Overcoming Racial Divides - A Lesson From Acts 6

The church is one of the most segregated parts of society. Sunday morning, blacks go to their churches, whites to theirs, Koreans to theirs, etc. etc. Their is some mixing, but very little. It would be nice to look back at the early church and see that race was not an issue, but even there, from the very outset of the church, racial divides were at the forefront.

In Acts 6, the widows of the Hebraic Jews (those from Israel, probably mostly from Jerusalem) were getting more food than the widows of the Grecian Jews (those from outside Israel). Many of these Grecian Jews likely travelled long distances to come to the festival of Pentecost, but ended up staying once confronted with the reality of the gospel. Therefore, there were many needs among them, especially among their widows. Regardless, they were being overlooked, and preference was being given to the local, natural born, true Hebraic Jews.

It is not shocking that there was racial tension. There always has been and always will be.

What I want to focus on is the response. What did they do about it?

First of all, what do we usually do about it?

Many of our churches do not represent the demographics of the communities we are attempting to serve. Many minorities are being overlooked. This is nothing new.

But, what do we do about it?

Do we ignore them?
Do we try to get them to come to us using good media techniques?
Do we start a program and invite them to come?

What did the early church do?

The apostles had the community put forward the people they wanted in those places of leadership.

But who were they? Were they Hebraic Jews or Grecian Jews?

Scholars say that based on all the information available, it is probable that ALL 7 were Grecian Jews! In other words, the majority group gave ALL leadership in this controversial task to leaders representing the minority group. WOW! One of them, as explicitly stated in Acts 6:5, wasn't even born a Jew at all, but converted to Judaism in Antioch, a non-Israeli city!

I wonder how many Christian leaders, in considering how to reach their community would consider this?

Just think about the possibilities listed above... Every one contains a "WE" and a "THEM." What are WE going to do with THEM?

Isn't this really the key to the whole thing. WE have a certain ethnic, culture, economic identity, and it is very difficult to let in outsiders. WE have a way of singing, a way of preaching, a way of just being, and THEY are different.

I find it exciting and challenging that the first "church staff" chosen was for the express interest of representing and empowering the overlooked minorities. Rather than sticking with the normal WE vs. THEM, they said through their actions that this thing won't be solved until WE and THEM become US.

I recently visited a church of about 300 people where the head pastor has a goal of 50% non-anglos participating as elders, staff, and community group leaders by 2013. Right now they're at 20%, 16%, and 8% respectively in each of those categories. Going to that church, you sense the awkwardness, but beautiful intentionality of a church fighting to represent and love its community. With songs in Spanish, Hispanic people on the microphone, sermon translations available in Spanish and Swahili, the church is seeing racial and ethnic unity happen - and word is getting out in the city. In talking to the head pastor, it is a difficult road, but well worth it.

The world is watching to see if Christians will live any differently than the rest of the culture. Acts 6 gives us something to shoot for: overcoming division through intentional minority leadership representation.

Humility

I just read a chapter out of Gary Thomas's book, "Classical Virtues," and wanted to highlight a quote that stood out to me.

"Calvin goes so far as to voice his agreement with Augustine that humility is not evidenced simply when 'a man, aware that he has some virtues, abstains from pride and arrogance; but when man feels that he has no refuge except in humility.'"

Calvin and Augustine were both very public and famous figures, even in their day. I like how they refer to the "refuge of humility." I relate to this a bit, though I'm sure to a lesser degree. There are times when my gifts put me in a more public light, especially with music and worship. One of the most helpful tools for me in those times when there is probably more attention on me then I'd like, is to find a refuge in thoughts of God's greatness, and consequently my complete reliance on him for anything good. I guess I have grown in this over the years as I have witnessed so much in speaking, and worship, and celebrity, and sports, that it incredibly impressive, but not in the least bit edifying. This awareness reminds me that skill alone is very empty. Only connection to the vine matter. Apart from him we can do nothing truly significant.

I used to think humility was shying away from what I'm good at. Now I'm more comfortable with the thought that it has more to do with being ok with myself exactly as I am and not being afraid to be who I am. It has more to do with removal of the fear of failure because I'm not doing things to impress people but to live out who God has made me to be. It has mostly to do with thinking more about God and less about myself.

Psalm 28

I'm reading through the Psalms and using them to help me pray in the mornings this fall. One of my favorite parts of doing this is seeing how David was a normal guy who had a lot of emotions, not all of them wonderful. I often find my honest emotions in what he writes and am relieved to know that I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

Today I read Psalm 28 and a couple things stood out to me that I wanted to write down.

Psalm 28:3

"Do not drag me away with the wicked,
    with those who do evil,
    who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts"

Often David notices things in his culture that he hates and he just feels free to express his heart to God. In this case, it's the way people are treating their neighbors. He says, in effect, that they put on a sweet, nice face when they talk to their neighbors, but inwardly they hate them.

David calls these people evil and wicked.

This isn't a sweet pleasant blog entry, but lately I've had such similar emotions on this topic. Sometimes I just can't believe the way Christians talk about each other. It breaks my heart. Just because someone disagrees about something, even something minor, we feel we have the right to bash them. We would never say it to their face. As David said, to their face we're cordial. However, technology has enabled a lot of hidden emotions to come out into the open. Somehow people think that biblical teachings about gossip and slander don't apply to Facebook or email.

