The End of White Christian America by Robert P. Jones

Author:Robert P. Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2016-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

Desegregating Church

The renewed focus on racial injustice that fueled the #BlackLivesMatter movement, coupled with demographic change, has brought White Christian America to a new crossroads. There is, of course, the path of least resistance, which also happens to be the one that will ensure White Christian America’s declining relevance: reinforce the current racial isolation that has prevented many white Americans from engaging in meaningful discussions about racial inequality by fortifying the walls around their communities. To be sure, a move to make White Christian America’s boundaries more permeable will leave white Christians vulnerable to uncomfortable conversations and even more difficult actions. Such a choice would require critical self-reflection, humility, and—to use a theological term—repentance. But the payoff would be an enormous boost for white Christians’ communal health and for the country’s overall well-being. While such a shift is difficult, it’s not an impossible feat. While today’s churches mostly reflect the social segregation of the status quo, some are already pioneering a new kind of Christian community that transcends the color line.

Middle Collegiate Church, New York City

In 1628, the Dutch West India Company sent the Reverend Jonas Michaelius to the settlement of New Amsterdam, a fortified trading outpost on the southern tip of the island of Manhattan. From these humble roots grew the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in the United States, anchored by Middle Collegiate Church, one of four congregations that make up the Collegiate Church of New York. In 1696, after the British had taken over New Amsterdam and rechristened it New York, the Collegiate Churches were recognized with a royal charter from King William III, making them the first official corporation in the British colonies. 87 The church interior—clad with dark oak panels, accented with gold leaf, and illuminated by Tiffany windows—is a vivid reminder of the congregation’s Old World heritage and long history. Middle Collegiate Church carried the Protestant tradition across many major events in the nation’s history. 88 Its “Liberty Bell” rang for the country’s independence on July 9, 1776, and has chimed for the inauguration and death of every American president.

But although Middle Church’s neighborhood was changing fast by the end of the twentieth century, the church was not. As The New York Times ’s Frank Bruni described it: “Time had passed the church by, as German and northern European immigrants were replaced on the Lower East Side by Asians, Latin Americans, artists and young professionals who had never heard of the tiny Reformed church.” 89

By the 1980s, Middle Church was in such bad shape that the Collegiate Corporation considered shuttering it altogether. Membership had dwindled to two dozen older white congregants, many of whom commuted into the city for services. It no longer had a community presence, the building was deteriorating, and the sparse congregation could afford neither the upkeep of the building nor the pastor’s salary.

But after surveying the area, the corporation determined that a different kind of church could once again serve the neighborhood. They called Rev. Gordon R. Dragt, who had been serving a church in an artsy community in North Carolina.

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