Pathways Forward
Prayerfully consider how you can contribute to God’s restorative work, and inspire others to do the same. Together, let’s nurture racial healing and justice in our city.
If Boston’s racism is news to you
Let it sink in. Create space and take time just to mourn the loss of what you thought Boston was. Explore your thoughts, feelings, and questions with God in prayer.
Consider sharing what you're learning with a trusted friend. Be mindful that this conversation can be emotionally taxing to friends of color.
Explore further with me and other White Evangelicals in a race learning community.
Throughout, listen for God’s invitations. What might God be asking you to learn more about? Who is God calling you to connect with or come alongside? How are you called to be further equipped?
If you’re aware of Boston’s racism, but not taking action
“Here in Boston, a city known as a liberal bastion, we have deluded ourselves into believing we’ve made more progress than we have. Racism is certainly not as loud and violent as it once was, and the city overall is a more tolerant place. But inequities of wealth and power persist, and racist attitudes remain powerful, even if in more subtle forms...Boston’s complacency with the status quo hobbles the city’s future.”
Connect with others already taking action. Many Christian leaders have been working to further racial justice in Boston for years, decades, generations. One starting point is to spend time learning about their work and ask how you might support them.
Beware that sometimes inaction can stem from comfort, callousness, or complicity with a racist status quo. Prayerfully consider if your current inaction is accompanied by a willingness to rationalize, minimize, accept, and ultimately contribute to the problem.
Ask the Lord to increase your capacity for action. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you specific steps you can take in your family, church, community, or workplace to engage in racial healing and restoration.
Reach out to me for recommendations, for people to connect with, resources to explore, or a race learning community to join.
If you’re actively addressing Boston racism
Consider how God might be inviting you to refreshment or renewal in your work towards racial justice.
Reflect: What assets (skills, resources, relationships) are available to you for continuing Christ’s restorative work? What further assets could be available through prayer? Collaboration?
Join the Racism in Boston Facebook Group and share your ideas for how other parts of the Body could come alongside what God is already doing in racial healing in Boston.
Take Action
Join a ReWe race learning community for White Evangelicals
Discuss your ministry’s needs in addressing racism and how ReWe can support you
Volunteer with the ReWe project
Stopping Racism Starts Here: 5-Minute Entry Points
Racism in Boston is a big problem. But the road to racial harmony starts with a single step. Check out these recommended videos and special features, each of which take under five minutes to explore.
Stopping Racism Starts Here
Five-Minute Entry Points
by Megan Lietz, EGC Race & Christian Community Initiative
Busy? We get that. Troubled by racism? Good. Here are five resources you can explore in under five minutes about racism in America today.
The current face of racism
Some forms of racism—the legalized segregation in Jim Crow laws, for example—are thankfully behind us. But other forms of systemic racism—such as the mass incarceration of Black men—still create inequitable experiences for people of color to this day.
The Racism is Real video by Brave New Films explores some everyday ways racism creates different experiences for White and Black people today.
Racism is Real
April 29, 2015
How RacisT History Impacts Today
Do you live in a pretty homogeneous neighborhood? Most people in the US do. While we may like to think that where we call home is shaped by our personal preferences or “just the way things are," the racially segregated neighborhoods we live in today are the product of our history.
Play around on PBS’ Race: The Power of Illusion website to learn how housing policies in the 20th century have had a profound impact on today’s neighborhoods and the resources that are available to them.
Race: The Power of Illusion
Implicit Bias
No one likes to think they’re biased. The six brief Who, Me? Biased? videos from the New York Times explore how we have all been unconsciously shaped to have biases. When we recognize this, we can see that even good, well-intentioned people can contribute to inequality. We’re all part of the problem.
The good news is that, with education and exposure, we can all take steps to be less biased. We can take intentional action towards equality.
Who, Me? Biased?
Color-Blind
One thing that I often hear among White people is that they are “color-blind.” This is intended as a positive comment, implying that they don’t treat people differently based on the color of their skin. While well-intentioned, this lens can be counterproductive. This article by Jon Greenberg explains why.
Greenberg, Jon. “7 Reasons Why ‘Colorblindness’ Contributes to Racism Instead of Solves It.” Everyday Feminism. N.p., 20 July 2016.
Microaggressions
Microaggressions are day-to-day things we may say or do that can hurt people of color, sometimes without our intending or realizing it. Check out this Buzzfeed photo journal for some examples of microaggressions.
21 Racial Microaggressions You Hear On a Daily Basis
To explore a broader list of microaggressions, what they can subtly communicate, and why they are problematic, check out this chart:
Microaggressions
What do you think is the next step in dismantling racism?
