As the IPHC focuses this year on one of our core values, \u201cWe Prayerfully Value Justice,\u201d it is\u00a0critically important to\u00a0begin by\u00a0acknowledging\u00a0that\u00a0racism\u00a0is alive in some of the\u00a0churches we lead. We cannot remain silent about this.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not an expert in this area, although I\u2019ve been a catalyst for racial change.\u00a0\u00a0Racism has many tentacles, and this article is not exhaustive on\u00a0the subject.\u00a0But\u00a0I\u2019m convinced that\u00a0one of the primary antidotes to racism is the body of Christ.<\/p>\n
As Oklahoma pastor Craig Groeschel has said, racism is not a skin<\/em>issue\u2014it\u2019s a sin <\/em>issue. James 2:9 says it clearly: \u201cBut if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.\u201d Racism\u00a0is not just the presence of hatred; it is the absence of love.<\/p>\n When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, He was addressing the sin of racism in the hearts of the Jewish Pharisees. That story would have made a racist mad! It was the Samaritan\u2014who was despised by the Jews\u2014who did the right thing by showing kindness to the wounded man. Jesus used the story to teach that all people\u2014regardless of race\u2014are our \u201cneighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus asked the Jews, \u201cWho is my neighbor?\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s interesting that Jesus doesn\u2019t answer the question;\u00a0instead,\u00a0He demonstrated\u00a0how to be a neighbor.<\/p>\n Martin Luther King Jr. preached a famous sermon on this passage. In it, he said: \u201cI imagine that the first question the priest and Levite asked was: \u2018If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?\u2019 But by the very nature of his concern, the\u00a0good\u00a0Samaritan reversed the question: \u2018If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0essence of being a Christ-follower is not found in our church\u00a0experiences, giving records or denominational positions. It is found in our love for God and our neighbors. \u00a0I am convinced the church is designed to be the answer to the ills of our society, yet we live in this tension of knowing what we have been called to do, but not being properly positioned to carry out our assignment.<\/p>\n It\u2019s challenging for the church to effectively address the issue of racism when racism still cripples the body of Christ. We can\u2019t cast out racism and perpetuate it at the same time. \u00a0For the church to effectively serve a lost world, we must be healed.<\/p>\n I pray the church will experience a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit that will bring conviction and cause us to repent of the racism in our hearts. I am not limiting racism to a black and white issue; we must tear down every wall of hatred and division.<\/p>\n Here are three questions for you to ponder as we ask God to use the IPHC and the larger body of Christ to be a solution to the injustice of racism.<\/p>\n Pastors must be careful. Whatever is in our hearts will come through in our preaching. If you have racist attitudes, they will be spread like a virus to your congregation.<\/p>\n 1 John 4:20 says: \u201cWhoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.\u201d<\/p>\n Pastors and leaders must examine themselves first. Are you loving God and your neighbor in a way that reflects the heart of God? \u00a0Are you loving your neighbors equally, or is there prejudice in your heart toward some? \u00a0The agape love of God flowing out of the heart of His people is our solution to uprooting racism. It must start with you.<\/p>\n One of the qualifications of a bishop listed in 1 Timothy 3:2 is \u201chospitable.\u201d This word in the Greek is philoxenos<\/em>, which means \u201clove of foreigners.\u201d New Testament leaders were required to love those who were not like them! Do you have this quality?<\/p>\n Are you still learning? Do you have the heart of a disciple who wants to learn more about the heart of God? Or are you stuck in your ways\u2014with the attitude that you already know everything?<\/p>\n The world around us is changing. Your city is not the same today as it was in 1975. Are you intentionally learning about other ethnic groups who have moved to your city or your neighborhood? Are you willing to have conversations with those who don\u2019t look like you? Or do you complain about \u201cthose people\u201d who are moving near you?<\/p>\n One of the ways we disarm our fears and ignorance of other ethnicities is by initiating conversations. We can learn so much from each other if we would just talk to each other!<\/p>\n It is so important for you to let go of what has wounded you in the past. This is not easy and can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. \u00a0Sometimes a pastor can be leading a church and bleeding simultaneously.<\/p>\n You have been called to bring a message of reconciliation. Yet you may be enslaved by past experiences. You may have experienced the injustice of racism, or your parents may have trained you to perpetuate it. \u00a0You must break the generational cycle.<\/p>\n Remember the words of the apostle Paul to the Ephesians: \u201cGet rid of\u00a0all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.\u00a0Be kind and compassionate to one another,\u00a0forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you\u201d (Eph. 4:31-33).