Turn on the TV and it is hard to miss. Watch any news program from FOX to CNN, and you will see a world in conflict. It may appear to be geopolitical conflicts about natural resources, territorial occupation, or the advancement of scientific and military technology. But a common current flowing beneath it all is much more influential than land, power, or ideologies. It flows from the great reservoir of racial division.

Gazing across the bridge from our Western American culture, it is all too easy to miss the rushing stream carving a divide in the bedrock of our very own churches. Dr. King once said in a Q&A following a 1963 speech at Western Michigan University:

“We must face the fact that in America, the church is still the most segregated major institution in America. At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation. This is tragic. Nobody of honesty can overlook this.”

The issue of racial inclusivity, multi-ethnic accommodation, or whatever you would like to call it is not simply a matter of preference among the 3%-7% intentionally racially diverse churches in our country. Rather, it strikes at the very heart of the gospel we profess to believe. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul writes:

All this is from God, who, through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. — 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (ESV)

At the heart of the gospel is the message of reconciliation. The American Heritage Dictionary associates reconciliation more closely with penance – an act of devotion performed voluntarily to show sorrow for a sin or other wrongdoing. Our need to demonstrate reconciliation culturally and ethnically within our churches is not about pursuing uniformity or cultural and ethnic dismantlement. Reconciliation is a message of togetherness and oneness. Intentional or unintentional exclusivity is not simply a matter of personal preference…it is sin that needs to be set right.

The gospel of reconciliation is about seeing the imago dei sameness in every human being, notwithstanding creed, color or class. This powerful demonstration of unity not only heals the wounds of the past but also paints a beautiful picture of hope and reclamation to an onlooking world. Our churches should not simply give a nod to the powerful work of racial and cultural reconciliation, but we should be willing to adapt and model it within our church walls.

But I believe a greater question needs to be answered first. I think we need to take an honest inventory and ask ourselves, “Do we really believe the gospel?” I know it may seem simplistic, but belief is not just intellectual assent. Belief is action. By biblical definition, belief is what we do and how our faith manifests itself in how we live. If this is the case, it is time for a serious gut check.

Believe me I’m not lobbing rocks from my glass house. This challenge came to roost in my own life first. As I looked at passages like Ephesians 2:13, I came to understand that the dividing wall Jesus brought crashing down not only removed the divide between God and man but also between Jew and Gentile. This came at a time when some rabbis considered Gentiles “fuel for the fires of hell.” Now that is some racially motivated hate! And it is the kind of division the gospel can breach.

Do we honestly believe the gospel when Galatians tells us that we “are all one in Christ” (3:28), or have we looked through our narrow, self-focused lens for so long that we have failed to consider its broader implication? In Galatians 2, Paul gives Peter a public verbal smack down! Are you kidding me? Was it really that big of an issue that Peter didn’t want to grab dinner with some Gentiles? It was.

It was not an issue of who was picking up the tab. Paul “saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel…” (2:14). Peter’s actions reflected his beliefs, and his actions did not communicate “the truth of the gospel.” This was not about preference. This was not just an oversight. This was about the truth of the gospel, the only message able to damn up currents of racial division threatening to erode the church at its very foundation.

St. Francis of Assisi deals pointedly with the impact that our actions and beliefs have in communicating the gospel. He said, “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.” Pursuing racial and cultural inclusivity within our churches goes far beyond reconciliation of historical oppression or wrongdoing. It goes far beyond the celebration of different languages, colors and customs. Instead, preaching and believing the gospel can be a rushing torrent, smashing dividing walls, washing out hours of segregation within our churches, and proclaiming to a watching world Jesus – our great reconciler.