Soldier On! w/Leroy Garrett   — Occasional Essays

It was hosted by the Richland Hills Church of Christ in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, reputedly the largest Church of Christ in the world with more than 5,000 members. And its facility may be the most commodious and impressive. I was especially interested in its 24/7 wing, which never closes  its ministry to the subculture. There appears to be something going on all the time, even several things at a time. On a Friday evening while our retreat was in progress a drama was being presented on the floor below us.

This church is also unique in that it is proactive in unity efforts among the fractured Stone-Campbell churches. Its senior minister, Rick Atchley, while addressing the North American Christian Convention (NACC) recently, committed himself and his congregation to reestablish lines of communication between Churches of Christ and Christian Churches toward uniting the two groups. Atchley is joined in this noble task by Bob Russell, who is minister to the largest Christian Church (Independent), located in Louisville. The two leaders even talk of starting new congregations, which would start united.

These two churches – each the largest in its own denomination – plan a concerted effort at the 2006 NACC, the centennial year of the "official" separation of Churches of Christ from Christian Churches, to get the unity effort underway. They plan to have a booklet ready for that event, one that tells the history of the two groups. They want it to be in story form. Rick asked me to suggest some appropriate stories drawn from our heritage.

While also interested in combating racism, Richland Hills was not the creator of this retreat. But it did provide the venue and some financial support for the avant garde group that conducted it. A decade or so ago a few young black ministers in Churches of Christ, fed up with the legalism and sectarianism in their own churches, started meeting together for fellowship and encouragement. It grew with the years and is now known as the New Wineskins Retreat, which meets annually. They are mostly young, educated, enthusiastic, grace oriented, and Christ-centered. Some minister to large churches and some are college professors. Of some eighty in attendance a few were white.

This year’s theme was Undoing Racism in Churches of Christ, and there were such lively papers presented as "Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It," "Disrupting White Supremacy from Within," and "A Black Rage that Refuses to Die Because Racial Diversity Is a Big Joke" – all presented by young blacks, resourceful and articulate.

I found some statements revolutionary and surprising, such as "We’re going to turn our churches from Keeble churches to Christ-centered churches." For those who may not know, Marshall Keeble was the evangelist among our black churches in mid-20^th century, and is rightly credited with founding, directly by his own preaching or indirectly by the ministers he trained in his school, hundreds of churches. While some liberal blacks have long viewed Keeble as an "Uncle Tom," some at the retreat traced legalism and sectarianism to him and his generation. And they want no part of it. But they did not show disrespect.

Another surprising conclusion was in reference to white aid to black churches during the Keeble period. Not only was Keeble funded by whites, but there was massive financial help from white churches across the country in building black churches. Moreover, whites encouraged black evangelism by attending their meetings, often under tents. Keeble would sometimes have as many whites as blacks under his big tent. He had a rope down the center, separating the races. One black minister, Floyd Rose, told me some years back that when he was a "Keeble boy" and traveled with the renowned evangelist, he once asked him, "Brother Keeble, do we have to put up the rope?" Keeble responded, "Son, you don’t understand."

Keeble often credited the white folks for helping the blacks do what they could not do on their own. But to some at the retreat this white philanthropy was seen as motivated by the whites wanting the blacks to have their own churches, lest they meet with them. I question this. I recall we whites helping black churches through those years, but I never got the idea that we did it because we didn’t want them assembling with us. I rather think that whites assume that blacks want their own churches, and do not want to integrate with whites.

When I ventured that white churches generally – including my own congregation – welcome blacks, I was told that yes, whites will receive blacks into their churches if they will become whites – act like whites, worship like whites. But it is a historic fact that we have always had some integrated congregations – even from the beginning -- and it does not appear that in those instances that either race had to capitulate to the other.

There was terminology used that was new to me, such as "white preference," which refers to more subtle and indirect racism. As a white person have you ever been told that "You are a credit to your race"? It is a proven fact that whites get preferred treatment when making a loan, looking for an apartment, or applying for a job. A white person is less likely to be watched – even followed – when shopping. A white person can drive over his city, including upscale neighborhoods, without fear of being pulled over by police. And to be white means that you can go through life without having to cope with unkind and insulting caricatures.

Another new reference for me was "selective segregation," a reference to voluntary separation, such as in a school cafeteria where students choose to sit and dine according to race. Some school lunch rooms are referred to as ghettoes. The question was raised as to why blacks choose to dine apart from whites. They are uncomfortable when in close contact with white kids, but why? The answer to this may be part of the answer to black and white separation in general. White kids need to have a heart for the problem, and go out of their way to make friends with blacks, and make the lunch room a place for such friendship.

So must all whites if this problem is to be taken seriously. Just as white students should go and sit with blacks in the cafeteria, so must we all cultivate black friends, have them in our homes and visit their homes. And let us not wait for them to come to our churches, let us go to theirs.

I am indebted to Rick Atchley, who conducted some of the discussion sessions, for one great line. In describing the profundity and complexity of the problem of racism in the church, he said, "I have the burden but I don’t have the answer." Wow! I’m winding that one on my ball of twine! It is applicable to so many problems in life. I see that as part of the answer. Most whites ignore the problem – "I’m not a racist, so don’t bother me with it!" If we will accept the burden, the Spirit may lead us to answers.

As we discussed the divide between black and white churches. I thought of that grand proposition out of our heritage as stated by Thomas Campbell – the essential oneness of the church. As he put it: "The Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one." There is but one church and it consists of all those who are in Christ, irrespective of nationality, race, color, or social status. Christ cannot be divided! That means there is no white church or black church, just the church.

At that retreat we were all united in Christ, however racially diverse. That did not change when we returned to our churches. In spite of sects and denominations, there is but one church, and all Christians are in that one church. So, part of the answer to our white/black mentality is to realize that we are one – and start thinking and acting that way.

We might be separated without being divided. Division (sectism) is of the heart and it is a sin, while separation may be only circumstantial. Churches may be across the street from each other and still be united – separated but not divided. Language may be a circumstance for separation, and there may be cultural reasons. But so long as people reach out and accept each other in love, and do good things together, they are united.

We are one in Christ with all our sisters and brothers in Australia, but due to the circumstance of distance we are separated. They are "there" and we are "here," but we are nonetheless in the fellowship of the Spirit. For various reasons it might be the same with those who are only in the next block, though obviously there are greater opportunities for active fellowship. And when we bear the burden for that fellowship, the Lord will show us the way.

Note:

  I will be in a series at the Skillman Church of Christ in Dallas on "Our Churches of Christ Heritage in Scripture and History" each Wednesday in evening in September.

  I am to be in "A Unity Weekend" September 9-11 with the Northwest Christian Church in Decatur, Illinois, which says it exists to "Lovingly prepare all to be like Jesus."  The address is 1306 N. Stanley Ave. and the phone is 217-429-4278.

  Names will be added to our mailing list upon request. All previous essays are available  at www.leroygarrett.org under "Soldier On." 

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