NURTURING RECONCILIATION: BHM – Lessons from Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass is known as the great abolitionist and statesman but what many do not know is that he was a preacher in the African Methodist Zion church. As a preacher an ex-slave, and a prominent leader in the abolition movement, Douglass had some piercing words for the Christianity of his day and may even have some words for the evangelical church of the 21st century and dare I say even the Vineyard church of the 21st century.
“There are they who are represented as professing a love to God whom they have not seen, whilst they hate their brother whom they have seen. They love the heathen on the other side of the globe They can pray for him, pay money to have the Bible put into his hands, and pay missionaries to instruct him; while they despise and totally neglect the heathen at their own doors.”
For Douglass, Christianity was a matter of both vertical and horizontal love. For Douglass following Jesus consisted of both worship and compassion. His view of Christianity intersected with the Vineyard values of experiencing the presence of God reconciling community and compassionate ministry. He definitely placed a priority on pursuing justice for the oppressed over religious rituals. He also advocated a global and local Christianity. One of the things that often frustrates me is the imbalance I have seen between the fire and passion of world mission and the neglect of our neighbor right next door. This is not to say there isn’t a need for the gospel to go out to the nations (after all I’ve been to Ethiopia eight times for that very reason). However, like Douglass I can say I’ve scratched my head at the enormous effort to go to the nations in light of the miniscule effort to go across town or across the other side of the tracks and love Christian brothers and sisters of a different race or socioeconomic class. Something is wrong with that kind of Christianity. To jump over the ghetto or the trailer park to get to the jungle is a clear sign of hypocrisy.
To be clear it is not an either/or battle between worship and justice. It is also not an either/or battle between global vs local needs It is a recognition that a healthy Christianity needs to be both/and.
Douglass shows us the need for a fuller and more robust gospel imperative. Not just worship but also justice as the truest form of worship. It is in the classic Vineyard train of thought that we not only talk about Jesus but that we do the stuff Jesus did. We not only participate in global but also local mission. Although Douglass was born years before the Vineyard movement began we can clearly see he had a passion for doing the stuff. He may not have used our kingdom theology and terminology but he definitely had a kingdom mentality. May the same be said about us!
You can read more about Frederick Douglass and his faith here: http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/frederick_douglass.html
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About the Author:
Ramon Mayo is currently student ministry coordinator at the South Suburban Vineyard church and regularly blogs at ramonlmayo.com. You can check out his black history devotional, His Story Our Story