A Faith Crisis?

All of us are aware of the protests in our country. We have different opinions as to its cause. Because I am a Christian first and a pastor second, let me share some thoughts from my Christian perspective.

I grew up in a Fundamentalist Baptist church full of loving people until it came to race. I saw another side of these loving people when they voted unanimously, in the 1960s, not to allow black people to worship with us. They used some vague scripture about the curse of Cain to justify their actions. I was told, “This is the way things are.” As I got older, I realized that they were referring to culture and not to the teachings of Jesus.

When I completed my master’s work at seminary, My wife and I were called to a large church in the southeast to serve on their staff. This church was integrated. When I compiled a youth choir trip to New Orleans, I called some of my pastor friends in southern Mississippi to host us in their churches. They were excited to have us. About a week before we were scheduled to leave on the trip, it occurred to me that since our youth choir had black youth in it, I had better call these churches and let them know. I did not want this to be a problem. It turned out to be a problem. I was told, “This is the way things are.” Again, it was agreed that this was not the teachings of Jesus but of culture.

Some years later, I became Senior Pastor of a church that was not integrated. When a black child, who had been attending our children’s program on Wednesday night, prayed to receive Christ and wanted to be baptized, it took three (3) deacons meetings before they would allow me to baptize this child. I was told, “This is the way things are.”  This black child would come to the pastorium crying saying, “Why do people at church say bad things to me?” As time passed, this child dropped out of church. At the age of seventeen, he committed suicide. As news of this traveled through our church family. Some said, “Pastor, you can’t change the way things are.” 

Well, the time has come to change the way things are. For Christians, we must stop living by cultural mores and prejudices and start living by the teachings of Jesus.

I overheard a pastor say to a prospective members class, “You can’t be a Christian if you don’t live by the teachings of Jesus.” That’s the way things really are!

Your Servant in Christ,
Ron McCaskill, Pastor
Christchurch, Cairo