Racial Preference Incompatible with Presbyterian Government
An excerpt from Drew Poplin's new book, The Canvas of Creation
From the chapter, “Kinism is Contrary to the Nature and Government of the Church”
Not only is the Church the catholic (meaning universal) communion of saints, but we are called specifically a distinct race and kingdom. Peter writes to the churches in the diaspora: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). “Our citizenship is in heaven,” the Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:20, not to abolish any sense of national identity, but to provide a right ordering of our affections and longings.
Our greatest affinity is not the natural affinity of blood and soil, but of Spirit and truth. It is said of the godly patriarchs that when they died, each was “gathered to his people” (Gen. 25:8, 49:33; Num. 20:24). Christian reader, who are “your people”—the ones to whom you desire to be gathered? Surely it is not just those with whom you merely share a common ancestry, but it is all those with whom you share a common Savior!
Kinism does not align with the nature of the Church, and it also rejects the proper government of the Church. Ministers are gifts given to the Visible Church as a whole, not just a particular group or society. When it comes to the ministry of the Word, those called to the Pastoral office must all have the same qualifications and the same duties as expressed in the Word of God. There is no idea of one race being more fit for ministry than another race, nor to the necessity that pastors only minister to those of their particular race. The roll of the Presbytery of Antioch, as recorded in Acts 13:1, is case-in point:
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger [Literally meaning, Black or Dark], Lucius of Cyrene [which was in North Africa], Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Three Jews and two Africans serving in the same Presbytery, doing the same work of praying and preaching, and the roll is called simply in passing. Why belabor what to Luke and the other early Christians seemed normal? These men worked together in the Gospel, were blessed with the filling of the Spirit, saw fruit from their ministry, and then commissioned Paul and Barnabas both in their missionary journey and to the first Synod in Jerusalem. There is no thought given to their family tree, but only to the Father above; no consideration to color, but only to Christ; no deference to skin, but only to the Spirit.
The Canvas of Creation, A Biblical Response to the Heresy of Racial Superiority by Drew Poplin may be purchased from Crown and Covenant. The latest Presbycast featured Poplin and two other passages discussing the book and the issue of kinism in the church.
I agree that racial preference is incompatible with Presbyterian government. But that begs the question, why does the PCA have a scholarship fund for travel to the GA exclusively available to minorities?
Good word, but this applies to planting "black" churches as well. As a denomination, we need to beware of making too much of race. We have given into the spirit of the age.