Anyway, I've just been extremely discouraged in my outlook on the church lately, seeing the way people interact with such hatred to their neighbors.

If there is one thing Christians must reclaim as their identity in our culture, it's radical forgiveness.

Matt

Family CD Project

Just about done!

For those who didn't know, a good portion of my summer was spend recording an album of songs that my kids and I have written together over the past few years. We picked our 10 favorite original kid tunes and the final product is sounding fantastic! From guitar, to trombone, to whistling solos, this CD is an organic piece of energetic family artwork.

I am now working on the band name, the cover art, and sending the album out to Seattle for professional mastering. I will keep you posted when it has been released. You will be able to download it off of itunes or purchase a CD online.

Can't wait for you to hear it!
Matt

Life Update

It's been awhile since I have updated my blog so a life update is in order.

Here are a few recent highlights:

1) Spring Soccer Season:

Lizzy had a great first season on her team, the Panda Bears

I coached Annabelle's team, the Polar Bear Cubs. We were fierce!

Here's a cute one of Belle and our neighbor Abigail who also played on the team.

Coaching highlights:

Pastor training: for awhile I've been developing a strong conviction that the church, rather than adding a bunch of meetings and classes to people's schedules, should focus on empowering people to live like Christ where they already are (workplace, neighborhood, hobbies, activities, etc). It's kinda like Jesus' parable of the kingdom of God being like yeast. Rather than making a whole new batch of dough and our own "Christian" version of everything (music, schools, etc.), our role is to impact the existing "dough" with the love of God. 

Same with salt - Jesus said, "you are the salt of the earth." We all know that eating a big ol' cube of salt is disgusting! Yuck! Christians are supposed to flavor the world, not take it over. This has been a large part of Christianity's history and why many people are left with a bad taste in their mouth toward Jesus. 

People in Littleton are pretty much addicted to kids activities, especially soccer. This seemed like a natural way to build trust in the community and it worked great.

I was able to love a group of first grade girls, using soccer as a way to encourage them in the skills and in their character. Katie and I threw a mid-season pizza/video party where the team came over and hung out and watched one of our games together. It was great. Our goal this season was to get families together and in each other's lives, and to develop this little group of friends that were pretty much all in the same class at school. It feels like our life here is getting more integrated and more opportunities to love people are popping up. 

Please pray that this will open doors for reaching out to the families that don't know the Lord. We already see this happening and it's very exciting.

2) End of the Semester

One year down, two to go!

Praise God! We survived a semester with a new baby, four kids, a soccer team, and a full load of school! My classes were Greek (still love it), Survey of the Epistles and Revelation, Church History II (Reformation through modern), and Pastoral Theology & Worship. It was a good semester and I'm pretty sure I came out with all A's. More importantly, I'm learning a ton about the history of the church, God's word, and what it means to be a pastor in modern America.

3) The Lakota People

The week after finals week I took a one-week trip (2 credit class) to S. Dakota for a cross-cultural immersion experience. We went as listeners and learners to the Pine Ridge Reservation where we got to interact with the Lakota tribe and many people who are giving their lives to serve them. We stayed at a church/rec center, played with kids, got dominated by the teens in basketball, faced-off with a drunk man who wanted to fight us, met local native pastors, nurses, and teachers, and toured the badlands of S. Dakota. We saw a lot of hopelessness but also some glimmers of hope. It was a very sad, but very refreshing experience for me personally. There is just something so right and Jesus-like about living faithfully in the midst of really hard and hopeless situations.

I'll write more as I continue to process and read about the history of the Lakota. I'm currently reading a book called "The Journey of Crazy Horse" that I HIGHLY recommend, but that is really messing with my concept of what it means to be white, American, and Christian.

Here are a couple random pictures (the only two I took) - more to come once I get some from the team. These are from a little outing to what our leader Paul called "the Little Grand Canyon" - about an hour from Mt. Rushmore -- which by the way was created right in the heart of the Lakota people's most holy place. The Black Hills were promised as Lakota land in a 1868 treaty until white settlers found gold there and broke the treaty. So Mt. Rushmore is a slap in the face to the Lakota. Our leader Paul had tears in his eyes as he talked about it.

Summer...

We're now in summer mode. I plan to finish the CD project with the kids and also spend a lot of time working on music with Tim (and playing some little shows). 

I'm also compiling a list of values/convictions about the church that I will share over the next months. Kind of a list of "hey, what in the world are we doing if we're not doing these things?..." list that is really informing my dreams and plans for pastoring. I'll look forward to people's feedback on those! Matt

A Balanced Church

I'm in a class called Pastoral Theology & Worship. This week I read a book for the class called "Radical Reformission" by Mark Driscoll (pastor/founder of Mars Hill Church, Seattle). Driscoll is a pretty controversial guy, but the book was both hilarious and incredibly profound in terms of understanding our culture and how the church should relate to it. Being from Seattle, he absolutely has his finger on the pulse of that city and how to reach lost and hurting people. I loved it, though in terms of a book review I'd throw out the caveat that it is highly opinionated and brash (often for good reason).

