Race and ethnicity are hot topics often glossed over across many pulpits throughout the United States in fear of causing division or anger among the church and surrounding community. Yet following recent social injustice events, the issue remains as relevant as ever for church pastors and leaders to point their members to God’s truth and take an active stance.
A recent LifeWay Research study revealed that 17% of pastors say their church would not want to hear about racial reconciliation from the pulpit, which is a 7% increase since 2016.
The same research showed that 17% of white pastors are more than twice as likely as African American pastors, at 6%, to say they have not addressed racial reconciliation from the pulpit in the last two years.
The pastors who received the most negative feedback from sermons on the topic of racial reconciliation were white pastors at 14% compared to other ethnicities, at 3%.
Lexham Press has released a new book, “Ministers of Reconciliation: Preaching on Race and the Gospel,” edited by Daniel Darling. The book is specifically written to help pastors understand how to address issues of race in the pulpit and contains essays from a variety of writers discussing how to preach on these issues and how it can lead to healing within the church community.
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SOURCE: Assist News Service, Michael Ireland
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