The problem of racism is an universal problem that must be addressed by the followers of Jesus Christ, the iconic figure of love, grace and peace.

1. RACISM, THE SILENT
SCANDAL OF THE CHURCH

2. INTRODUCTION
 From a young age, we are taught to break problems down, to fragment the world.
 This supposedly makes complex tasks and subjects more manageable, but we pay
a hidden and enormous price.
 We lose the ability to anticipate the consequences to our actions; we lose our
intrinsic sense of connection to a larger whole.
 Later, when we attempt to “see the big picture”, we try to reassemble the
fragments in our minds, to list and organize all the pieces.
 The purpose of this lecture is to destroy the illusion that the world is created of
separate, unrelated forces.

3. THE WORLD IS ONE GREAT COLLECTIVE
 But, as physicist David Bohm says, the task is futile-similar to trying to
reassemble the fragments of a broken mirror to see a true reflection.
 Thus after a while we give up trying to see the whole all together.
 When we give up this illusion we can then begin to build institutions,
societies, organisations, businesses and most of all churches where people
continually expand their capacity to create the results that they truly desire,
a society permeated by unity, equality and respect under the Lordship and
sovereignty of Jesus Christ.

4. THE BATTLE FOR TRUTH IN THE THIRD
MILLENNIUM
 For centuries, in western culture, the starting point for morals, values and
relationships was the nature and character of God.
 The purpose of science and philosophy were to discover God’s design; art and
music were intended to reflect His glory and the highest form of learning was
theology.
 Concepts of truth and morality were inextricably linked to His nature and
character.
 The acknowledgement of an infinite, immutable God made sense of the whole of
human experience and provided a valuable foundation for questions about right
and wrong.
 But, this all began to change during a period of European history we now call the
Renaissance.

5.  The Renaissance began in Italy in the 1300’s and over the course of the next
two centuries, spread throughout Europe.
 This period of history was characterised by great strides in literature, learning,
art, and architecture.
 It also marked a significant shift in human thought.
 The Renaissance might have had minimal impact on man’s thinking had it not
been followed promptly by an era known as the Enlightenment, or the Age of
Reason.
 While the Renaissance mind acknowledged God, many leaders of the
Enlightenment (such as Voltaire and Descartes) claimed that if there was a
God who had created the world, He had no connection with it now, which
meant that man was left to discover truth on his own.
 Standards of right and wrong were not based on the nature and character of
God but on human reasoning.
 In the Renaissance, man became central; in the Enlightenment, man’s
reasoning became the ultimate standard.

6.  The furnaces of the Industrial Revolution still blazed hot when the theories of Charles
Darwin, a former theological student, completed the seismic shift that the Renaissance
had begun.
 Darwin’s theories presented an alternative to a theistic understanding of origins.
 God was no longer “needed” to explain or give understanding of how the world and
man came to be.
 The shift brought about by these four historical influences - the Renaissance, the
Enlightenment, the Industrial Age, and Darwinism - has resulted in two distinct models
of truth.
 In the first model truth is defined by God for everyone; it is objective and absolute.
 This model acknowledges that God - not the individual - is central, that He is the
source of all things, and that he rules over all.
 The second model proposes that truth is defined by the individual; it is subjective and
situational.
 The individual is in control of moral matters; because the standard is within the
individual, it is particular to that specific person.

7.  The shift from the first model to the second has affected every aspect of
our society, from the arts and music to literature and politics.
 In the 20th century culture, vain imaginations have replaced moral
absolutes.
 Permissiveness and tolerance have been exalted as moral ideals.
 The definition of tolerance has been twisted to mean that all individual
beliefs, values, lifestyles and “truths” are equal in value.
 Relativism has also become politically correct and with each step away
from the security of the certainty of God’s absolute truth comes captivity.
 Unless and until there is a return to the absolutes of God and His Word,
this captivity will continue to prevail.