Boston Climate Dialogues: 3 Fall Events
Join us for three Boston climate talks at EGC this fall! Guest speakers include Mia Mansfield, Mariama White-Hammond, Gabriela Boscia, and Melinda Vega. Come learn with us as we become more informed and ready to support local leaders doing important climate resilience work in our neighborhoods and city.
Boston Climate Dialogues: 3 Fall Events
By Ruth Wong
EGC is excited to partner with Northeastern University and Vibrant Boston to promote practical dialogue on climate change and resilience in Boston communities. We are opening three of our fall sessions to the public, to broaden community knowledge and collaboration with Christian leaders engaged in climate resilience work.
ABOUT OUR COLLABORATION
EGC is one of Northeastern University’s Service Learning Opportunity sites, and this fall we are learning alongside students in a Climate Change & Society class, taught by Sociology Professor Sharon Harlan. We are exploring together the possible impacts of climate change in a Boston neighborhood and how the community can become more resilient to environmental change.
Northeastern also has interest in engaging youth and residents from a Boston neighborhood. With our existing collaboration with Vibrant Boston, EGC helped facilitate a three-way partnership for this class.
Vibrant Boston is a free drop-in program based in Boston’s Lenox-Camden neighborhood of the South End /Lower Roxbury area. They provide the youth and their families living in this well-documented high crime community with support, enrichment, and opportunities based in a Social and Emotional Learning approach. Vibrant Boston programming covers a broad spectrum of services, including homework help, sports activities, career exploration, job opportunities for both teens and adults, and therapeutic classes in the arts.
OUR GOALS
Our three-way collaboration seeks to:
empower Vibrant Boston, and the residents of housing developments surrounding it, to learn about the potential impacts of climate change on urban communities, including their own
become more informed about climate change and how we can support Christian leaders’ involvement with the city of Boston’s climate change initiatives
promote a constructive dialogue about resilience within the community, with other communities, and with city government
provide opportunities for Vibrant Boston youth to interact with Northeastern students for mutual learning and relationship-building that are beneficial to both groups.
encourage Vibrant Boston youth’s aspirations for a university education
EGC staff and Vibrant Boston youth will attend eight sessions of the Northeastern Climate Change & Society class to learn and dialogue about climate change and its impact on urban communities.
“Decisions are being made now about climate mitigation and adaptation that affect how people will live in the future climate. There are significant social justice problems involving human capabilities and adaptive responses to climate change that must be addressed at local, national, and global scales. We will examine how communities are striving to adapt and prepare for the climate of the future. - excerpt from the Climate Change & Society course syllabus, Northeastern University
You're Invited!
Three guest speaker sessions are open to the public. We welcome residents from Boston and area churches to participate with us as we hear from key Boston leaders addressing this issue.
Learn with us! Join us in becoming more informed and ready to support local leaders doing important climate resilience work in our neighborhoods and city. Please mark your calendars for these fall events!
1. Is Boston’s Climate Changing? Are We Prepared?
Mia Mansfield
City of Boston Office of Environment, Energy and Open Space
Reading Assignment: Climate Ready Boston Report
Monday, October 23 @ 3:15PM
2. Connections: Race and Climate Justice
Rev. Mariama White-Hammond
Bethel AME Church
Reading Assignment: Bridging Boston’s Racial Divide by Blanding
Monday, October 30 @ 3:15PM
3. Resilient Communities: East Boston Sets an Example
Gabriela Boscio & Melinda Vega
Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, East Boston
Wednesday, November 8 @ 3:15PM
Take Action
RUTH WONG
Ruth is passionate about creating learning communities for churches and leaders across racial, socio-economic, and denominational lines. Director of the Boston Education Collaborative, Ruth collaborates with the Boston Public Schools to foster partnerships between schools and faith-based institutions. Every summer, Ruth also teaches at an engineering program at MIT for high school students.
How Are We Doing?
Churches Engaging Race Issues: Not Perfect but Taking Strides
White evangelicals are going deeper in racial justice, but still have much work to do. Three churches in the Boston area tell their stories.
Churches Engaging Race Issues: Not Perfect but Taking Strides
by Casey Lauren Johnson, Summer 2017 BETA Associate with Race & Christian Community
In March, 2017, Megan Lietz, Director of the new Race & Christian Community Initiative at EGC, released a call to action for White evangelicals to engage in issues of race. As we challenge White evangelicals to engage, we also want to celebrate those who are already doing so, and hold them up as an example for others. In this post we highlight the stories of three local congregations engaging in issues of race. We hope they will inspire you—and encourage you to action.
