Talking about Race: Gospel Hope for Hard Conversations

Just as we see in the world, there is broken trust between ethnicities in our churches. We see it on Twitter. We hear it in conversations. Every few weeks a new racially charged tragedy goes viral. When it does, we know what will happen: people take sides, while others feel trapped, torn, and confused in the middle.

Among the many responses to these racial challenges, one is all too common: We shy away from dealing honestly about the divides, and in so doing, we hide from each other--hindering genuine love which bears witness to a watching world about Jesus. Even if we sit in the same churches, we wear masks to avoid one of our greatest fears: sharing what we sincerely think about race and racism with each other--either because we don't care to, or we don't feel safe to.

With an honest and hopeful approach to racial dialogue, Isaac Adams tells a story to help us biblically sift through the fog and frustration of our racial standstill. He defines terms and represents sides fairly. And he shows how one of the church's hardest challenges--loving across racial lines--can become one of her most powerful testimonies to a divided and dividing world. Adams shows why the blessing of authentic racial unity is so desperately needed and how it is possible to maintain and enjoy.

What if we, as brothers and sisters in Christ, could honestly reckon with race and have positive conversations that cause us to grow together rather than apart? What if we felt we could be ourselves in our churches--being both known and loved there? What might happen if we dropped our masks?

Speaking of Race argues Christians must understand why they avoid honest conversations about race if they want to enjoy authentic racial unity in their churches. If we can understand the reasons for our surprising reluctance to speak about race, especially with those outside our own ethnicity, we can, by God's grace, grow together in love rather than apart in bitterness, and so better present represent Jesus to a watching, divided, and dividing world.