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James Meeks is pastor of Salem Baptist Church, one of the largest African American congregations in Chicago. It operates a daycare facility, a counseling center for drug abusers, a soup kitchen, a ministry to help people get out of debt, and a school. Meeks is also an Illinois state senator, representing five of the poorest communities in Illinois. He also serves as executive vice president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

If you only address the things that face your ethnicity, you're not really concerned about social ills. The most dangerous thing we can do is to look at social projects that are African American-sensitive only. What about clean air? White people breathe and black people breathe. Clean air would benefit both of us. What about prescription drugs for seniors? There are old white people and old black people.

I hope to persuade African American and white evangelicals to work together. And I'm willing to start small—say, by getting together for dinner. I want my children to see that. Most black children grow up never having had dinner with white people. Most white people grow up never having had African Americans in their homes. So we view each other as 30-second sound bites on television. We can do it with ten families, do it with five, do it with those who are willing. It has to get started somewhere. The world will never see how colorblind Jesus is until they see how colorblind the church is.

Adapted from Christianity Today (2/04) by permission.

Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, if I'm part of the problem for unity in Your Church, make me willing to take action to become part of the solution.

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