I never thought of myself as a pastor who shied away from hard topics. However, my eyes were opened wide to my lack of engagement across dividing lines when our church family made a four-mile move from an affluent community in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina to a community located on the dividing line between the rich and poor.

Poverty and pain were no longer stats on the evening news, but present realities in the context of our church family on a weekly basis. Relationships were being formed—and conflict regularly occurred—as we navigated the complexities of racial and economic inequality in our city.

My heart was concurrently full of hope and regularly broken as our church began to experience the growing pains of crossing dividing lines. In the early days of this move, however, I was silent from the pulpit about racial and economic inequality in our city.

My Silence was Deafening

The silence was deafening to our new neighbors. I was growing increasingly aware that my silence on the topic of racial and economic inequality was directly related to my lack of knowledge, understanding, and curiosity. I was silent on these topics because I did not have words readily available to articulate or contribute anything substantive to the conversation.

In his TED Talk “The Danger of Silence,” author, professor, and poet Clint Smith talks about engaging people across dividing lines. In the video, he encourages people to speak up against ignorance and injustice: “Explore the silence of your own life. Fill those spaces. Name them and share them.” In hindsight, my silence spoke louder than I realized.

My circle of friends didn’t include people of color because my entire worldview from birth was white, middle-class, and blind to the realities of my fellow classmates and peers. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I spent no extra effort exploring how race and economics in our country impacts my neighbors. In high school, I could sense the way Black and Brown students at Lake Brantley High School were treated with less respect by white students. I heard the inappropriate jokes from my white friends about students of color. I didn’t like the jokes, but I still chuckled to make sure I properly fit into social circles. I was not telling the jokes, but my silence spoke louder than I realized.

I saw this perspective reflected at me after a message I spoke in the early days of my journey of learning and growing. A man approached me and said, “Pastor David, I have to admit, I was pretty mad at you when you spoke about racial and economic inequality a few years ago.” He smiled sheepishly as if to let me know some better moments were coming. “I grew up in a community where we never, ever talked about anything related to racial matters—especially at church. I didn’t think there was any room for these topics to be preached about and I left church pretty upset.”

He continued, “After time has passed and I’ve taken steps to grow in my understanding of faith and culture, I have found myself more open to learning about what the Bible has to say about breaking down barriers in relationships.” I stared back at him with a smile and could feel the warmth of the Spirit in this moment. “I am learning that my long-held view of ‘just stay silent and let my character be shown’ is simply not enough,” he said. “We have to use our voices to help others see how important it is to genuinely explore these topics. My wife and I decided to start a small group and used your materials as a guide for our conversations. I just wanted to say thank you.”

I was reminded of when my default response was silence and how sometimes I still slip into that response and how much hurt is caused by inaction. I was so glad to see a heart and life changed by a decision to speak up. Not only was my broken perspective on staying silent reflected back at me, so was my journey toward real heart change. We spoke for twenty minutes, and my heart was bursting with gratitude to God for the visible joy and sincerity I could see in his eyes.

He concluded the conversation by saying, “As I am learning to use my voice, I have realized two things. First, this is a long conversation, and it is going to take time. Second, we need to be more curious about why we feel the way that we feel about the people who fill our world.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Understanding the danger of silence leads to using our voices to love our neighbors.

The task of preaching and teaching across dividing lines can be daunting and filled with anxiety. Many pastors and preachers have learned over the past few years that responses can wildly vary from support to outright calls for retraction from the exact same message. God’s call to preach with courage, clarity, and love is accompanied by the knowledge that the room is full of people from vastly different backgrounds.

The call to the preacher remains, however, to stay faithful to the Word of God and preach with truth and love like parallel rails on a train track on the path toward healing for our communities.

As such, we are going to need practical tools to inform our preaching and teaching about matters of faith and culture that bridge the gap between the chasms that have formed in our communities. Here are some thoughts to consider as we navigate the complex dynamics that have divided our churches for too long.

Who Are We Reading / Quoting in Our Sermons?

Take a look at your library. How many theologians, Bible scholars, and influential voices in your life are people of color or women? As Dr. Willie James Jennings would say (paraphrased), our imaginations are shaped by who we are reading and listening to as we develop our theological imagination.

