by Julie Jeffery Manwarren
Dr. A. Charles Ware (’72, ’75) is executive director of Grace Relations at the College of Biblical Studies in Indianapolis, Indiana. He placed his trust in Jesus in 1968 and came to Clarks Summit University later that year. He founded and pastored churches in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Indiana. He received his Doctor of Divinity degree from Capital Bible Seminary. Ware served as president of Baptist Bible College of Indianapolis, Indiana, later Crossroads Bible College. He founded A Voice of Biblical Reconciliation and has led national conferences and spoken on the topic of race relations. He is the author of “Prejudice and the People of God” and co-author of “One Race, One Blood” with Ken Hamm. He has contributed to and edited many others on the topic of race relations. Ware is married to Sharon; they enjoy time with children and grandchildren.
How and why did you form Grace Relations?
Ware: I started a ministry with another group called “A Voice of Biblical Reconciliation.” We were trying to get believers together, black and white primarily, asking how do we live out the gospel we preach? Instead of talking about one another, how do we talk to one another and create a right community?
Later, it changed from the Voice of Biblical Reconciliation to Grace Relations. GRACE is an acronym – God’s Reconciliation at Christ’s Expense. Some people have said to me, “You are talking about grace because you don’t want to talk about race. You don’t want to deal with sin.” But I say, God’s grace is strong enough to deal with the sins of the past, the alienation of the present and to create a better tomorrow. That’s where I land on.
How can we have conversations so that we can begin reaching people when there is such a racial divide?
Ware: What I like is an “us and us” conversation. Not “us versus them.”
The norm today on race issues is “Whites, shut up. You are privileged. You’re wealthy. You’re racist. So what you need to do is just shut up and just listen to a black person.” And it’s never the other way around.
I meet so many Christians who are so discouraged about this whole racial deal. They don’t know what to do, they don’t know what to say or what not to say. They are paralyzed.
I like to tell people what we really need for conversations is an Acts 10 experience. Where both people have had a meeting with God first. Peter had a meeting with God. Cornelius had a meeting with God. They both were humble. So, when they met with one another it was incredible. Peter walks in, Cornelius goes to his knees. Peter immediately grabs him and says, “Stand up! I’m a man like you.” That’s what I love to see.
Beyond that, building these relationships, hanging out together, doing some things together, eating together, talking together, and then you can go deeper and deeper. Because if you try to go too deep at first, unless one of you is really, really, mature, it’s probably going to blow up. And I’ve heard that a lot.
It would be wise, if the church is going this route, to train some people beforehand how to facilitate such a discussion. And then multiply that group. Use that group to model it for the congregation. These are not easy discussions. This is not an easy thing within our present culture to do successfully.
In our present culture, how do we, as believers, build community and implement change?
Ware: If the Church cannot tell us what the Bible says about what our relationships should be and we’re silent, where do we expect them to get the knowledge from? And when they do get it from the media or secular organizations, we criticize them. We curse the darkness. But we never taught them how to address the issue from a biblical perspective.
I think the church is doing a good job at devouring itself. The devil doesn’t have to do hardly any work because we are tearing ourselves up pretty good. But if we can create a culture from above, we can bring people together as one and do a better job at getting the gospel out.
I think churches have to ask, “What is the culture of our church?” James 3 talks about two contrasting cultures. One is from below and one is from above. We want that culture from above.
Do people from a different ethnic group than yours, different than the majority in your church, do they feel secure in your church? Because there may be people who come to your church but they don’t feel secure in that church.
Can we create a culture where there is a church that brings people together as one? Can we create something that the world can look at and say, “Look at the way they love one another.”? That’s what we’re going for.
I tell Christians, if you are going through diversity training and don’t come out of it loving God more and loving your neighbor more, you missed the mark.
When we say, “Love God and love your neighbor,” it’s convicting and could be discouraging. The first thing is get a good glimpse of God’s love for you. If you are secure in the Savior’s love, it will free you up to selflessly love others. When you are insecure and think you’ve got to look out for yourself and nobody else is looking out for you, and you have to protect yourself and just be around people that protect you, that is a sign that you haven’t come to grips with the depth and the greatness of God’s love for you. When we find security in His love which we do not deserve, that’s when we begin to understand grace. When we come to grips with God’s love, our response should be Romans 12:1-2. We give our lives as a living sacrifice. I like the fact that the Bible says, “For God so loved…” not that “God so hated” or “God was so outraged.” No, God so loved that He gave.