Out of the many nuggets from this book, one that stuck with me is a pretty straight forward way of understanding balance in the church. It is overly simplistic, but I know it will stay with me as a good way of explaining and trying to live-out a very difficult balance in ministry.

Driscoll explains the function of the church as one of maintaining balance between gospel, culture, and church. He defines those as...

Gospel = loving the Lord / being true to what Jesus actually taught
Culture = loving our neighbor / being relevant enough that the message will actually be heard
Church = loving our brothers and sisters in Christ / being faithful to our community

He then goes on to say that many common errors in the church are caused by NOT holding these 3 in tension (which is very hard to do).

For example...

Gospel + Culture - Church = Parachurch

Since the church doesn't always do its job to reach the culture, the parachurch has filled in the gap. However, parachurches often lack a place for theological grounding. Since they tend to be age specific they also lack a place for family and cross-generational ministry. I love and support many parachurch ministries, but my dream is for the church to regain its heart and ability to fulfill its rightful place in mission.

Culture + Church - Gospel = Liberalism

A common error is for churches to be so accommodating to the culture that they forget to be true to Jesus' teaching. The reality is that Jesus said a lot of things that are just flat out unpopular in our culture. We can easily become so relevant that we make people comfortable but do nothing for their eternal destiny.

Church + Gospel - Culture = Fundamentalism

It is really easy to get comfortable with other Christians. It's uncomfortable and stretching to love someone that's different. It takes time, effort, and thoughtfulness. However, ignoring the culture has a way of creating a Christian subculture with a Christian language, Christian friends, Christian music, and lots of good debates about theology, carpet color, and worship music. Soon we find that we don't know our neighbors and don't even know where to start.

The gospel of Jesus has the power to transform lives and cities, but it is very easy for churches to get off-course in any of these three areas and end up out of balance and ineffective. How you would evaluate your church? It probably isn't quite as simplistic as this, but where would you chart your church on this grid of gospel/culture/church? What are the strengths and what are the weaknesses and do you see them resulting in the errors mentioned above?

The Gift of Approval

Have you told your spouse or kids yet today that you think they're great?

Katie and I had a conversation last night about how critical it is that we let people off the hook. We were thinking back on experiences that we and friends of ours have had where we never felt like we could do enough to please someone. We know people that, when they were kids, always felt like their parents were going to jump on any little mistake that they made. They lived in a continual state of fear of rejection.

It can be easy to parent through intimidation. An empty threat used here or there can become a pattern. Usually, at least for men, this tactic is rooted in a bad day, or comparing themselves to other men who seem to have it together. A lot of men walk through life with low-lying anger. Men end up fantasizing about a new job, a new woman, or the next outdoor trip because, if honest, they're just not that excited about their lives. This low-lying frustration tends to get taken out on their families. The result is a tendency to snap at little things and make them big things. When we do this we resort to "shame-based" parenting instead of "guilt-based" parenting.

Shame-based parenting is when we connect a kid's behavior with their character. We make harsh generalization like, "you ALWAYS do this kind of thing," or we call them names. When parents do this they rob their kids of their approval and instead heap on them the horrible task of trying to perform right in order to be loved.

Guilt-based parenting, on the other hand detaches behavior from character and ALWAYS communicates approval. When a kid messes up, we punish the wrong action but build up the character. We give a kid a time-out but when the consequence is done, the relationship and approval remain. We build kids up saying things like, "you may have made a bad choice but that's not who you are." In other words, we fight to always make our kids know that we think they're great and that bad behavior is a surprising anomaly.

The same thing goes for marriage. I had at least four conversations this week with men at the seminary who said their marriages were in a bad place. One guy commented on his lack of physical fulfillment, another on his wife's bitterness at her situation in life. I don't know enough about these particular marriages to make any quick judgments, but it made me want to encourage people to fight like crazy to offer their spouses and kids one of the most precious gifts they can give; unconditional approval.

Too many men are waiting for their spouses to meet their needs and are refusing to tell their spouses that they think they're great. I guess the thinking goes something like this... "If I tell them they're great, beautiful, and wonderful in every way, they'll get the impression that I'm content and then they won't know that I'm sitting here waiting for them to meet my needs so I guess I'll just mope around and communicate my discontentment..."

"Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."

Have you ever stopped to think about this well-known little sentence in the Lord's prayer? Forgive us AS we forgive others! Do you realize how much God has forgiven you? Do you realize he's taken every trashy thing you've ever thought or done and nailed it to the cross? He let you off the hook! He acted FIRST! Now it's our turn to respond. How? By letting everyone else off the hook. God gave you and me the precious gift of his unconditional approval even in the middle of our worst moments. How about we do the same for our kids? How about we do the same for our spouses?

I want to encourage you to offer your family the precious gift of approval. Don't wait for them to act first, just go tell them they're great. Let your kids know that they are exactly the kids you prayed for. Let your girls know they're beautiful on the outside and the inside too. Let you sons know they've got what it takes. Give them the gift God gave you.

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8