A Church Awakening to RACE ISSUES
River of Life Church, Boston, MA
There was a long, slow build of momentum as River of Life Church—a predominantly White congregation in Jamaica Plain—began to address the issue of not just racial diversity but racial equality.
It started with the voice of one individual, Ellen Bass, who had been involved with racial reconciliation for some time and wanted to see her congregation join in. Not everyone was on board, but there was enough support within the senior leadership to get some momentum going.
Their efforts began in earnest about two years ago with the formation of a Racial Equity Team. The team strategized about how best to address the issue of race within their congregation. They began with a four-week seminar series on issues of race for the entire congregation in place of worship services.
A few months later, River of Life followed up with a training for their leadership. This culminated more recently with a church retreat, where race was one of the topics addressed.
One of the biggest challenges they faced was that people were at different places on their racial awareness journeys. Some people had no idea that racial inequality was still an issue, while others were actively involved in racial justice efforts.
Emily and Rob Surratt, the leaders of the racial equity team, humbly admit they still have a lot to learn about racial reconciliation. While Rob had a deeper understanding of racial dynamics before taking leadership, Emily felt she didn’t know much, even as she volunteered to lead. In choosing to do so, she wasn’t confident in her own ability to engage issues of race, but was committed to learning more with the support of the community.
“[Emily] wasn’t confident in her own ability to engage issues of race, but was committed to learning more with the support of the community.”
River of Life knows that starting this conversation does not mean they have “arrived.” They want to encourage people by acknowledging that we all have work to do. We can all start where we are and make progress one step at a time.
Though the church views itself at the beginning of a sometimes frustrating and difficult process, they have high hopes for the future. They are eager to see what the Lord will do by his grace.
A Church Responding to Increasing Diversity
Grace Chapel, Multisite in Greater Boston
Grace Chapel—a multi-ethnic, multi-campus church—began addressing its increasingly diverse congregation in 1995. They started with efforts which simply celebrated the diverse expressions of culture within the congregation through luncheons they called the Grace International Fellowship.
Over the course of years, their efforts grew to include ESOL classes, an International Student Ministry Team, and a Cultural and Urban Awareness Weekend. These ministries not only serve the diverse population within their midst, but also help the rest of the congregation learn from diverse perspectives among them.
From these efforts, a Multicultural Initiative was created. Goals include recruiting diverse leadership, facilitating healthy multicultural relationships, creating a visible multicultural environment, and a commitment to ongoing education in these areas.
Grace Chapel recognizes this process as a “marathon and not a sprint.” Creating and committing to these goals has been at times frustratingly slow, but ultimately rewarding.
Grace Chapel's progress on multicultural issues has continued through a consulting engagement with the Interaction Institute for Social Change. They helped the church not only diversify its leadership, but create systems where people of color and people of non-majority cultures have a space at the table where they can share their voice.
“Grace Chapel recognizes this process as a “marathon and not a sprint.””
Dana Baker, the Pastor of Social Justice and Multicultural Ministry, celebrates the fact that Grace Chapel has now successfully planted a campus with no majority culture—a distinct accomplishment for churches who wish to reflect the diversity present in the Body of Christ within their congregations.
Joelinda Johnson, who grew up in the congregation and has served on staff at Grace Chapel, says the church became a completely different place during the years she was away at college from 2007-2012. She saw her church go from having a “pocket of diversity” to having people of color in several areas of leadership. She comments, however, while there are a larger number of people of color serving in lay leadership, there is still a ways to go in hiring staff staff of color.
Grace Chapel is glad for the work God has done and excited for what he will continue to do as they seek to serve the racially diverse communities of Greater Boston.
Churches Forming Friendships Across Racial Lines
North River Community Church, Pembroke, MA & People’s Baptist Church, Boston, MA
For pastors Rev. Dr. Wesley Roberts of People’s Baptist Church (a historically Black congregation) and Paul Atwater of North River Community Church (a predominantly White congregation), racial difference was a reality, but not a motivating factor for their relationship.
An informal connection between the two leaders, while serving on the Congress Committee for Vision New England in 2005, grew into a fruitful “Urban-Suburban Partnership.” They didn’t begin with racial reconciliation in mind—and yet they’ve developed the type of healthy, cross-racial partnership for which many people strive.
Rather than focusing on their differences, the pastors built their relationship on common ground. They connected over shared theology and values. They united in their shared goal to bring the gospel first to the city then to the ends of the earth.
In 2010, that goal began to be realized through their congregations teaming up to serve schools in Roxbury. This partnership allowed their congregants unique opportunities to serve the city of Boston while developing friendships across racial lines.