8. Truth sets us free
 While we may be convinced that God’s truth sets free, we’re not sure “to
what!”
 It’s imperative that we embrace God’s word as foundational to life and
eternity but we must go further.
 Truth sets us free for the purpose of love.
 God’s truth frees us to truly love others.
 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature; serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

9. Truth sets us apart
 We’re convinced that God’s Word sets us apart for a purpose but we’re
unsure of the purpose!
 God’s truth sets us apart for the purpose of love.
 Jesus says, “I have made You known to them, and will continue to make
You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them”. John
17:26
 It is the Father’s express intent to influence the world through the agency
of love made manifest by His Church.

10. But, Sunday morning is the most
segregated time of the week
 Sometimes this reflects the fact that Christians prefer to worship within
their cultural boundaries, however, in many cases worship services are
segregated because Christians prefer not to worship with people who are
different from themselves.
 In many places people have learned to work, play, and even live in
communities together in spite of their cultural and social differences, yet
the church still struggles, seemingly unable to address this issue
successfully.
 This fact greatly hinders our testimony and delays our common
responsibility to win the world to Christ.

11.  The Church needs an urgent apostolic and prophetic renaissance, master
strategists who will apply themselves unreservedly to the purpose of
facilitating and orchestrating unity in the Church, the vehicle God chose to
use to usher in the fullness of His kingdom on the earth.
 I believe that the Lord has placed in His body, the Church, special leaders,
equipped to create and foster networks of unity in the world through
apostolic and prophetic technology.
 The dawning of the third millennium brings with it many challenges and
opportunities to see the kingdom of God advance and increase.
 There is an acceleration of apostolic and prophetic ministry and networks
spanning the globe.
 The communication highways have come to serve the kingdom of God and its
purposes.
 It is now easier than ever before in the history of humankind to establish and
maintain relationships of global proportions.
 We can exchange concepts, calibrate ideas, teach, host websites, send e-mails
and build apostolic networks through use of the Internet.

12. This problem is not confined to one
city or nation; it is a global problem
 As citizens of the global village we have become acutely aware of the
propensity of racism in every echelon of the world.
 Research shows that, already by 1971, out of 132 independent states only 12
were ethnically homogeneous, representing 9.1% of the total.
 In most of these poly-ethnic societies there exist problems of inequality of
opportunity and lack of participation in the decision-making processes of
which the outcome affects all races within the society.
 It is in the frustration caused by this climate that violent conflicts have
erupted between ethnic groups in an attempt to preserve cultural and
human dignity.
 It is of paramount importance to note that in most of these cases there is a
religious dimension present, as is the case with the Arab-Israeli and Northern
Ireland socio-political instability.

13. The Problem with Dualism
 The silence of the Church can best be defined by the philosophy of
dualism that is deeply rooted in the western mindset.
 Dualism is the theory that within all reality there exist two absolute and
eternal principles that are irreconcilably opposed to each other.
 For example, as far as the Christian’s involvement in politics is concerned,
the rule is usually that the unbelievers run the world, and the Christians
order the private consciences and the life hereafter of their followers.

14. Why is the kingdom of secular humanism
so powerful today?
 Is it perhaps because the Church retreated from the battlefield into its
spiritual ghettos?
 The Church has the power and authority to change the world’s view
regarding racism.
 We need to develop the will to follow in the footsteps of our Lord and
Master, Jesus Christ, the multicultural man.
 The Church must assume its prophetic role in society to address, arrest
and crush the destructive spirits of separation, racism and division.
 The Church must create models of unity in society that can serve as
points of reference to the destitute world, as signposts of hope.

15. You can rewrite history by your
prophetic actions and lifestyle
 We must allow ourselves the huge privilege of visualising a world that transcends racial
disunity.
 There must be a life higher than division, separatism and racism.
 If we can only peer into the distant future we will be able to see communities functioning
by a different value system than that which drives humanity today.
 These communities will function by the highest power in the universe, the power of love.
 What will you do to change the way the world views the Church?
 What will you do to pave the way for bringing in a rich harvest of souls that are waiting
for the church to change its attitude toward the problem of racism?
 You have the potential to change the course of history; in fact, you can rewrite history by
your prophetic actions and lifestyle.
 Do not allow peer pressure and your cultural heritage to dominate you into passivity;
arise and shine for your light has come.