Racial reconciliation is one of the most intricate and significant issues of our time. How should the church respond from a biblical perspective?

Former NFL running back and Pastor of Transformation church Derwin Gray discusses what the Bible has to say about church segregation and racial reconciliation.

Derwin and his wife both grew up outside of the church, when they started becoming involved in the church, they noticed that most congregations in their area were segregated and they wondered why.

“We would get all of these non-biblical answers for why people wanted to be with people of the same ethnicity and class.”

Nowhere in the Bible is segregation encouraged or even condoned. In fact, much of the New Testament talks about the coming together of the two groups that were traditionally segregated during that time, Jews and Gentiles, into one body under Jesus Christ.

“It’s really not that complicated, we’ve turned it into all types of self-help programs. It’s really about the gift of grace that connects us vertically to God, but also horizontally connects us to one another to create this new family that’s not colorblind but color blessed.”

According to Derwin, every church that was outside Jerusalem was multi-ethnic.

“The early church knew nothing of a church for Jews and a different classification for Gentiles. The church was God’s new people.”

Today, it’s not Jews and Gentiles that need to be united, it’s blacks, whites, and other ethnicies that need to be reconciled in one body under Jesus Christ. Derwin and his wife view their church, Transformation church as a pioneering church with the intention of uniting all ethnicities under one Jesus.

“We feel like in thirty years what’s normal for Transformation church will be normal for the rest of the body but it takes pioneers to do that and there’s a handful of churches that are doing that intentionally through the Gospel.”

Highlight: Church segregaation in the Bible?