Both congregations have been able to develop a deep appreciation not only for the strengths, but also for the differences between their congregations. In fact, recognizing and addressing their different approaches to congregational leadership was an integral step in developing their partnership.
The pastors admit they didn’t know just what they were getting into when their partnership began. But they and their congregations have been mutually blessed. Rev. Dr. Roberts and Pastor Atwater hope to see more partnerships between urban and suburban churches, which they believe can happen when pastors simply get to know and appreciate one another.
LEADER TIP
For church leaders looking to develop relationships with leaders from other churches, Kelly Steinhaus of UniteBoston recommends choosing a leader from another church in the same geographical area as yours. You’ll have common ground (literally) as you reach across a dividing line or two and share your common love for Jesus and your city.
“The pastors built their relationship on common ground.”
One of the most rewarding parts of their relationship has been the realization that friendships created between the two congregations will far outlast any formal partnership. These congregations serve as examples of God meeting people where they are and performing the work of reconciliation in hearts and minds.
TAKE ACTION
Casey Johnson is pursuing a Master of Arts in Religion at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, and served as a summer 2017 EGC Intern with the Race and Christian Community Initiative. She first became interested in racial reconciliation efforts as a result of missions in Tijuana, Mexico, and service at an urban youth organization through the AmeriCorps. As a White evangelical, she wants to use the unique cross-racial opportunities and relationships she has experienced to help others engage issues of race in meaningful ways.
How Are We Doing?
Reflections on Charlottesville
As a community of Christians who are grieved by the violence in Charlottesville, VA, and what it represents, the Emmanuel Gospel Center humbly offers some reflections in service to the Church and communities of Boston.
Reflections on Charlottesville
Lead Editor Liza Cagua-Koo, Assistant Director of EGC, with contributions from the EGC Team
As a community of Christians who are grieved by the violence in Charlottesville, VA, and what it represents, the Emmanuel Gospel Center humbly offers some reflections in service to the Church and communities of Boston—the city we love, where God has called us to minister.
We urge our brothers and sisters in Christ to denounce the evil of White supremacy (in all its forms) and affirm that all people are created in the image of God. Indeed, it is our hope that all Bostonians regardless of faith will affirm the dignity and value of every person.
Our Lament
We lament the violence and loss of life in Charlottesville, as well as the larger social situation that allowed such a tragedy to arise.
We lament the fear, personal trials, social conditioning, and isolation that leads some to participate in these public expressions of hatred.
We lament the ways these destructive behaviors hurt most Americans—of every background—as they can encourage more private and public expressions of bigotry, ethnocentrism, and the tendency to hoard resources and opportunities out of fear for the well-being of oneself or one's group.
We lament our country’s long and painful history of prioritizing the welfare of one group over another. We long for this legacy to be increasingly less evident so that we might each stand as equals, not just before God, but before police officers, mortgage brokers, and others in positions that can promote or stifle justice for entire communities.
Our Prayers
We pray for each family—in Charlottesville and beyond—that has experienced the pain of racism, whether acutely through a white supremacy rally or in their daily barriers to opportunity. We ask God for healing, resilience, and courage to continue forward in hope, love, and action.
We pray for those who have been deluded by the lie of White supremacy, and especially those who would say they are followers of Jesus. We pray that Jesus would speak to them by his Spirit and through his Body, the Church. May they in Christ experience freedom from lies they believe about themselves and others, the country, and the world. May they by the Holy Spirit see the choices they can yet make to love others as they love themselves.
We have all these same prayers for ourselves. We ask for God's guidance in the choices we will all make in the future to make another Charlottesville less likely.
Our Calling
Indeed what remains now, what has always remained—even if Charlottesville had never occurred—is our daily calling as Christians, individually and corporately, to relate across lines. We have the privilege and calling to offer a redemptive response to pain, fear, violence, and injustice.
The Church has incomparable resources—in God’s Word, the richness of our faith traditions, and the fullness of God’s Spirit—to bear His love and healing presence. If any community has the shared resources to respond to fear with hope, to injustice with change, to hatred with love, it's the Body of Christ.
Let's commit to go beyond our isolated silos of self-protection or short-sighted action. Let's seek God’s wisdom together, and contribute to Christ's restorative work, all by his grace, in step with his Spirit, and in his name.
ABOUT THE LEad Editor
Jesus captured Liza's heart while at Harvard, and after several years in the private sector leading technology initiatives, she joined urban ministry startup TechMission in 2002. There she launched tech programs and co-directed a youthworker program, all in partnership with local churches. In 2006, Liza joined EGC as senior program director, and has served as assistant director since 2010. A member of Neighborhood Church of Dorchester, Liza learns about growing up in Jesus from being mamá to Jacob & Camila, spouse to Daniel, and daughter to one of the world’s best abuelitas.