So, I’m going to love God. Then, love my neighbor. Then the question is, “Who is our neighbor?” With the illustration Christ gave in answer to the lawyer in Luke 10, that neighbor wasn’t anybody like him. Christ surprised him. Because how are you going to have a Samaritan be the good guy?
I was in Thailand in 2004 at the Lausanne Forum. And the question that was raised was “Is the gospel powerful enough? Is it powerful enough to take people out of these divisive groups and bring them together as one?”
I think that’s the same question we can ask the church today. You preach the gospel. You want me to believe the gospel is strong enough to deliver a person from sexual addiction, alcoholism, drugs and all this stuff, but you don’t believe it can’t make you have a loving conversation with somebody that looks different than you? “By this, they will know that you’re my disciples. That you have love one for another.” If we can’t love one another, by Jesus’ words alone, society has a reason to say, “You don’t follow Christ.”
How to do we get there? How to we build true community?
Ware: How did God get relationship and reconciliation going with us? He loved us first. It wasn’t that we first loved God. He loved us first. He loved us most. He gave up His only begotten Son; so what are you and I going to give up? And He loved us to life. He gave His only begotten Son to be the propitiation of our sin so that we might have life. Well, what is life? “That they might know You, the Only true God.” We don’t want to only give money to people who don’t look like us. If we want true community, we want life with them. We want to know them; we want them to know us. And it goes both ways.
One of the reasons churches aren’t more diverse is that church members don’t have diverse relationships.
No contact, no impact. People are not going to come to your church just because you put a sign out saying all are welcome. Go to them. Go to where they play ball. Go where they hang out.
Build relationships with people. Just learn their name. Learn their likes, their dislikes. Learn their educational background, their family. Just like you would do if you were meeting a friend of your own ethnic background. Because ultimately what you are looking for there is genuine relationship and to build trust.
Even with people who look like us, there aren’t many people we are deeply honest with. So, now you’re dealing with people who don’t look like you who probably have perceptions about you that are negative, and you’re going to try to get in these conversations. Go for relationship. As trust builds, you can go deeper.
To build biblical community we need to get the gospel out. People are lost and going to hell, regardless of their color. And we are the only ones that have the message that they desperately need.
Obviously, the command is given to us to go into all the world. All nations. Panta ethne. That is all people groups.
We will not reach everybody. But we should reach somebody. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul said, “I become all things to all men, that I might reach some.” I’m looking for the some. Another point about 1 Corinthians 9, is the mature believer has made adjustments to get a clear gospel presentation to others. He never gave up biblical morality or biblical absolutes. But he did set aside cultural preferences. He was willing to give those up that he could reach other people.
We need to show the compassion of Christ to everyone, without compromising the truth of Christ for anyone.
We must be humble. We must reach out. But we cannot give up God’s Word for unity or relationship. At the same time, we need to be willing on those preferential things, things we prefer, things that are common in our culture, things we grew up with, things we like, but that are not biblical absolutes, we need on those things to demonstrate that we can flex and change and adjust for the sake of people going to hell. We need to ask ourselves, what is our priority? Just to be with people who look like us? Or to see people saved?
Heaven is not a segregated place. But neither is hell.
We need to create models. John 13:34-35 says, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, that you have love one for another.” I think as Christians, we are good at cursing the darkness. But we are weak or lacking in creating alternatives to the darkness. We’ve got to model the message, based upon the words of Jesus.
What are some stumbling blocks to the gospel? What are some stumbling blocks that we unknowingly put in place that hinder reaching others?
Ware: One is identity. When our racial or political identity either actually or perceptually transcends our identity in Christ. I get more worked up, riled up and ready to fight for my political party or my racial identity than I am for Jesus Christ and the Word of God. And I will even be blinded that I will accept sinful activity from my racial group or political party that I wouldn’t accept from the other side.
The way some of us have been acting, it’s as if we are saying, “As long as it benefits me and my group, I could care less about you.”
There is a tendency to see things through one perspective. And not be equitable or non-partial in our judgment. We aren’t listening to one another; we aren’t loving one another.
Love will triumph color.
By the grace of God, through the power of the Spirit of God every believer can love. And we need to learn how to do that better. And that’s how we create an alternative to darkness.
Read the interview with alumnus David Robinson.
Read the article featuring Ware and Robinson from Summit Magazine.
