Russell Moore's Social Justice Crusade is Flawed

Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile's infamous "pro Bernie Sanders" Tweet

With far too many white (American) believers, "normal Christianity is white..." so says TGC's beloved Russell Moore. 

Friends, don't buy into everything that Dr. Moore and friends are actively promoting under the banner of so called "Gospel-Centered" ministry.  Let's use our minds to think critically and biblically about this multi-layered issue.  Let's first understand what critical race theory is before we begin to call it a Gospel-centered mandate of the Church.  

One can love and show grace to ethnic minorities without embracing the social justice gospel.  For example, Grace Community Church in Southern California (and many other churches) that DO NOT EMBRACE Critical Race Theory or TGC's progressive understanding of "social justice" are ethnically and economically diverse.  If that fact shocks you, you are likely spending too much time watching MSNBC and perusing the Huffington Post's website.  Here's another real life example.  My former congregation (which did not embrace TGC's version of social justice) overwhelmingly affirmed an Indian Christian to serve over them as a key lay-leader (which is what Moore advocates for in this video); We rolled out a red-carpet when a precious Mexican family visited and later joined our Christian fellowship.  In our midweek youth and Awana ministries, and during our Sunday School hour, we regularly demonstrated the love of Christ to countless children and families (the vast majority of whom were not white skinned).  For some church leaders, to be "color blind" is itself a racist form of white privilege.  On a personal level, my wife and I regularly had low income, single-parent family children over for meals (even on holidays like Father's Day or Easter).  We took ethnic minorities with our own children to the local ice cream shop, or to the movies with us, I plowed snow for our African American neighbor, and the list goes on and on.  Here's another example that confirms my central point.  A predominately white evangelical congregation in Pennsylvania is currently taking care of six children who have been removed from the care of their African-American mother; (this single mom is trying hard to improve her particular life situation).  Many of my "conservative white friends" have adopted children from Asia, Africa, and from the struggling neighbor across the street.  What's my point?  One doesn't have to imbibe "critical race theory" in order to love one's neighbor.  Gasp! I know.  It was MLK himself who famously said,  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

And STILL those who don't buy into TGC's interpretation of biblical justice (i.e. critical race theory) are called "ignorant fools" or worse.  Tim Keller recently said that white evangelicals aren't jumping on the MLK50 bandwagon because of the "stubbornness of the sinful heart."  Many who agree with Voddie Baucham, James White, John MacArthur, Robert Gagnon, Ardel Caneday and yours truly are afraid to speak out and push back against this TGC trend because they don't want to be marginalized (or to be unfairly labeled a "racist.")  Trust me, I get it. My experience is not unique.  However, we pastors must fear God more than man and should speak out if/when the church is drifting from the true mission of the Church (Col. 1:28-29; Eph. 4:11-16; Matt. 28:18-20).  For starters read this helpful series and this helpful article.  This "movement" is a big deal within the larger, Bible-believing, Christian church right now.  It's the primary reason I have invested so much time researching and writing about it.

Dr. Moore's individual experience in the Deep South (which at times seems exaggerated to me) and the hyper-racial lenses by which he views the "white evangelical Church" obviously impacts his perspective- Note his video here and his sermon at MLK50.   If you (Dr. Moore) are going to knock a white church in the South for having a statue of Stonewall Jackson statue (which I'm not objecting to) you have to be consistent and criticize black congregations for actively championing progressive political and social groups/leaders too!  Like when Thabiti A suggested Bernie Sanders is the best candidate for African-American voters or when another pastor said Colin Kaepernick (who supports the black panther movement) is the modern day equivalent of Rosa Parks.  If you are going to call white evangelicals who vote against pro-LGBTQ progressives and who pulled the lever in favor of flawed G.O.P. political candidates "hypocritical/sell outs" you can't host a major Christian conference in memory of a serial adulterer and not expect to be called out on it.  Selective demonizing is never right, or fair, or charitable.

Justin Taylor citing Tim Keller on "Why many Conservative Evangelicals (particularly white ones
seem to have a GROWING INDIFFERENCE to the sin of racism- 4/18/18)"

With that being said, IF your local church doesn't remotely match the demographic of your community then it is a fair question to ask- "Why are we so white or black or whatever- if our community is 60% and 25% that, etc..."   However, one DOES NOT need to jump on the social justice bandwagon in order to try and become more "diverse." This is what is often lost/missed in this controversy. I encourage you to visit John MacArthur's home church any Sunday of the year.  What draws most people to GCC is how the Word of God is faithfully preached (with clarity, depth, and conviction), the Christ-centered music, and the loving Christian fellowship.


In the name of the biblical gospel TGC/MLK50, please reconsider the approach you are taking and the accusations you are making against those brothers and sisters in Christ who disagree.  If you don't, I/we fear it will continue to divide the Christian Church rather than unite the Bride of Christ around the gospel.