Reconciliation in Troubled Times
Our country is deeply divided. What part can we play in healing the nation's racial wounds? And where do we start?
By Rev. Dr. Dean Borgman and Megan Lietz, STM
Includes excerpts from “Reconciliation in Troubled Times”, the inaugural Dean Borgman Lectureship in Practical Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, March 20, 2017.
Megan Lietz is Director of Race & Christian Community at EGC. Her ministry focus is to help white evangelicals engage respectfully and responsibly in issues of race and racism.
Disclaimer from Megan Lietz: This post is based on a lecture from March, and not written in direct response to the Charlottesville violence. While not stated explicitly in this article, we condemn white supremacy in any form. Many congregations in Boston are working together to develop a unified response. I am in consultation with many Boston-area church and organizational leaders. I look forward to sharing the fruit of those collaborations for action planning.
Our society is deeply divided. These divisions can be found in our national, communal, and church life. From polarization between political parties to disagreements in our response to immigrants and refugees, these divisions are rooted in a fear and distrust of people different from ourselves.
These divisions are not recent phenomena. Rather, they are shaped by our history. How we see ourselves and others, and how we choose to interact with the world around us is colored by what has come before. Unfortunately, much of the division and inequality that has tainted our history was reinforced by faulty anthropologies, psychologies, and theologies that are still with us today in various forms.
We all have a part to play, and the Church should be responding.
Christians today, black or white, wealthy or poor, new or old to this country, must be concerned—be distressed—over our divisions and the inability of our system of economics and government to provide adequate remediation and relief to the suffering.
The God who freed the Hebrews and the American slaves, and who brought relief to the segregated and oppressed under Jim Crow—that God will hear the united cries of American Christians, should we humbly pray for justice.
In the News: Boston Faith Leaders Responding to Charlottesville Violence
Begin with Lament
Lament is a biblical practice, where we acknowledge that things are not right—in the world, nation, community or church—and where we embrace our role and responsibility in it. Lament comes not out of a spirit of complaint. Rather, it invites God into the situation so healing and justice can occur.
For example, laments and confessions came from Moses, Daniel, Nehemiah and other prophets, and Christ on the Cross—for sins they didn’t individually commit. They were earnest, prayers of systemic confession.
Furthermore, of the 150 Psalms, the majority are Psalms of Lament. They provide us examples and guides for the expression of our desire for social, political and church reconciliation.
Biblically, lament is often coupled with confession of how we have contributed to the problem at hand. When Nehemiah is lamenting over the broken walls and associated disgrace that had come upon Jerusalem, he first makes a confession:
LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments… I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you... (Nehemiah 1: 5-7a, NIV)
Nehemiah was not born in the land where such injustice was taking place. He had never participated in the sins he was confessing. But he still confessed the sins of his people and lamented over them, even though he wasn't personally responsible.
We must reflect, lament, and confess today, whether or not we feel personally responsible. We all have a part to play, and we can all go before God to change ourselves and affect healing in our land.
Choose to be Reconcilers
After we lament the division around us, churches must make a choice to engage the division in our midst. Such work is not something that people enter into casually. Rather, it requires intentionality and effort.
Any church or group must first decide that they are committed to biblical social reconciliation. They should be committed to giving this important challenge some time and thought.
Study the Realities and Positive Examples
It's important that we learn more about the division around us and how to be agents of reconciliation. We could begin with understanding the biblical notion of reconciliation, centered on God's reconciling work in Jesus Christ. But we must also gain understanding of sociological, psychological, historical, and theological realities.
Consider the examples of Black churches under slavery, during Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement and continued discrimination. Their spirituals, their persistent prayers, and their courageous demonstrations invited collaboration, and slowly produced some measure of social justice. They provide countless examples of how to be agents of reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
We must also seek to understand the perspective of those today who are different from us—this is especially true for white evangelicals. It is very important that we invite the 'others' into conversation, and give them a chance to voice their own stories and hurts.
We can also learn from local organizations. Some of EGC's partners doing reconciliation work include:
Unite Boston
Collaborate Across Lines
As we listen, we must also work together with people across dividing lines. We must reach across the chasm of differences and choose some shared Kingdom priorities in which we can invest. As we collaborate with "the other," healing takes place. As we engage with the other, we get glimpses of the coming Kingdom of God.
“It is very important that we invite the ‘others’ who are different from us into conversation, and give them a chance to voice their own stories and hurts.”
