This past Sunday, I had the great privilege of preaching Ephesians 2:11-22. I always love meditating on the mystery of the church, and God’s eternal plan to make a people out of those who were no people, to “make one new man” our of Jew and Gentile. It was a humbling honor to unpack this passage for a little while on Sunday.
While I was continuing to meditate on the glories of the passage, I came across this story: Louisiana Black Church Will Pay Whites to Attend.
The Bishop Fred Caldwell of Greenwood Acres Full Gospel Church offered white people who attend his church $5/hr for attending Sunday services and $10/hr for Thursday services. One church member commented: “I don’t see it as any different than a lot of the churches that have different social functions to attract visitors. Bishop just kind of cut to the chase and went to the money.”
What?! This is a whole new level of racial reconciliation and integrated church services!
My wife’s question was, “How does he know who the white people are?” Which seemed rather odd until I remembered that I’m in Grand Cayman and knowing this isn’t always so obvious.
Now, the article is three years old. But it’s still worth the read. I appreciate that pastor’s ambition… I really do. But am I the only one who thinks this is too much? How many of you would attend a church with this offer? I think Mark Dever owes me for the hours and hours of services and sermons I’ve sat through. There’s Sunday morning, Sunday night, service review after Sunday night, Wednesday night Bible study, Thursday morning theology breakfast (where there is NO breakfast!), and the occasional Henry Forum. In the immortal words of Ice T to Chris Rock in New Jack City, “You owe Pookie; you owe a lot of people.”