Spitting in the Face of God

Here's an excerpt from John M. Perkins's Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development. While Perkins is talking specifically about race issues in these paragraphs, the principle can be applied to any sort of distinctions I make between myself and someone else.

I think these attitudes have crippled our ability to be effective lovers of people. When I say "we," I'm referring to church universal. We believe the lie that we can't relate to people who are different from us and vice versa. What do you think?

Today Christians study the science of withdrawing from others and then use it to attract converts. This so-called church growth or homogenous principle should make us question the church the same way we should question dehumanizing ghettos. It sugarcoats racial separation with a veneer of spirituality and in practice continues the legacy of segregation that divided whites and blacks into separate churches, relationships, and agendas.

Homogeneity does not mirror the image of God. It cheapens the people who proclaim it and mocks God’s call for us to be agents of reconciliation. What makes it even more harmful is how it is justified: “If we are segregated, more people will come and hear the gospel, which in turn, advances the kingdom of God.” This logic spits in the face of a holy God by playing to our human weaknesses and sin nature. At the same time that it increases the size of our churches’ membership, it retards their spiritual growth.