Imagine how you might be able to come together with others around shared kingdom values:
spending time with those outside our fortunate situations
hearing the stories of those who have been freed from oppression or rejuvenated, experiencing the hope of the seemingly hopeless
hearing the deep cries and music of the oppressed
seeing victims become survivors and then confident leaders
These are the “now-but-not-yet” experiences of God’s coming Kingdom. When we share mutual love, respect, and inspiration with those who because of our privilege have so much less, we experience something of God’s beloved community—a community of hope.
TAKE ACTION
STOP. REFLECT. PRAY.
What does our city need from its churches?
How might churches collaborate in bringing peace and welfare to the city?
How can seminary educators collaborate with other serving and training organizations working for shalom—the peace and welfare of our city?
JOIN With A REFLECTION/ACTION GROUP
Are you a white evangelical who wants to join with others in a journey of respectful and responsible conversation and engagement of race and racism issues?
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
White Evangelicals’ Candid Talk About Race: 6 Takeaways
What happens when a group of white evangelical Christians get together for candid conversation about race issues? Here are six takeaways from a starter conversation on April 1.
White Evangelicals’ Candid Talk About Race: 6 Takeaways
by Megan Lietz
[Last month I posted A Word to White Evangelicals: Now Is The Time To Engage Issues of Race, a call to action for beginning a journey toward respectful and responsible engagement with issues of race. As an action step, I invited white evangelicals to join me for small group conversation on race. The gathering took place April 1, 2017 at EGC. Here’s what we learned together from the experience.]
With little more than a few key questions and a spark of hope, I wasn’t sure how this first conversation would go. Under a surprise April snowstorm, I wasn’t even sure who would show up. But I sensed that God was in this. Having done my part, I was trusting God to do his.
One by one, eight white evangelical Christians filtered in. Men and women of different ages, life experiences, and church backgrounds came to the table with varied levels of awareness about race-related concerns. Against cultural headwinds of complacency and fear, these eight were ready for an open conversation about race.
Stepping Into the River
To frame our time together, I invited each person in the group to use the image of a river to depict their journey toward racial reconciliation. It was my hope that by recalling our experiences together, we could help one another imagine pathways ahead and find the support to move forward.
As people shared parts of their journey, we heard six unique stories. One man’s engagement with race issues began in the 1960s through his observation of racial discrimination at his university and his subsequent positive reaction toward the leadership of the Black Power movement. This got him thinking and eventually led him to visit a black church. One woman began to seriously think about race only weeks before our gathering because of an eye-opening grad school course.
We then used our river-journeys to reflect together on three simple questions: With regard to our engagement in issues of race...
Where are we?
Where do we want to be?
What can we do to move forward?
Takeaways
As group members began to share their experiences wrestling with issues of race and culture, they did so with relief at the opportunity to speak openly. With a life-giving mix of humility and excitement, the group gave voice to the following shared insights.
1. We Remember A Time Before We Were Aware
Each white evangelical in the room remembered a time in their life before they were aware of the magnitude and significance of racial disparities today. As one participant put it, “I didn’t realize there was an issue. It is hard to know there are racial problems when living in racially homogeneous communities.”
Confronting basic, hard realities shifted their perspective, evidenced by comments such as these from various participants:
People of color are not treated the same as white people.
Ethnic injustice was an issue even in biblical times.
People make assumptions about people’s experiences and needs based on the color of their skin.
When people just go with the flow, they are unconsciously agreeing with what is going on.
2. We Have Personal Work To Do
The group broadly agreed on the need for white people to engage in personal learning and engage issues of race more effectively. One participant shared, “There are racist systems (that need to be addressed), but I also need to do a lot of [self-]work.”
Another, who became aware of the profound impact race has on people’s lives more recently, added, “Lack of knowledge keeps me from entering the conversation. I’m still learning, so I’m insecure.” A third participant asserted that white people need to do their learning and self-work both before and during their engagement across racial lines.
3. Story Sharing is Key
Many insights affirmed the power of story sharing to bring awareness and practical guidance. It is a helpful step for us to reflect on our own stories and be willing to be honest and vulnerable. It is essential to become good listeners, giving careful attention to the stories of our brothers and sisters of color. Some of our comments were:
White evangelicals have many things to learn from communities who look different from them.
We should share our own stories about our journey toward racial justice with our fellow white evangelicals.
We should take the posture not of “rescuers,” but of mutual learners.
Sharing our own story can impact others.
Engaging with white people and people of color who are both ahead of and behind us in the journey can be useful in understanding the self-work we need to do.
