The Beloved Community
King didn’t give up on the dream of the beloved community. The King of (Martin Luther) King hasn’t given up on his purpose of the beloved community. So I’m not going to give up on it, either.
Martin Luther King Jr. longed for what he called “the beloved community.” He picked up this phrase from early 20th century philosopher Josiah Royce. Royce said the beloved community is “quite unlike a natural social group” which is bound by rules and conflict. Instead the beloved community is bound by love. King passionately pursued justice for the goal of creating a beloved community where unity and diversity could exist in harmony. Hope for a beloved community sits inside of all people because each one is made in the image of God. Such hope sits even more heavily inside of Christians, because their hearts are filled with the Spirit of God. God himself has created the church to be a beloved community:
May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me (John 17:21-23).
In my academic work, I’ve argued that the mystery of how God the Trinity can be both “we” and “one” has implications for how the church, specifically in ethnic unity and diversity, can be both “we” and “one.” My heart for this theme was stirred by my decade-long experience as the white pastor of a majority black church in a majority black community. I came to see how clearly the Bible displays the heart of God for a reconciled community of Christian love.
When I started all this, the multiethnic church was trendy, but now for various reasons in various circles it has fallen from favor. On the one hand, many minority Christians have become suspicious of culturally majority churches. Often this suspicion reflects reality, because the culture of minority groups can be erased in such places. Yet I’ve also seen several folks not just drift but dive away from biblical truth. These were Christians who had published with evangelical publishers and spoken at evangelical conferences. These were Christians I thought we could trust. They betrayed that trust. On the other hand, many conservative Christians have become suspicious of any aim toward racial justice or ethnic unity in diversity, sometimes of the way such aims have been appropriated by liberal agendas. Other times, it’s a become a “woke witch-hunt.” For example, a few months ago, I tweeted something about ethnic unity and diversity in the local church that stirred up a tempest in the teapot of some little corners of the evangelical internet. I had strangers calling me out figuratively and calling me on the phone literally. I had relationships severely changed and damaged. Folks were bringing out their label makers and sticking “woke liberal” on me. The internet moment passed under the bridge, as internet moments do. But the reminder stays with me: the conversation has shifted, dramatically.
Despite all of this, I still believe God designed his churches to be united in diversity. I still believe multiethnic churches witness to triune reality and the gospel more clearly than segregated churches. I still believe that the beloved community is possible. I still believe that the Spirit cries “Father” in two languages, “Abba” (Hebrew) and “Pater” (Greek) and thus I still believe that the church is inherently bilingual and multiethnic. In fact, I now believe that the pushbacks and pitfalls point toward the purpose of God. I have become convinced that God's unflagging purpose to reconcile the nations to himself and to one another in Christ means that Satan works especially hard to weaponize racial division.
Multiethnic churches are a normal and normative reality in the New Testament. We must pursue multiethnic churches, repent of wrong ways of pursuing them, and never give up. I just don't think Scripture, which shows the heart of Christ, gives us the option to give up. Despite complexity, problems, sin, trauma, and epic failures, I still believe there is a better way than leveraging the homogeneous unit principle for church growth or leaning only into ethnoculturally homogeneous church spaces. The gospel addresses both the “sin problem” and the “skin problem” of the human experience. The gospel reunites us with God (Eph 2:1-10) and with others across lines of difference (Eph 2:11-22), creating a multiethnic church that displays the glory of God to the cosmos (Eph 3:8-10). In healthy multiethnic churches, majority and minority groups cultivate deep, honest relationships. Specifically, majority groups learn the unique pain and suffering of minority groups. They begin to “own” that pain and “understand” it more than ever before. Majority groups learn to trust their minority brothers and sisters, even more than their own experiences of the world, or other competing voices. Minority groups learn to trust their majority brothers and sisters, even more than their own experiences of the world, or other competing voices.
Only the gospel can ultimately create true Christian reconciliation and brotherly love that “believes all things.” Only the triune God of love can create a beloved community. King didn’t give up on the dream of the beloved community. The King of (Martin Luther) King hasn’t given up on his purpose of the beloved community. So I’m not going to give up on it, either.