This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to start shifting our hearts, minds, spirits, and public expressions of neighborliness as we lead our churches: Start quoting people of color and women as the experts on the topics we’re talking about.

Generally speaking, the quotes we’re using aren’t the points in our message. They support the points in our message. That means that we can use a wide variety of sources to make the same point. Next time, dig a little deeper and find the brilliance that is available from various perspectives.

A quick look at my library includes theologians and Bible scholars like: Soong Chan Rah,
Cheryl Bridges-Johns, Brian K. Blount, Howard Thurman, J. Kameron Carter,
Christine Pohl, Justo Gonzalez, Amos Yong, Dwight Hopkins, Mark Charles,
Delores Williams, Richard Twiss, and many more.

I’m not saying to ignore the brilliant voices of others that have deeply impacting work, I’m saying that we’ve heard from them a bunch and that our teaching will be more well-rounded if we’re not homogenous in our thought and expression of our beautiful faith.

Here’s a practical tip I learned several years ago: Show pictures of every person you quote.It helps the visual learners in the room (like me) to see a human being next to a quote. Additionally, we never have to use a modifier like “One of my favorite black theologians is ….”

We don’t have to even acknowledge that they are a person of color or a woman, but people will begin to see it for themselves and will appreciate the diversity of thought that is impacting our pursuit and understanding of God.

Don’t Rely on the Calendar to Bring up Justice

If we are not mentioning matters of inequality and oppression in our country throughout the year, it can come across as a to-do list item on the preaching calendar of a church that is trying to check all the boxes. A special service on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend will never satisfy the importance of teaching the fullness of the gospel message throughout the year.

The gospel speaks boldly against systems of power, influence, and greed that oppressed people throughout the Bible. The Bible is loaded with references to the God of justice. Highlighting this throughout the year in our normal pattern of preaching and teaching will help form and shape our congregations into the image of Jesus.

If you aren’t preaching a gospel message that shows Jesus as an agitator to the centers of religious and political power of the world during his time on earth, we aren’t representing the life and message of Jesus accurately to our churches. Jesus was full of love, but make no mistake, he came to destroy a demonic form of government and establish a new kingdom that was not of this world.

Ronald Sider gives a challenging equation for the church to explore as it relates to our engagement with the poor. He asks, “Is there the same balance and emphasis on justice for the poor and oppressed in our programs as there is in Scripture?” The answer to this question could change our communities. More importantly, the answer to this question could change the life of a person that is created in the image of God.

Already and Not Yet

Theologians refer to our time on the earth as the already and not yet. We experience forgiveness, freedom, and healing when we fix our eyes on Jesus. However, we are easily distracted from his peace and promises when we scroll through social media or turn on the news. The hatred, violence, sickness, pain, and anger shout in our faces.

In contrast, Revelation 21 paints a prophetic picture of hope. There will come a day when there is no more political divisiveness and systemic inequality. Family and friends will no longer be lost to sickness. Anger and rage will be replaced with unity and joy. Permanently.

Jesus taught us to pray that the kingdom of God would come to the earth as it is in heaven. The same peace and unity that is experienced in heaven is to be practiced here on earth.

We experience the beautiful kingdom of God right now—the already—when we behave in the way that we will behave in heaven. When we see each other, work past our differences, and love each other well.

We experience the brokenness of this world—the not yet—when we allow our differences to drive us apart. Divisiveness and disunity have no place in the kingdom of God. And they have no place as we practice the kingdom of God on earth right now as it is in heaven.

Worship fills the air like a beautiful fragrance as Jesus establishes his kingdom on this earth. Furthermore, every picture that I see in Revelation of a worshiping community includes every nation and tongue. There is a day coming when we will all worship together with one heart and one voice.

I pray that we have the courage to engage difficult topics as we help our congregations experience the already in the midst of the not yet.

Editor’s Note: David has written a book called, Neighborliness: Love Like Jesus. Cross Dividing Lines. Transform Your Community (2022, Thomas Nelson). His team has prepared free resources that have helped churches all over the world explore topics of biblical justice. There is a 30-page guide to engage your congregation with a six-week sermon series (manuscripts included), Neighborliness Video Group Study (a free video series for leaders to host groups in their homes while David helps lead the conversation), prayer initiatives, and so much more. All of these and more can be found by visiting www.neighborliness.com and going to the resource page.