4. We Need More Skills to Do Hard Conversations Well
The group identified an obstacle in their work around race: limited skill for hard conversations. They attributed the problem to a lack of good models, especially within the white evangelical community, for listening, dialogue, and engaging conflict.
One participant said that white evangelicals are not good at engaging conflict. He went on to explain that, in his experience, people often announce their opinions in ways that shut down conversations rather than invite genuine dialogue. “When people are not listening and are argumentative, it’s difficult to have the conversations that propel people forward in their journey [toward racial reconciliation].”
5. We Need Brave Spaces
When discussing what these leaders would look for in a healthy conversation, they used words like “open,” “humble,” “honest” and “authentic.”
One participant observed, “Lack of [such spaces] keeps us locked in coasting mode or in the status quo.” Brave spaces to engage in uncomfortable conversation are needed for growth.
6. Growth Requires Ongoing Community
These white evangelicals were seeking brave spaces not just for conversation, but to walk with one another in community. One participant declared his need for a “community of inquirers… that address the current social tensions.”
Another added that single events, while helpful in sparking interest and fostering growth, are less effective in supporting lasting transformation. “We need continuity…There needs to be a group who is doing this work over a length of time.”
Pilot Cohort
With a shared longing to experience new ways of listening, dialoguing, and learning in community, the group committed to experiment together as a cohort for a time. The group agreed to use two upcoming meetings to discuss Debby Irving’s book Waking Up White. We will also attend a lecture with the author.
Through this pilot cohort in EGC’s new Race & Christian Community initiative, we aim to:
Create a space where the group can try, fail, learn, and grow.
Practice dialogue that nurtures respectful and responsible engagement around issues of race.
Take Action
Are you a white evangelical Christian interested in a similar, future cohort?
Do you have advice or resources that could help our cohort function more effectively?
Do you want to speak into the development of the Race & Christian Community initiative at EGC?
Please connect with us! We invite the insights of the community and are excited to see where the Lord may lead.
Megan Lietz, M.Div., STM, helps white evangelicals engage respectfully and responsibly with issues of race. She is a Research Associate with EGC's Race & Christian Communities ministry.
A Word to White Evangelicals: Now is the Time to Engage Issues of Race
We are at a critical moment in the history of our nation—a time not when new problems have arisen, but when old problems have been revealed. The violence against young Black men, the tension that inspired the killings of police officers, the division surrounding a heated election, and the exclusion of the Muslim community are just a few indicators that things are not well. How will we respond in our increasingly diverse nation as racial tensions flare across our land?
PERSPECTIVES
by Megan Lietz, ARC Research Associate
We are at a critical moment in the history of our nation—a time not when new problems have arisen, but when old problems have been revealed. The violence against young Black men, the tension that inspired the killings of police officers, the division surrounding a heated election, and the exclusion of the Muslim community are just a few indicators that things are not well.
How will we respond in our increasingly diverse nation as racial tensions flare across our land?
Like a doctor removes a bandage to reveal a festering wound, these national incidents are exposing deep-seated racial inequities. As a physician exposes a wound to provide treatment, so does exposing these inequities create opportunity for healing. How will we respond to this opportunity? In our choices, we are accountable to the Lord.
The Current Reality
The racial diversity of our nation is increasing. The US Census Bureau projects that by 2043 more than half of the nation will be people of color. We have already seen this shift occur in Boston when we became a “minority majority” city in 2000. Diversity is our future, and the future is indeed here.
With this diversity also comes division. Some division comes from the differences inherent in diverse cultures, such as disparate worldviews or languages. These types of differences are not inherently bad. Other divisions, however, happen because disparities exist between White people and people of color. These disparities have a profound impact on people’s daily lives and foster tension and fear.
Consider the racial disparities in education, health care, and financial well-being in Boston. In 2016, rates of graduation from the Boston Public School System in four years were 13 percentage points lower for Black students, and 15 percentage points lower for Hispanic students, than their White counterparts. In 2015, a 2011 health report found that, compared to White people, Black and Hispanic people in Massachusetts have higher rates of infant mortality, cardiovascular and circulatory system related deaths, and diabetes.
Most notably, in 2015 the median net worth for White families in the Boston area ($247,500) towered over that of Hispanic ($3,020 for Puerto Ricans, $2,700 for other Hispanics) and Black families ($12,000 for “Caribbean Blacks” and $8 for “U.S. Blacks”). Furthermore, there is little hope of this improving without significant change, as these national wealth gaps by race have remained relatively consistent for the last 50 years.
These inequalities shape the future ministry of the Church and invite White evangelicals to the work of racial reconciliation. The invitation is open. Our city isn’t waiting. Will we see the problem before us? Will we respond in a Christ-like way to the hurt and division across our land?
