World Vision Teacher Suggests Churches are White Supremacist by Default, Must ‘Name’ and ‘Balance’ Power Dynamics
Continuing the trend in the wikification of World Vision, Dr. Soong-Chan Rah interviews Dr. Korie Little Edwards, who joins Dr. Soong-Chan Rah for their “May We Be One” course.
Dr. Korie Little Edwards is perhaps the most radical progressive and given over to a racialized mindset as they come. While she teaches some relatively benign (for this crowd) bad advice about race and power, she is listed as a recommended resource, and her other works include some incredibly divisive and destructive teachings. One example is on her Elusive Dream podcast where it is asserted that if you’re on this side of the grave, no matter who you are, “you most assuredly have something to repent of as it relates to white supremacy in this society, and if you think you don’t, well, hmm hmm hmm.”
In this case, she explains how because “there are power dynamics outside the church, and those come into the church” the church can’t help but be a racial minefield where persons of color will in some way be subjugated.
Pastors of color have to really deal with people considering them being legitimate authorities. And that white pastors, that is not something they have to really navigate, they are perceived and understood as being legitimate authorities, people that they should be listened to, and followed. It’s not to say that white pastors don’t have a problem to they do [sic]. I mean, they still have to navigate white hegemony or white supremacy, they still have to navigate that in the church. But one thing they do have, is they’re perceived as legitimate authorities.
Unlike white pastors, black pastors have to deal with the emotional impacts of not being viewed as a legitimate authority, and this sort of reality “also extends to congregants. Even congregants of colour deal with similar kinds of pain, where what it means to be and how to express yourself in the worship context, is not considered Christian.”
So one of the key things that happens in multiracial churches is that white supremacy and what I broadly and more generally call ‘white hegemony’ begins to really dominate the space. And that is so powerful. It’s so powerful. And if pastors and leaders are aware of that, it will continue to manifest and really hinder the ministry of the church…what happens often in multiracial churches is you want to ignore the power dynamics that happen outside the church and pretend that it doesn’t matter for with what’s going on in the church. And then what happens is we (believe), everybody’s on equal, everybody’s on equal stand. And that’s just that’s just not true. Everybody’s not. Everybody’s not on equal standing in multiracial churches, white people have greater power outside the church, and they have it in the church.
In order to combat the white supremacy that infiltrates and permeates churches, especially ones that are considered multiracial, Edwards gives her solution:
And I would suggest that one of the key things that multiracial churches have to do is name that immediately and deal with it. Don’t pretend it’s not there, because it’s hurtful to people of color. I’ll tell you that’s number one. Because whenever you don’t name it, whenever you don’t speak the truth about a social fact, it will continue to have power in that space. So the first thing is to name it and to acknowledge it and to talk about how are we going to bring balance to the power imbalance. What are we going to do?
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Lady, pastors are not “authorities,” they’re servants. That’s your first mistake.
All authority is God’s and God’s alone.
If you’re in any church where it’s all about the power and authority of certain individuals, you’re already in a bad church regardless of the skin color of the leadership. Walk out the door, and don’t look back.
The only “hegemony” is God Almighty. He is supreme. And His Word is the authority. Skin color doesn’t have squat to do with it.
But I will say this: It doesn’t exactly help your cause when you demonize men like Voddie Baucham, calling them “uncle tom” and other vile names, trying to destroy them. The idea that a black pastor is a bad guy if he says things that non-blacks agree with is not exactly helping you. You’ve manufactured a whirlwind of circular reasoning that will do nothing but lead to further confusion and perpetual conflict. If a black pastor says something non-whites agree with, he’s an “uncle tom,” but, if whites don’t agree with him en mass, then whites are in the wrong for not submitting to his authority. Please tell me, ma’am, how that’s supposed to work, because from where I’m sitting it sure looks like your definition of a “white supremacist” is simply someone who doesn’t agree with you, and fails to fall in line, as it relates to any subject or issue imaginable.
Correction – should’ve been “If a black pastor says something whites agree with, he’s an ‘uncle tom,’ … “
You bring up a good point about confusion over pastors being servants rather than authority figures. The situation is convoluted. Protestant churches broke from the Catholics, who had a clergy that were and still are held as the successors of the apostles, thus they are imbued with authority in their teaching. Later Protestants, especially evangelicals, have stressed that pastors are theoretically servants, rather than authority figures, but it’s schizophrenic. In practice many evangelical pastors function as CEOs of nonprofit organizations, with assistant managers/pastors under them that are over various departments, (men, women, youth, children, missions, finance, etc.) And many pastors, especially Black pastors it seems, are held up as political figures by the Democratic Party, I’m thinking of the Jesse Jacksons, the Jeremiah Wrights, those types and some more recent, etc. Thus their supposed authority is pushed outside their church to the wider culture and we’re all supposed to care what they think; the current talking point is to accuse anyone who doesn’t as racist.
Denominationalism is also a factor here as many people will only consider clergy from their own denomination as authoritative. Most Americans will listen politely to clergy from other denominations, and then largely ignore them.
Yes, and I don’t know what supposed authority or power she is even talking about. It’s based on her perception, and not reality. She appeals to equality, while also implying that those in those perceived positions of authority or power are somehow above or superior to everyone else. That is both nonsensical, and non-Biblical. But that’s “wokeism” for you – nothing but a bunch of irrational nonsense.
Also, very good point about the fact that progressives create the apparent problem in the first place. They basically throw out God’s Word, and essentially declare mankind to be the ultimate authority and power, because they don’t like what the Bible says about certain things, then they proceed to whine about who among mankind has that authority and power which they’ve manufactured.