As Deacon of Multicultural Ministry in a well-established Charlotte church, I take my mission very seriously. Yet as a Christian traumatized by the overt racism in my land, I often don\u2019t know where to begin.<\/p>\n
One year ago I could envision a Christian community in which we could truly experience the Kingdom of God, that realm in which racism and hate gives way to greater understanding and mutual respect.<\/p>\n
We had just appointed our first four Latino deacons, two husband and wife teams, themselves first-generation immigrants as well as dedicated followers of Jesus. We had extended our concept of multi-cultural outreach beyond our efforts to embrace the Hispanic communities with the love of Jesus. We were ready to envision what we as a church might have been, had the segregation of southern churches never occurred.<\/p>\n
In a year of protests in our city, it clearly was the time to speak openly of race. One of our African-American brothers, a long-time member of our church, was invited to share previously non-confided acts of racism that he had experienced in the last few years.<\/p>\n
Even against the background of one man\u2019s presidential campaign based on fear and degradation of the Hispanic and other peoples, I had a sense of sanctuary in my church. We would, I thought, move forward with our grand enterprise, in spite of the negative voices on the outside.<\/p>\n
Surely, I thought, this capitulation toward overt racism would not rule the day. Besides, this was not a Republican or Democratic issue, and one could vote Republican and not vote for Trump. After all, were we not a nation of immigrants and their descendants, joined by the descendants of enslaved <\/i>black <\/i>laborers?<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n
Had we learned nothing from previous “removal efforts” which had once targeted Chinese laborers, sent eastern Native American tribes to Oklahoma, placed Japanese-Americans in camps, and repeatedly forced HispanicAmerican citizens out of the country? \u00a0Wouldn\u2019t our history resist any attempt to buy votes with the cheap currency of racial animus?<\/em><\/p>\n Then came the election. \u2013 then the demographic statistics of USAmerican voters. According to the PEW Research Center, \u201cfully eight-in-ten self-identified white, born-again\/evangelical Christians say they voted for Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n How reflective was this of my church? I can\u2019t say. And what does this statistic communicate to the brown and black folk in our church? I can only imagine. And what of those millennials and others who were not reflected in the 80% demographic? Do they feel abandoned?<\/p>\n My hope lay smoldering in the ashes of my apparent naivete, my confidence suddenly in the ruins of despair. One of our Latino deacons told me, \u201cHow do I know if my church really wants me.\u201d Another, \u201cI haven\u2019t felt what I feel since 9-11\u201d.<\/p>\n For the first time ever, I faced my Wednesday night bilingual Bible class, my Hispanic brothers and sisters, when they\u00a0could only respond with silence,\u00a0when asked for\u00a0peticiones \u2013 <\/i>prayer requests.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the words of scripture, “they knew not what to ask.” So I prayed. \u201cThis is your time, Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n From the ashes of despair has come\u00a0hope. Church elders began sending me useful links to articles about embracing a multicultural vision and mission. Wise African-American members are beginning to find voice. Constructive conversations about race are beginning to emerge. Admittedly on uncharted ground, we are carefully stepping forward <\/i>on the path to greater understanding and sensitivity<\/i>, while <\/i>acknowledging <\/i>the landmines of distrust <\/i>and reaction.<\/i><\/p>\n Regardless of who we voted for and why, we are still a family of multiple cultures, languages and ethnic backgrounds. The kingdom of God lives!<\/p>\n The grand experiment continues \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Deacon of Multicultural Ministry in a well-established Charlotte church, I take my mission very seriously. Yet as a Christian traumatized by the overt racism in my land, I often don\u2019t know where to begin. One year ago I could …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Continue reading →<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-perspective","category-frontpage","category-race-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4383,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4148\/revisions\/4383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}