‘I wouldn’t pour out the actual classical resource at first … I would develop a biblical trajectory on that particular subject as I disciple those men and insert quotes not necessarily letting them know where I got it from because of some of the feeling that the barrage of what people felt about Christianity.’ — Carl Ellis, Westminster Seminary

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater is the message Pastor Eric Mason is sending out to the black community, referring to the tension many Reformed African Americans are experiencing today over their acceptance of “the white man’s” theology.

Speaking particularly of the disconnect between the teachings of the black, traditional Baptist church versus the Gospel-centered teachings grounded by mainly white Reformed theologians, Mason, along with acclaimed Christian hip-hop artists Trip Lee and Lecrae, together shared their own perspectives on the matter and offered up words of advice to reconcile the tension. Their discussion is featured on The Gospel Coalition website.

All three speakers are in the Reformed circle and have been accused by some of their people as being under “theological imperialism,” or in Mason’s words, back “on some type of plantation” for their acceptance of Reformed theology.

“How do we deal with that?” Mason, lead pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia questioned.

“I don’t feel like I’m under imperialism,” Lecrae responded. “I feel like I’m in search of truth and I’m going to get it where I can find it. I feel like I am in some sense a contextual ambassador, a cultural ambassador, and I do want to bridge those gaps and tear down those walls.”

“It’s a journey,” he added, thinking back on his own path to faith. Though he did not grow up a believer, he was familiar with the traditional black church, which his mother and grandmother were both a part of.

After converting to Christianity at the age of 19, he began attending what he described to be “the only church [he] knew to go to” – the traditional Baptist church.

“I would go to that church and I’m hearing things that are true and incredible and are good for my soul and I may not be hearing the things that I do need to hear as well.”

When he began attending a “[majority] white conservative evangelical church” thereafter and started to hear truths that he did not necessarily hear before, Lecrae’s knee jerk reaction was to blame his old church for not teaching him the truths that he heard at his new church.

“I get to railing on this community that had nurtured me in a lot of ways and I just focused in on what I didn’t get and became to make this (new church) the place to be.” But he soon realized that his new Reformed church did not appreciate who he was, culturally, and who God made him to be. He was stuck in the middle.

“That was always a wrestle for me,” he expressed.

Agreeing, Lee shared that many black Christians could relate to what Lecrae was saying, initially blaming the traditional church for not teaching them the foundational truths.

“I think something that can help those dudes is not to bring people along to sell the truth … don’t wave reform on them … Just say ‘look at what I found in the Scriptures and if you don’t understand that from the Scriptures then you don’t even understand that; you just like some dude’s teaching.”

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