On the other side of the country, Dr. Richard Smith pastors The Movement Church in Baltimore. The mostly black church is small, with about 100 members, which allows it to respond nimbly to crises in the community. Smith, who is black, and many of his congregants have been marching with protesters in Baltimore: They want to identify spiritual needs among demonstrators. He told me that most of the pastoral conversations he’s having at the protests are with white demonstrators eager to listen. He encourages them and thanks them for taking the “huge step of coming out of their comfort zone when for years maybe they’ve felt like they don’t really have to.”
Churches and faith-based groups are also making some efforts to harness technology to safely minister to believers as the coronavirus remains a threat.
In New Orleans, faith-based nonprofit Mission Reconcile aims to connect and integrate “one-race churches,” primarily black and white. The group is hosting online events, through Zoom, to help virtual attendees understand implicit biases and how to “love our neighbors.” The Revolution Church in Muncie, Ind., will have weekly discussions of Jemar Tisby’s The Color of Compromise, a book about the American church’s role in creating and resolving racial divides.
Social media increased visibility of travesties like Floyd’s death. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have allowed churches and prominent Christian leaders to share digital resources about racism and systemic discrimination.
Jackie Hill Perry and Beth Moore both used Twitter to promote Sunday’s message by Pastor Charlie Dates of Chicago’s Progressive Baptist Church. He titled his sermon “I Can’t Breathe,” referencing Floyd, and covered Genesis 2:7 and John 20:21-22. “We who are of the human race are breathing the breath of God’s life,” Dates preached.
He was among about 50 faith leaders who participated in a “peaceful demonstration of solidarity,” marching through the historically black Bronzeville neighborhood in Chicago’s South Side district Tuesday evening. Church members of different ethnic backgrounds marched as day turned to dusk, chanting, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”
In New York City on Tuesday night, churches from around the city gathered for a prayerful protest, using the hashtag “#PrayMarchAct” as a virtual rallying cry. Demonstrators concluded the event in front of Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, and lifted their hands in corporate prayer. The peaceful march ended before the citywide 8 p.m. curfew.
Atlanta has seen days of protests, with riots sometimes following. Be the Bridge, a Christian racial literacy organization based in Atlanta, has used social media extensively to promote resource guides and other content to facilitate conversations and understanding about racial wounds among believers. Speaking at a press conference in Atlanta Monday, Be the Bridge founder Latasha Morrison urged white Christians to listen to black voices.
“As white people, what you have to do in this … take a step back and let black people lead. Let us use our voice in this season,” Morrison said to the multiracial crowd.
That’s a sentiment Allen Holmes, who pastors Daystar Church in the most racially diverse part of Greensboro, N.C., has tried to promote through his church. Minorities make up about 40 percent of his congregation. Holmes, with a deep Carolina drawl, recalled a black, male friend telling him of his personal experience: “Every time I’m in public, I have to smile a lot, and laugh a lot, and kind of look like the jolly black guy, because if I don’t, everyone’s going to be scared of me.”
Holmes moderated a community discussion on race Tuesday night from the stage of his church, with black and white church members as panelists. He said honest discussion about race within churches is often more challenging than a prayer service, joking, “Sometimes I think people pray because they don’t really want to talk.”
But Holmes doesn’t discount the importance of prayer, calling it “essential.” Joey Tomassoni, lead pastor of Annapolis, Md.’s Downtown Hope Church, is trying to put that principle into practice. The church’s executive pastor, David Bempong, is a second-generation Ghanaian. They’ve made inroads into the racially diverse neighborhood that surrounds the church by providing meals and pop-up pantries.
Together, Tomassoni and Bempong took time Wednesday to lead Anne Arundel County’s multicultural pastor prayer network—with nearly 100 member pastors—through a time of online prayer. Pastors asked for “healing through this tragic death of George Floyd,” Tomassoni said, and followed the prayer with discussion among pastors about race relations.
“Most of the time the white evangelical church is pretty silent on these things, but maybe this is a moment where we can make a statement on why we want to reject that precedent moving forward,” Tomassoni said.
Comments
Cyborg3
Posted: Thu, 06/04/2020 05:24 pmKneeling before the protesters and rioters doesn't help anybody. It only encourages those to push the race card to oppress others. Do we really believe as the BLM advocate that we should get rid of all police? Is that even rational and we are going to grovel before these people confessing our white privilege? This is grossly racist and we are going to accept it as Christians as though it is good? I think many Christians are very confused on this matter!
HANNAH.
Posted: Thu, 06/04/2020 10:26 pmThis isn't just about "black" and "white": One of the accused police officers involved in the death of George Floyd is Asian.
(I was going to say "a person of color" -- but I respect the sentiments of an education professor years ago. Growing up in difficult times, she earned her doctorate and was every inch a professional educator. Commenting on the politically correct phrase "people of color," she whipped out, "White is a color," and referred us to the colors in a child's crayon box. -- Oh, and her skin was quite dark, and her ancestors had been slaves.)
HANNAH.
Posted: Sat, 06/06/2020 07:44 amTwo points to consider:
1. Please correct the spelling in paragraph #21: "Ghanaian" (add an a after the first n).
2. View a three-part series of videos (warning: some foul language) on "equity" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH2WeWgcSMk&list=PLLHyNSlsz449SOhzpo7ClMEKe9WkXt5GO&index=1 These provide a cautionary tale regarding statements in this article, such as:
“As white people, what you have to do in this … take a step back and let black people lead. Let us use our voice in this season,”
“Most of the time the white evangelical church is pretty silent on these things, but maybe this is a moment where we can make a statement on why we want to reject that precedent moving forward,”
Web Editor
Posted: Sat, 06/06/2020 02:37 pmThank you for pointing out the spelling error. We have corrected it.
HANNAH.
Posted: Sat, 06/06/2020 03:53 pmAbove all else, we need to immerse ourselves in God's Word, His Good News! I've been drowning in the world's news (in both senses of the phrase) -- until in anguish I read Psalms 96 through 98, especially these verses:
Psalm 96:10 -- Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot me moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.
Psalm 98:7-9 -- Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the LORD, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
Thank You, Jesus, for restoring my equilibrium! And now, like OldMike, I need some time away. (By stating it in a comment, I'm more accountable.)
FELIX KOZIELSKI
Posted: Tue, 06/09/2020 04:28 pmJust got my renewal invoice, ain't going to happen I might as well subscribe to TIME, the one sided news that you claim to be a Christian perspective offends me. What about the violence and attacks on the police that protect and keep law abiding citizens safe. ALL LIVES MATTER! Do not want to say more, that should have been your journalistic responsibility.