Stepping Up
I believe it is time for White evangelicals to step up in this moment of crisis and walk into the opportunity for conciliation it provides. As a White evangelical myself, I am choosing to step up. Neither my faith nor my conscience allows me to do otherwise.
“These inequalities shape the future ministry of the Church and invite White evangelicals to the work of racial reconciliation.”
I am stepping up by calling other White evangelicals to join me on a journey toward racial reconciliation, and I am committing to walking with them along the way. More specifically, I am developing an initiative at the Emmanuel Gospel Center called Race and Christian Community. I’m designing the initiative to meet White evangelicals where they are and help them take concrete steps to engage in racial issues respectfully and responsibly.
While my primary motivators for action are God’s Word (e.g. Eph. 2:11-14, John 17:20-23, Jer. 29:7) and the grave need, my desire to engage is also personal. There was a time when I was unaware of my race and privilege and culture, when I didn't know what God's Word had to say about the racism and division and discord that sullies our land. At that time, I had fellow Christians come alongside me as I began my own journey towards racial reconciliation.
Born and raised in a predominantly White, rural town, growing up I never imagined myself in multiracial ministry. It was not until I was immersed in communities of color during my college years that I wrestled with my own race and culture. It was not until then that I had considered how racial reconciliation related to my faith.
“I had fellow Christians come alongside me as I began my own journey towards racial reconciliation.”
As I reflect on my involvement in those early days, I recall my desire to help, my good intentions, my uncertainty about what to do, and my remarkable ignorance. At the same time I recall God’s faithfulness. He extended me grace and guided me, through the Spirit and the saints.
In this space I came to discover my culture and racial identity. I began to genuinely appreciate the cultures of others. My view of God expanded, and I began to more fully live out my faith.
Similar to how the Lord used others to lead me on my journey toward racial reconciliation, it is my hope that I can partner with the Lord to guide others who are starting out.
Join the Journey
I invite you to join me in reflecting on the racial tension our nation is experiencing and to consider how you might respond. As the inequities and divisions are coming to light in ways that White evangelicals can no longer deny, we are posed with the question, "What will you do about it?" It is a question that, though powerful, is often brushed off by a barrage of competing priorities: the problem of good people having too many good things to do.
I challenge you to not brush off the question of how you will respond too easily. In our complacency, we hurt both people of color and ourselves. After centuries of being largely disengaged from pursuits of racial equity, now is the time for White evangelicals to begin to change our legacy.
Perhaps the incidents of violence and upheaval that cross our television screens are a means of God’s grace to us. Perhaps God is using these incidents to interrupt our daily routine with moments of clarity—moments that invite us to engage in the reconciling work that is not a partisan issue but is essential to the work Christ did on the cross (Eph. 2:11-21).
“Now is the time for White evangelicals to begin to change our legacy.”
Will you join me, broken and faulty as I am, on a journey toward racial reconciliation? Will you join me, with wounds and fears and insecurities? Will you join me with confidence, not in our ability to bring about reconciliation, but in Christ’s ability to work through those who say, “Yes, Lord, send me”?
Take Action
I invite you to :
Attend an EGC small group conversation for White evangelicals. Saturday, April 1, 10 am - noon, at Emmanuel Gospel Center, 2 San Juan Street, Boston. Discuss obstacles and insights you’ve encountered in your own engagement of race, and brainstorm how EGC could support you to do so more effectively.
Speak into the development of EGC’s Race & Christian Community initiative by connecting with me personally. I value your perspective and want this initiative to be shaped by the voice of the community!
Explore my recommended resource list to begin learning about race and how to engage these issues.
Refer a church, organization, or individual who is already engaging racial reconciliation. I’d like to connect with them, learn from them, and explore how what we do at EGC can complement, not duplicate, their efforts.
Offer financial support to EGC’s Race and Christian Community initiative.
If you are willing to join me, I welcome you to the journey. May we walk it together, bearing the good news of Jesus' reconciling power and allowing him to use us as his hands and feet.
![Intercultural Leadership [Resource List]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57ff1c7ae58c62d6f84ba841/1503082407845-5YCT4DLA93VIGHBSAN1R/pexels-intercultural.jpeg)
Intercultural Leadership [Resource List]
Resources On Intercultural Leadership
Intercultural Leadership [Resource List]
by Rudy Mitchell
Branson, Mark Lau, and Juan F. Martinez. Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011.
DeYmaz, Mark, and Harry Li. Leading a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church: Seven Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2013.
Plueddemann, Jim. Leading Across Cultures: Effective Ministry and Mission in the Global Church. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2009.
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