Racism and the Real Truth of Free Will Baptists
You may have heard on the national news recently about a church vote that took place in Kentucky. That vote, which passed 9-6, was that they would no longer allow special performances of songs in front of the whole congregation by people who were in an interracial relationship. Normally I would not feel compelled to comment on what has taken place in a backwoods church somewhere. But sadly this church was a Free Will Baptist Church and it made a bit of a national stir. Because of this fact, I feel compelled to respond. Why? Because Eagle Heights Church is a Free Will Baptist Church. It is the denomination I grew up in, and it is the denomination that I love.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy in all of this is that my denomination, the Free Will Baptist denomination, traces its roots to churches that were instrumental in the underground railroad during the years of slavery. Abraham Lincoln, the president who fought a literal war to end slavery and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, had a mother that was raised in a Free Will Baptist Church. In the present day, Free Will Baptists literally spend millions of dollars annually trying to reach people on the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, South and North America for Christ. The fact that FWB’s history and its present day efforts can be tainted in any way by a vote of 9 people in some church in the middle of Pike County Kentucky is tragic.
A huge part of this comes down to how a church is structured. Now stay with me… I know that “differences in church structure” is not exactly a trending topic that is lighting up the Twitter-verse! Our church is structured so that a local church makes its own choices and decisions on how they will worship, where they will meet or build, who will be their pastor, and for how long, etc. Occasionally, you may see the ruling council (archdiocese or synod) in a Catholic or Lutheran Church (among others) require a minister or priest to move, even though neither the church nor that minister wanted to change churches. If you’ve ever had that happen, you can understand why some local churches choose to be structured to make their decisions locally.
Now, here’s the down-side: you may be affiliated with a church which “votes in” some outlandish rule or practice that you had no part in. You might be painted with a broad brush as a church that has problems with a race (other than white) leading or serving in your church.
At Eagle Heights, we have a band that includes some interracial elements. We have a couple who leads in our worship every single week; our worship leader is a guy who is partially Hispanic. He is married to a wonderful gal who happens to be of Vietnamese descent. We have an African-American guy who is a part of our band that leads worship. I love them all greatly, and am proud that God has brought a multi-racial element to both our band, and to the EHC family as a whole.
We have people from Korean descent, Vietnamese, Nigerian, and Puerto Rican decent. We have more races than this represented, but also we have some of us “plain old southern folks” that have no clue as to how many races make up our own descent… we just call ourselves “white.” Sorry Gulnare FWB, just because a person is labeled “white,” they may still be a inter-racial person (partially Jewish, American Indian, African American, on and on). Why is it that I just think they meant “If we can tell you’re from another race, you’re not welcome?” Oh and one more thing you’ve got to remember: JESUS WAS NOT WHITE! But then again, this is attempting to argue with a bigot using logic and facts.
As a church, we are called to reflect God’s Kingdom. I know this: Revelation 7:9 tells me that when we are in heaven, ALL RACES will be singing and worshiping together.
“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” Rev 7:9