Since the late 1990s, when I first became a follower of Jesus, it has concerned me that the church in America really doesn't talk about how the New Testament church was comprised of multi-ethnic, multi-class local congregations throughout the first century Greco-Roman world (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:10; Eph. 2:14–16; 3:5-11). But with the Ferguson and Eric Garner cases, the church is talking about how these types of congregations can be agents of reconciliation and unity, just as the early church was.
We don't know all the details of what went down in Ferguson, but what we do know is that black evangelicals and white evangelicals interpret these types of situations very differently. What if black and white evangelicals attended multi-ethnic churches instead of segregated ones?
We're trained to learn Bible concepts, principles and doctrines intellectually. And the more Biblical information we know, the greater disciples we are deemed to be. I think this is killing the church in America, just like it hurt the Pharisees.
What was the first major church dispute? Was it over Calvinism, Arminianism, or Molinism? Was it over speaking in tongues, prophecy, or healing? Maybe it was over worship music styles?
The consequence of worshiping the idol called success is that we hurt people, destroy our marriages, prostitute people, and drag the name of Jesus through the mud.
