By James Rudd
In 2008 I was given stewardship of an empty church building and the legal charter of a non-existent church that I was to re-establish from scratch. On my first official day of employment I took my toolbox over to the empty building and spent the entire day removing every dedication plaque and name plate from pews, pianos, doors, etc. Even the Communion table, inscribed with the words of Jesus; ” Do This In Remembrance Of Me” had a plaque under the inscription that read “In Loving Memory of ____.” While I was able to bless and honor those whose names were memorialized, I felt that this was a necessary step toward establishing a fresh start for a new congregation.
A few weeks later I started reading old hand-written governing board minutes from as far back as 1924. Among those notes I found decisions from the 1970’s to erect a barbed wire fence to keep neighborhood kids off of the property, a decision to not support a Billy Graham crusade because it might require them to partner with “modern” churches, and a decision to forbid the pastor from performing interracial marriages. The latter decision read:
“A discussion was brought up concerning mixed and interracial marriages. The majority of those present were not in favor of these marriages and it was agreed that the pastor would counsel these couples to discourage them.” (1971)
Over 100 years after slavery was abolished, and almost a decade after the Civil Rights Act, this church in a major U.S. city was systematizing a racist policy.
Well, their decisions stuck. The church closed with no kids, no new believers, and no people of color. They got what they wanted.
When I discovered these things, I couldn’t help but repent. In fact, I asked everyone that was part of our little church plant at the time to repent with me.
Why would I repent of something that I didn’t do?
It wasn’t my fault . . .
I wasn’t even alive when it happened . . .
But it was my responsibility. I was the pastor now.
Being responsible for the problem and being responsible for the solution are not the same thing. Positional repentance is not about taking blame, it’s about taking responsibility. It’s not about admitting personal guilt, it’s about pursuing healing.
Where there is corporate sin there needs to be corporate repentance. Those in authority can and must repent for the sins of the past in order to make room for healing.
Moses did it. Josiah did it. Daniel did it. And we should do it.
When our congregation repented of corporate racism, healing began to come immediately in the very form that we had previously outlawed. Our church began a 10+ year run of having interracial marriages reflected on our staff that continues to this day. More than 50 percent of the marriages that I have performed have been interracial couples. The second largest demographic in our church is the bi-racial children of interracial marriages ( about 30 percent).
I write these things not to force an agenda of positional repentance but simply to offer testimony about the healing and reconciliation that await us when we humble ourselves, repent of our corporate sins, and receive our Redeemer’s restoration.