I am going to jump right into it. The racial problem in the United States is the church's problem. Like any other problem we need to not only go to its source but we need to analyze the source in order to effectively and decisively pivot away from the problem.
When we look at the church we see not one culture but all kinds of cultures. The logical question, then, is how is it that there is so much racial division? How can the church in America that is so diverse be so divided? How do we make sense of this so as to make significant and Christ-centered change in this area? These are questions that demand more space that this blog can give. (I am currently writing "Christ Above Culture 2.0: The Making of A Change Agent Leadership" where I will flesh this out in a larger context).
While these are not easy questions to answer I think that viewing it from the perspective of holding shares in a company may help us to begin to vet it clearly.
Shares in a company are understood in two ways: majority and minority shareholders. The majority shareholder is the one who owns 50% or more shares in the company. This means that he has considerable influence on the company's future, especially in the place of voting. Minority shareholders have some leverage but are not in a position to create significant changes IF the majority shareholder does not see it as beneficial or palatable to him (or her).
The same can be said, I believe, about the church and the race problem. From the perspective of shareholdings we can see that while all races own a share in the problem of racism it is the white culture (church) that has the larger holdings of it given our history. All races can and should make decisions that foster change and some minority shareholders have sought to do so. But when the majority shareholder refuses to hear the concerns and ideas of the minority shareholder nothing, of significant consequence, can change. This, to me, represents the real problem.
What is the majority shareholder holing on to? Power? Yes, but in a way that is not often perceived in these racial tensions. The power that is cherished and that keeps the majority from yielding, is not only the power to make final decisions. It is the power to have control; over the future and over others. The power that is enticing is that which holds control over the actions, both present and future, of the minority shareholders. I have heard it said that while "politics is not everything, politics is in everything." This includes even the church and certainly this systemic racial divide.
So what can be done? The obvious answers are behaving in ways of humility and loving one another. We all, at bare minimum, should be doing this. Some claim to be operating in this way, so why is there still such a problem? Two words: strategy and execution. With love and humility we need a strategy, a practical way of executing these virtues (and others) on the problem of racial division. In a really basic way the strategy I will propose in my book is a change in positioning: the white church needs to follow and the black church needs to lead. In other words, the minority shareholder needs to become the majority shareholder and the majority, the minority. Some would argue, "What does this change? You still have an imbalance of power!"
But do you, really?
I don't think so because those who have been the minority understand the place of being the minority and, as a result, they have seen and witnessed the ineffectiveness of the majority. Some might even argue the manipulation of the majority. The new majority will not behave in like manner. Even while they were in the position of minority they have shown a vested interest in racial unity. Not only that, but in many ways they have worked above and beyond the majority to see this unity realized and worked out in every sector of life and society - including the church.
Being one that is in the minority I can assure you that we will not render evil for evil because we are not mad. We are hurt, disappointed and tired, but we have not ceased to want to to see the beauty of unity realized in practical and transformative ways. In the face of set backs, betrayals, slander and unsettling revelations we, the minority shareholders, have never kicked back. We have always loved back. That will not change when our position changes.
This repositioning will call the majority shareholders to not only recognizing that the church has run off center under their leadership but also seek to know why it has failed in this way. That the church is failing in the area of racial harmony is clear but only until the majority culture truly owns its place in the problem they will not and cannot properly pivot to the point of change.
What does that change look like? In my book I lay out a chapter that shapes a way forward:
Blacks need to serve the body by executing a biblical framework of justice
Whites need to serve the body by executing a biblical lifestyle of repentance.
Beyond this, there is no healthy way forward.