GOD'S PERFECT PEOPLE (1 OF 3)
by Ross Lester
Scripture: Genesis 1:26-27
This content is part of a series.
God's Perfect People (1 of 3)
Series: gRace
Ross Lester
Genesis 1:26 - 27
Intro:
Howzit BBC and welcome to week 1 of grace, a series exploring race, the gospel, community and hope. You might be asking why we are doing this series. Here are four reasons to start with: The Scriptures speak of this - more than I was aware. In fact, today I hope to draw a brief narrative arc showing the scriptures pushing the people of God away from sameness and homogeny. The current context in SA and abroad is one where racial issues are being discussed openly, but not always helpfully. Racial dialogue is much more prevalent in South Africa today, but it is often unhelpful as it isn't rooted in or pushing towards the beauty of the gospel, and so it gets defensive and tainted with sin and subjectivity. The gospel by its very nature pushes us away from ourselves and towards others who aren't like us and so it should be an inevitable consequence of our belief. Just the notion of the incarnation of Christ that sits at the center of what we believe has Jesus pushing away from himself and his own comfort towards the outsider, foreigner, stranger and alien.The church has been poor in this area historically, and we (BBC) are unhealthy in this area as a congregation currently. I don't want to get too hung up on this because it leads to naval gazing and often to defensive posturing and or mechanical and exterior attempts at change, and I want us to be helpful and hopeful, but we are largely homogenous and would even be classified as that in the loosest and most liberal of definitions.
In the US, churches are classified as multi-racial if there isn't more than 80% of one race. We are 92% white in attendance figures. Don't get squirmy if you are white, don't think I am hating on you for being here or even wanting to be here, but we are saying that in a nation that has very different demographics to that, and in a nation with the history that ours has, that isn't healthy or helpful. ...
Series: gRace
Ross Lester
Genesis 1:26 - 27
Intro:
Howzit BBC and welcome to week 1 of grace, a series exploring race, the gospel, community and hope. You might be asking why we are doing this series. Here are four reasons to start with: The Scriptures speak of this - more than I was aware. In fact, today I hope to draw a brief narrative arc showing the scriptures pushing the people of God away from sameness and homogeny. The current context in SA and abroad is one where racial issues are being discussed openly, but not always helpfully. Racial dialogue is much more prevalent in South Africa today, but it is often unhelpful as it isn't rooted in or pushing towards the beauty of the gospel, and so it gets defensive and tainted with sin and subjectivity. The gospel by its very nature pushes us away from ourselves and towards others who aren't like us and so it should be an inevitable consequence of our belief. Just the notion of the incarnation of Christ that sits at the center of what we believe has Jesus pushing away from himself and his own comfort towards the outsider, foreigner, stranger and alien.The church has been poor in this area historically, and we (BBC) are unhealthy in this area as a congregation currently. I don't want to get too hung up on this because it leads to naval gazing and often to defensive posturing and or mechanical and exterior attempts at change, and I want us to be helpful and hopeful, but we are largely homogenous and would even be classified as that in the loosest and most liberal of definitions.
In the US, churches are classified as multi-racial if there isn't more than 80% of one race. We are 92% white in attendance figures. Don't get squirmy if you are white, don't think I am hating on you for being here or even wanting to be here, but we are saying that in a nation that has very different demographics to that, and in a nation with the history that ours has, that isn't healthy or helpful. ...
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