This is just outstanding. Thabiti Anyabwile on ethnic diversity and the practical outworking of our new “gospel identity” in the body of Christ (read the whole thing!):
Here are some of the ways I look for “put to death the hostility” realism in such cooperation. First, there’s the verbal espousing of this ethic. Doesn’t have to be all the time, but constant enough to know folks are thinking about it. Isn’t enough in itself, but it’s at least necessary to know it’s on the agenda. Second, there’s the willingness of others to take up “my” issue as “our” issue–to bear the burden. That means the Black, Asian, or Hispanic guy isn’t reflexively asked to lead on “their” issue. Other folks have a willingness to get into my world or another’s world. But it also means that I don’t sit back and say, “That’s a white thang; it doesn’t matter where I live.” The issue may not matter in the Caribbean or in Southeast DC, but it matters to the body of Christ, my new spiritual ethnicity. So it must matter to me. Third…