STATE WIDE–Racism exists in the Christian church, but it may serve to illustrate just how broken human beings are at their core, says Mark Vroegop, lead pastor of College Park Church in Indianapolis. He said those beliefs are unbiblical and inconsistent with long-held church beliefs.
“There’s just no issue that I’m aware of that shows more clearly how fundamentally broken human beings are than this particular issue of racism, and then what to do about it,” said Vroegop, on WIBC’s First Day with Terri Stacy.
LISTEN: Pastor Mark Vroegop talks racism and the church.
He said being racist is self-serving.
“There’s nothing more self-serving than to believe either subtly or actively, that your group of people are either better than others or you want to cause other people difficulties because you want to maintain a position of power or authority,” he said.
He said the concept of judging a person because of their outward appearance is also not Biblical, violating a scripture in James.
Vroegop said the “white evangelical church” has had a history where racism hasn’t been effectively addressed.
He said race has been part of the church’s story in its foundation.
“First century, a place in Antioch was a multicultural church and it was the first place that people were actually called Christians,” he said.
Vroegop said finding a solution lies within understanding the problem and the pain that people in other cultures may endure because of the color of their skin, the principle of “weep with those who weep”.
“I think Gospel unity creates racial harmony and I would like to see the church lean in a new way in this conversation,” he said.
