Racism remains one of the most deeply rooted issues in our hearts and society. As followers of Christ, we are called to love genuinely (Rom 12:9) not selectively or superficially. But in our efforts to respond to racism, we can sometimes fall into traps that sound helpful but miss the heart of the gospel.
This article is meant to help us wrestle with both what we should avoid, and what we should pursue, as we confront racism in our local church communities.
How Not to Deal with Racism
1. Don’t Avoid It in Your Own Heart
The easiest mistake is assuming racism is “out there” and not in us. But racism isn’t just obvious hatred, it’s often subtle and internal. It’s seen in who we greet, who we invite into our homes, and who we feel more comfortable around. Racism should be seen more like a type of favouritism for us to notice it in our hearts.
James 2:1–4 confronts us with this truth: favouritism in the heart reveals something broken in our faith. We can’t fix what we refuse to admit exists. Pretending racism isn’t a personal issue does not make us righteous, it just makes us blind.
2. Don’t Try to “Make Up for It” on Behalf of Others
There’s a growing trend to apologize for the sins of others—our ancestors, our nation, our people group. But Scripture calls us to personal repentance, not borrowed guilt. We cannot confess sins we didn’t commit, and we’re not called to carry the shame of others.
Instead, the gospel calls us to humble ourselves before God for the sin that’s in our own hearts. Trying to make up for racism in the past only plasters over the real and present issues we need to deal with. When we stop trying to look good and start being honest about what’s actually there, it frees us from defensiveness or performative sorrow and opens the door to genuine transformation.
3. Don’t Try to “Balance the Books”
Trying to fix racism by artificially balancing leadership or ministries by culture or race may seem wise, but it often backfires. It reduces people to their ethnicity instead of honouring their character and calling.
The Bible doesn’t call us to diversity quotas—it calls us to Christlikeness. Appointing leaders based on race rather than godly character and gifting is not biblical justice; it’s favouritism. This kind of well-meaning effort doesn’t honour people—it reduces them to symbols.
Imagine being asked to lead not because of your spiritual maturity, calling, or faithfulness, but because your ethnicity fits a gap on the church’s diversity spreadsheet. That’s not affirming, that’s dehumanizing.
In Acts 6, the apostles addressed ethnic tensions by appointing godly men who were full of the Spirit and wisdom, not just because they were Hellenists or Hebrews, but because they were qualified. When we focus on appearances instead of maturity, we end up with teams that look the part but aren’t ready to carry the weight.
This is not to say we should ignore ethnicity or culture—it’s to say we shouldn’t lead with them. We don’t overcome racism by artificially “balancing the books”; we overcome it by honouring Christ in how we appoint, disciple, and include all people in the life of the church.
Let’s be intentional in welcoming people of all backgrounds, but let’s also be faithful in making sure every person—regardless of ethnicity—is raised up because of their calling, not their colour.
How to Deal with Racism
1. Be Honest About What’s in Your Heart
Start by asking the Holy Spirit to reveal any partiality in your heart. Do you instinctively trust or prefer certain people? Are you uncomfortable with certain accents or styles? Do you ignore, avoid, or judge others based on culture? Or do you prefer being in a church where everyone speaks your language. Or for the singles out there, does the idea of marrying someone from a certain culture make you uncomfortable?
Racism hides in the small things—greetings, social circles, inner thoughts. Until we confront it there, it will continue to shape how we see others. True repentance starts with honesty before God. Then pray and ask the Lord to change your heart towards the people who feel different from you.
2. Pursue Genuine Friendships Across Cultures
One of the most powerful ways to dismantle racism in the church is not through policies or programs—but through personal relationships. Racism tends to hide in distance and unfamiliarity. But when we build real friendships across cultures, those walls begin to crumble. It’s hard to hold on to assumptions when you’ve shared meals, stories, and laughter with someone different from you.
This isn’t about trying to look diverse or forcing awkward interactions. It’s about being intentional with the people God has placed around you. Many of us don’t realise how deeply we stay in our cultural comfort zones—gravitating toward those who talk, think, and live like us. But the gospel calls us to more than that. It calls us to love beyond what’s convenient.
Ask yourself honestly: Who do I greet at church? Who have I had around my table? Who have I never even had a proper conversation with—not because of bad intentions, but simply because they’re “not like me”?
Genuine friendship doesn’t grow out of guilt or pressure. It grows when we step out in love. When we choose to notice. When we choose to care. It grows when we’re willing to sit with someone new, ask questions, and keep showing up.
Jesus did this. In John 4, He goes out of His way to speak with a Samaritan woman—someone completely different from Him culturally and socially. He wasn’t trying to tick a box. He was revealing the heart of God: that every person has value, and that love crosses every man-made boundary. Let me be clear—this isn’t just about helping others feel included. It’s also about what God wants to do in you. Some of the most life-giving, sharpening friendships you could ever have might be waiting just outside your bubble.
So step out. Be intentional. Invite someone different. Open your life—and let God build something real.
3. Love Grows Through Service
Tim Keller once said that love doesn’t just lead to service—service grows love. When we go out of our way to serve those in church that are of a different ethnicity than, something changes in us. Love becomes more than a feeling; it becomes a choice, a habit, a lifestyle. The people you serve become people you care about. You begin to value them more when you’ve prayed with them, sacrificed for them, and carried their burdens.
Galatians 5:13 says, “Serve one another humbly in love.” This command isn’t just for the people we naturally get along with. It includes those we wouldn’t normally connect with—people from different cultures and languages. Racism begins to lose its grip when service take its place.
If you want to grow in love for people from other cultures, serve them. Not out of obligation, but because that’s what Jesus did. Get involved in their lives. Celebrate their wins. Mourn their losses. Ask how you can help and show up when it matters. When you serve someone, you stop seeing them as a category and start seeing them as a brother or sister.
4. Follow the Example of Jesus
Jesus didn’t ignore cultural barriers—He walked straight through them. Time and time again, He engaged with people others would’ve avoided: Samaritans, Gentiles, tax collectors, women. He wasn’t concerned with what was socially expected—He was concerned with reflecting the heart of God.
In Luke 10, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan—and it’s not a moral lesson about being nice. It’s a deliberate challenge. He picked the most hated outsider to be the hero of the story and then expected His listeners to do the same. That’s very confronting. He was saying, if you can’t love across cultural and ethnic lines, you’ve missed what it means to love your neighbour.
If Jesus didn’t treat people based on race, class, or culture—then as His church, we shouldn’t either. The more we walk and love like Jesus, the more the church becomes what she’s meant to be—places where every wall comes down, and every person belongs.
Final Word
Ephesians 2:14 says, “He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”
So let’s not deal with racism through guilt, performance, or avoidance. Let’s deal with it the way Jesus did—by confronting the sin in our hearts, embracing cross-cultural friendships, and building a church where love is genuine and no cultural walls stand between us.
Think 180 