<\/p>\n You can\u2019t get free of what you are not willing to confront. Learning to let go of the past requires humility. Break free from unforgiveness, hatred, anger, pride, or prejudice and allow the Holy Spirit to bring healing to you. Ask a mentor or trusted friend to pray with you. We don\u2019t have to be controlled by guilt and condemnation.<\/p>\n I hope you are willing to ask the hard questions. Please join me in praying that God will increase the capacity of the IPHC to reach more ethnicities in our nation.<\/p>\n We believe we are being positioned by the year 2033 to experience the greatest harvest of souls in our history. But many of those souls will be multi-ethnic! If the Lord is stirring your heart to reach more ethnicities, or to become more inclusive, please contact me<\/a>\u00a0and our team for more help and resources.<\/p>\n Written By:\u00a0Demetrius Miles<\/p>\n This article was first published in Encourage<\/a> magazine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the IPHC focuses this year on one of our core values, \u201cWe Prayerfully Value Justice,\u201d it is\u00a0critically important to\u00a0begin by\u00a0acknowledging\u00a0that\u00a0racism\u00a0is alive in some of the\u00a0churches we lead. We cannot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":1215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,332],"tags":[325,251,68,87,101,326,341,340,342],"class_list":{"0":"post-1214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evusa","8":"category-justice","9":"tag-325","10":"tag-demetrius-miles","11":"tag-encourage","12":"tag-encourage-magazine","13":"tag-february","14":"tag-justice","15":"tag-prejudice","16":"tag-racism","17":"tag-reconciliation","18":"entry"},"title_es":"Exam\u00ednese: \u00bfHay racismo en su coraz\u00f3n?","content_es":"\n
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\r\n\r\nComo la IPHC se enfoca este a\u00f1o en uno de nuestros valores fundamentales, \"Valoramos con justicia la justicia\", es sumamente importante comenzar por reconocer que el racismo est\u00e1 vivo en algunas de las iglesias que lideramos. No podemos guardar silencio sobre esto. No soy un experto en esta \u00e1rea, aunque he sido un catalizador para el cambio racial. El racismo tiene muchos tent\u00e1culos, y este art\u00edculo no es exhaustivo sobre el tema. Pero estoy convencido de que uno de los principales ant\u00eddotos contra el racismo es el cuerpo de Cristo. Como dijo el pastor de Oklahoma, Craig Groeschel, el racismo no es un problema de piel<\/em> , es un problema de pecado<\/em> . Santiago 2: 9 lo dice claramente: \"Pero si muestras favoritismo, pecas y eres condenado por la ley como infractores de la ley\". El racismo no es solo la presencia del odio; Es la ausencia de amor. Cuando Jes\u00fas cont\u00f3 la historia del buen samaritano en Lucas 10: 25-37, estaba abordando el pecado del racismo en los corazones de los fariseos jud\u00edos. \u00a1Esa historia hubiera vuelto loco a un racista! Fue el samaritano, quien fue despreciado por los jud\u00edos, quien hizo lo correcto al mostrar amabilidad al hombre herido. Jes\u00fas us\u00f3 la historia para ense\u00f1ar que todas las personas, sin importar la raza, son nuestros \"vecinos\". Jes\u00fas les pregunt\u00f3 a los jud\u00edos: \"\u00bfQui\u00e9n es mi pr\u00f3jimo?\" Es interesante que Jes\u00fas no responde la pregunta; En cambio, demostr\u00f3 c\u00f3mo ser un vecino. Martin Luther King Jr. predic\u00f3 un famoso serm\u00f3n sobre este pasaje. En \u00e9l, dijo: \"Me imagino que la primera pregunta que hicieron el sacerdote y el levita fue:\" Si me detengo para ayudar a este hombre, \u00bfqu\u00e9 me suceder\u00e1? Pero por la naturaleza misma de su preocupaci\u00f3n, el buen samaritano invirti\u00f3 la pregunta: \"Si no me detengo para ayudar a este hombre, \u00bfqu\u00e9 le suceder\u00e1?\" La esencia de ser un seguidor de Cristo no se encuentra en las experiencias de nuestra iglesia, Registrando r\u00e9cords o posiciones denominacionales. Se encuentra en nuestro amor a Dios y a nuestros vecinos. Estoy convencido de que la iglesia est\u00e1 dise\u00f1ada para ser la respuesta a los males de nuestra sociedad, sin embargo, vivimos en esta tensi\u00f3n de saber lo que hemos sido llamados a hacer y a\u00fan no estar en la posici\u00f3n adecuada para llevar a cabo nuestra tarea. Es un desaf\u00edo para la iglesia abordar efectivamente el tema del racismo cuando el racismo todav\u00eda paraliza el cuerpo de Cristo. No podemos expulsar el racismo y perpetuarlo al mismo tiempo. Para que la iglesia sirva efectivamente a un mundo perdido, debemos ser sanados. Ruego que la iglesia experimente un viento fresco del Esp\u00edritu Santo que traiga convicci\u00f3n y nos arrepienta del racismo en nuestros corazones. No estoy limitando el racismo a un tema en blanco y negro; Debemos derribar cada muro de odio y divisi\u00f3n. Aqu\u00ed hay tres preguntas para que reflexione mientras le pedimos a Dios que use la IPHC y el cuerpo m\u00e1s grande de Cristo para ser una soluci\u00f3n a la injusticia del racismo.\r\n\r\n \t
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\r\n\r\nEscrito por: Demetrius Miles Este art\u00edculo fue publicado por primera vez en la revista Encourage<\/a> .","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/02\/Artboard-5.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbhxDC-jA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}