Connecting People and Churches | Summer 2018
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Connecting People and Churches | Summer 2018 RACE Summer 2018 | GraceConnect 1 CONTENTS 3 The Tie that Binds Seeking Understanding – What I didn’t understand, I avoided. Brethren Missionary Herald Co., Inc. 4 Climbing Down the Ladder Corporation Meeting We climb down the ladder of privilege to raise up others. Get the latest updates on how God is using 8 The Impact of Relationship GraceConnect and BMH Books to build bridges How would we change our culture if we would be of communication in the Charis Fellowship (Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches)! what God created us to be? Wednesday, July 25, 2017 at 7:30am Student Center, Grace Community Church 12 Caring for the Orphans 900 Smith Road, Fremont, Ohio 43420 God calls us to care for the orphans, not just the ones The meeting is in conjunction with the national who look like us. conference of the Charis Fellowship (Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches), Access 2018 A ticket is required for the breakfast meeting. 16 The Brethren Perspective on Race The subsidized cost is $8 USD and the ticket may The roots of the Charis Fellowship are in people be purchased at access2018.com. who stood against the culture of their day. If you are not able to attend the breakfast, the corporation meeting will begin at approximately 8:15 a.m. 20 Cultural Context Robert Soto uses the best of Native American cultural expression to reach others for Christ. BMH CLASSICS GraceConnect, founded in January 2004 as FGBC World, is Check out classic BMH published four times a year by the Brethren Missionary Herald Company (BMH), a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization affiliated Books titles, now available with the Charis Fellowship. The publication’s mission is to nurture in ebook format! Great Commission teamwork by connecting people and churches of the Charis Fellowship. Inclusion of an article or advertisement does not necessarily indicate endorsement by the Brethren Prophecy: Things to Come Missionary Herald Company or the Charis Fellowship. By Dr. James Boyer ISBN 9780884690108 GraceConnect is available free of charge. To subscribe, to $3.99 change your address, or to stop receiving the publication, please contact us at: GraceConnect, P.O. Box 544, Winona Lake, IN 46590; 574-268-1122; or email [email protected] Our Heritage By Dr. Harold H. Etling Editorial Submissions: Any news and information from ISBN 9780884690214 churches and people in the Charis Fellowship (Fellowship of $3.99 Grace Brethren Churches) is welcome. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. Opinions expressed are those of the authors, and there is no implied endorsement by the BMH Co. or by the Find them at bmhbooks.com Charis Fellowship. All Charis Fellowship churches have permission to use any GraceConnect content in church bulletins, newsletters, or your favorite ebook retailer! or websites as long as appropriate credit is given. Staff: Liz Cutler Gates, managing editor; Bridget Fryman, circulation; Terry Julien, graphic design Board of Directors, Brethren Missionary Herald Co.: Tim Sprankle, chair; Daron Butler; Dave Collins; Scott Feather; .COM Bill Gordon; Sarah Knepper; Beau Stanley Follow GraceConnect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 2 GraceConnect | Summer 2018 THE TIE THAT BINDS Liz Cutler Gates, Editor SEEKING UNDERSTANDING What I didn’t understand, I avoided and, maybe even, feared. Craigen at Moody Bible Institute who listened to my awk- ward questions about their experiences and who challenged me to dig further. I’ve devoured works by Isabel Wilkerson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ronald Takaki, and others. The stack of unread books beside my chair continues to grow as I seek to learn. I was also reminded how the Brethren movement has always had a heart for all nations. Of course, our interest in people in other lands is legendary. But in the U.S, the Brethren were sensitive to the Negros in their midst during pre-Civil War days. (See The Brethren Perspective on Race, page 16.) Racial equality was an essential belief that has continued to permeate the Grace Brethren movement. Throughout our history, there have been efforts to take the gospel to the Navajo Indians, Spanish Americans, and Jew- ish ethnic groups. And while those ministries are no longer As I traversed the path of preparing the copy active, the role they played in the Charis Fellowship has for this issue, I was struck by a statement from been significant. Robert Soto, a Grace Brethren pastor who has drawn I’m sure this issue won’t provide every answer on the topic from his heritage as a Lipan Apache to develop a unique of race in North America, but I trust it will begin a con- ministry to Native Americans