In January, 100 black and 100 white evangelical leaders expect to gather in Chicago to further heal a racial rift that opened more than 30 years ago.
The details for the historic gathering were announced at the March opening of the National Black Evangelical Association (NBEA) meeting in Memphis. David Rambo, newly named to a two-year term as president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) said at a Memphis press conference, “I’m scared to death of the two ‘Ps’: paper and platitudes.” He said the session should be “a meeting to begin to begin” the process of racial reconciliation between NAE and the National Black Evangelical Association, which splintered from NAE in 1963 over racial tensions.
Don Argue, past NAE president, said the biblical directive to “love one another” was left unfulfilled in the early years of NAE when it did not hear the voice of “the father of the NBEA” William Bentley, who died in 1993. The NBEA conference, “Running Well, Finishing Well,” was dedicated to Bentley’s memory. In a tribute, Ronald Potter of the Center for Urban Theological Studies in Philadelphia called Bentley “one of the most profound Christian minds of this century.”
At the joint press conference, leaders from the two organizations said their purpose was not only to be reconciled, but also to launch new efforts at “partnering in the work of the Lord.”
Aaron Hamlin, NBEA executive director, said one goal for the January meeting is for the two groups to develop “mutual respect for each other.” Argue said, “Racism is prejudice with power. We [NAE] have been the slow ones here. We do not have to deal with the problems of racism day to day.”
Rambo called on both organizations to advocate a two-dimensional reconciliation, first with God and then with each other. As early as 1956, NAE had issued statements about the evils of racism. But “the problem has been with implementation,” as one black leader put it.
During the four-day session in Memphis, the ingredients for racial reconciliation were laid out in detail, including relational, organizational, spiritual, and theological elements as well as the role of social justice, the local church, ethnicity, and culture. The central question at issue: What would a reconciled community look like?
Wayne Patterson, a Seattle author and consultant, said evangelicals should not follow the failed methods of government in attempting integration and racial harmony. “Busing doesn’t work,” he said. “Just putting people in the same place isn’t enough. We need to reconcile our hearts.”
Clarence Hilliard, chairman of the NBEA commission on social action, called on black churches to “look to Africa when Africa was the dominant culture of the world” for a model of how to master the art of living together in community. He said ancient Africa had no division between the sacred and the profane as there is today.
Walter McCray, author of The Black Presence in the Bible, said today some biblical scholars are taking a closer look at how black and African peoples were present in biblical texts. He said, “This is the hottest theological issue of the nineties” (CT, Nov. 23, 1992, pg. 42).
Based on his research, he maintains that Hebrew, Egyptian, and other ancient peoples mentioned in the Bible in many instances either had black skin, negroid characteristics, or black ancestry, including the messianic line. He said the real issue is: Where are the white European peoples in the Bible?
Later, during a plenary address, NBEA president Lloyd Lindo issued a warning to church leaders, saying that “American culture has issued divorce papers to the American church.”
Lindo said, “The church is better for it, but it needs to repent. The world has kicked us out: ‘We don’t want you any more.’ So we should run to Jesus. The true bridegroom is knocking at the door of the church. Be willing to be outcasts. Rejoice in your divorce.”
By Timothy C. Morgan in Memphis.
