Institutional Racism

Institutional racism is when an institution has policies, procedures or teachings that discriminate against another race. If we are unable to identify and address the institutional racism with in our churches and ministries it will be nearly impossible to have a multicultural ministry. It will be difficult to take a hard honest look at who you are as an institution, but if you are willing to do the hard work it will be worth it in the end. Many of the instances of institutional racism are invisible to the race that has established them. So it will take a fresh awareness and a fresh pair of eyes to help week through what is and what is not institutional racism.

Is There Hope for Reconciliation In America's Cities?

I believe the reality of seeing racial reconciliation happen in our countries faces many barriers. One of the greatest barriers in my mind is that the church cannot seem to get it right. If Christ is the ultimate example of reconciliation and has left us on earth as his ambassadors and as a church we still cannot even come close to getting this reconciliation thing right what hope does our country and our cities have? But if the church is the hope of the world and God can do a fresh work of reconciliation in us the world will see us as Christians living what we believe, then there is hope that our cities can become racially reconciled. Without out the reconciliation power of Christ there is no hope, the pull of sin and selfishness is too strong.

American Evangelical Churches Continue to Abandon the Cities

I believe there is a great disconnect between evangelical churches and the inner city. For the most part evangelical churches neglect the inner city. The evidence I have seen of this is obvious in the church that I grew up in. Their building is getting old and they have a place that they can move that is just outside of the city it has ministered in for over 110 years. So they have chosen to leave the downtown neighborhood of that small city and move up on the hill outside of the city where there are not really neighborhoods and there are few visible needs. I believe churches do this mainly because they would rather be comfortable than do the hard work and risk having a church full of needy people. My father is a pastor of a small church in the same city, but different neighborhood. His church is filled with people with needs and extremely under resources, yet this other church is using their resources to get further away from the needs.