along the southern border of versation. The perspectives of pastors Irv Clark, an African Texas. American, and Robert Soto, a Native American, have “People fear that which they do not understand,” he said. been reassuring as they seek unity in their congregations That described my desires as I planned this issue on race. and beyond. Tim Sprankle’s thoughts on white privilege challenged me to look at my own experience more closely. I grew up on the farm where one of my great-grandfathers Johnston Moore’s views on trans-racial adoption remind us housed an underground railroad station. I don’t recall a to care for all orphans, not just those who look like us. time in our family where one ethnic group was held in esteem over another. Yet as discussions over race made the As I put this issue to bed, I’m reminded again that Christ headlines, that family history did little to help me com- died for everyone – without regard to the color of their prehend the experience of the African American, Native skin. Unity in the faith begins at home – and in our local American, Japanese, or others who help make up this great churches. It is nothing to be feared. land – and how that might impact their view of the gospel. Liz Cutler Gates, [email protected], is What I didn’t understand, I avoided and, maybe even, the editor of Grace Connect. Since 2010, feared. she has served as executive director of the I set out to educate myself and, in doing so, to provide Brethren Missionary Herald Company. She some thoughtful resources for others in the Fellowship. I’m and her husband, Doug, live in Warsaw, Ind. grateful to Jermaine Chaney at Grace College and Clive Summer 2018 | GraceConnect 3 CLIMBING DOWN THE by Timothy D. LADDER Sprankle Jesus—full of glory and truth, united in fellowship with God the Father, boasting unlimited and unrestricted access to divine attributes— released His grip on divine privilege. 4 GraceConnect | Summer 2018 RAISING A BLACK SON HAS HEIGHTENED MY SENSITIVITY TO SECOND GLANCES, SUSPICIOUS LOOKS, AND THE PRIVILEGES OF BEING WHITE. grew up on a cul-de-sac in a suburb of Columbus, I have greater awareness of these realities as the white Ohio; it was one of many privileges in my childhood. father of a black son. My privilege—inherited and cultur- I My parents modeled fidelity in their marriage, pro- ally-conditioned—grants me undeniable advantages in the vided a stable home, instilled a protestant ethic, earned world as it stands. I may not like white privilege (or male a handsome income, and gave me numerous opportuni- privilege or any other privilege), but my feelings for an ties: summer camps, Little League, theater lessons, and a idea do not invalidate it. winning smile secured by years of orthodontic treatment. I My sister-in-law, a decade-long resident of Chicago, intro- earned none of these privileges but let them propel me up duced me to the idea of white privilege. She pointed me the social ladder. to a podcast (“On Being”), where the host, Krista Tippett, A top-notch education: interviewed a white female, professor Eula Biss, about her another rung, another privilege. wrestling with racial advantage.1 I listened, nodding at Early work option as paperboy: times, shaking my fist at times, and, by the end, feeling another rung, another privilege. powerless. Biss waxed eloquent but offered few conclu- sions. She had no answer beyond awareness. Access to a thriving, Charis church: another rung, another privilege. Fortunately, I found the answer in the ethic of Jesus. He climbed down the ladder of privilege. Citizenship in the great USA: another rung, another privilege. aul’s letter to the Philippian church pivots around one of the most profound descriptions of Jesus Born male in a man’s world: Christ. Referred to as the Christ Hymn, Philippians another rung, another privilege. P 2:6-11 details Jesus’ pre-existent glory, selfless incarnation, White: another rung, another privilege. inglorious death, and unrivaled ascension to God’s right hand. Virtually every commentator notes the “inverted Two years ago my wife (Liz) and I adopted a child from V-pattern” of the text: from glory to grave to greater glory. Ethiopia. Sensi does not evidence the stereotypical features The passage is doctrinally rich and doxologically potent. of Ethiopians: caramel-colored skin, fine facial features. But Paul’s driving purpose for the Christ Hymn is neither He was born in the Gambela region, close to the border of theology nor worship. He intends a lesson on ethics.2 Sudan. My son is dark, his forehead broad, his lips lush. After greeting the church (1:1-11) and updating them Sensi does not look like me. Or his mother. Or his sisters. on his circumstances (1:12-26), Paul calls them to live as He has made our family “conspicuous,” meaning we stand citizens of God’s kingdom: bold in suffering, united in out.