How to Heal Our Racial Divide: What the Bible Says, and the First Christians Knew, about Racial Reconciliation

by Derwin L. Gray, Annie F. Downs (Foreword by)

Overview

“I was moved by what I read. I saw things in Scripture I’d never seen before, I saw truths about God and humans and injustice and myself that were new to me, but radically important.” —Annie F. Downs, New York Times Bestselling Author of That Sounds Fun

Why must everything be so black and white? Like many of us, Derwin Gray is weary of the racial divide in our society. He longs to see hurts healed, wrongs corrected, and trust replace distrust.

The good news is that the Bible has a lot to say about how to heal our persistent racial divides. In this book, popular Bible teacher Derwin Gray walks us through Scripture, showing us the heart of God—how God from the beginning envisioned a reconciled multiethnic family in loving community, reflecting his beauty and healing presence in the world. This message is central to the gospel itself.

After reading this book, you won’t read the Bible the same way again—and you’ll want to walk through this eye-opening scriptural journey with your friends or small group.

As founding pastor of Transformation Church, a multiethnic church located in the Charlotte metro area, Derwin knows firsthand the hurdles and challenges to the reconciliation that Scripture commands. That is why he carefully outlines in this book how to establish color-blessed discipleship in your own church.

Together, we can become the change that God yearns to see in this world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496458803
Publisher:	Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date:	04/05/2022
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	637,369
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword Annie F. Downs xiii

Introduction The New Normal 1

Chapter 1 "Why Do You Talk about Race So Much?" 7

Part 1 The Bible in Color

Chapter 2 A Family for Abraham 27

Chapter 3 Jesus the Barrier Breaker and Family Maker 47

Chapter 4 The Birth of God's Multiethnic Family 79

Chapter 5 Paul and the Early Church 97

Part 2 Color-Blessed Discipleship

Chapter 6 A Hole in Our Discipleship 123

Chapter 7 Trust the Supremacy of Christ 147

Chapter 8 Engage in Difficult Conversations 171

Chapter 9 Collectively Mourn Injustice 193

Chapter 10 Display Gospel Character 213

Chapter 11 Affirm the Reconciler's Creed 233

Conclusion Passing the Torch 263

Acknowledgments 269

Notes 277

About the Author 281

What People are Saying About This

How to Heal Our Racial Divide by Pastor Derwin Gray has given me a new category—“color-blessed.” In the body of Christ, it is a sacred blessing for us as diverse people to stand together as one in him. Thank you, Pastor Gray, for helping us embrace this blessing so that everyone can see Jesus really is the Prince of Peace.

Russell Moore

This book is an inspiring and timely grace-driven manifesto from one of the world’s most respected preachers. Avoiding both simplistic answers and despairing cynicism, this book shows us why racial justice and reconciliation are not distractions from the gospel but a central theme of Jesus’ call to repentance and life together. Read this book and pass it along to a friend. We need it right now.

Ed Stetzer

When I want to learn about healing, I listen to someone who has been a healer. That’s one of the many reasons I listen to Derwin Gray. He has not just advocated for racial justice and reconciliation, he has worked toward it and demonstrated it in his life and ministry.

Dr. Bryan Loritts

Dr. Derwin Gray is not just an author with a big social media following that he leverages to talk about things he’s not personally invested in. Derwin is all in on God’s multiethnic family in every sphere of his life. How to Heal Our Racial Divide is a hopeful offering which pours out of a life committed to healing the divide.

Matt Chandler

Derwin Gray is a trusted voice for looking at what the Bible has to say about one of the most divisive topics of our day. In How to Heal Our Racial Divide Dr. Gray sets us up by looking into both the narrative arc of Scripture as well as its explicit commands (orthodoxy) and then moves us to the application of the Scriptures in our disciple-making (orthopraxy). There are many books on this subject but few that deal with it as biblically and hopefully as this one.

Nijay K. Gupta

Why are you always talking about racism? Just preach the gospel! Derwin Gray says he hears this a lot—so do I. I love Gray’s answer: because it’s a part of the world’s story of sin, because it was on Jesus’ heart, because reconciliation and unity are a part of God’s beautiful gospel, and because Scripture casts a vision for a many-colored church family living as one. I encourage you to read this book with an open Bible and an open heart. Gray will help you see the racially divided church and world through God’s eyes, and he will equip you to hear the call to become a faithful reconciler in the name of Jesus.

Ray Ortlund

How to Heal Our Racial Divide by Pastor Derwin Gray has given me a new category—“color-blessed.” In the body of Christ, it is a sacred blessing for us as diverse people to stand together as one in him. Thank you, Pastor Gray, for helping us embrace this blessing so that everyone can see Jesus really is the Prince of Peace.

Brady Boyd

Derwin Gray has been a trusted teacher and guide for me on my journey toward understanding racial unity and reconciliation. His prophetic voice is needed now more than ever, and I trust these pages will bring healing and clarity to a divided world.

Rev. Dr. Glenn Packiam

In a world where we can’t even agree on how to talk about racism or why it matters, pastor and theologian Derwin Gray takes us back to the heart of God. From Abraham to Jesus, from Babel to Pentecost, Gray unpacks the biblical vision of God’s plan to create a single, worldwide, multiethnic family in Jesus Christ. Full of theological depth, personal vulnerability, and pastoral guidance, this book is a Spirit-breathed manifesto for our cultural moment, a clarion call for the church to be, by the grace of God, all that we were called and redeemed to be.

Christine Caine

This book is phenomenal. Every Christian needs to read this, and every pastor needs to take their church through this book. Just wow! If you are going to read one book on healing the racial divide, read this book, and then give a copy to everyone you know. In How to Heal Our Racial Divide, Derwin writes as both a theologian and practitioner, showing us that “gospel-shaped racial reconciliation and racial justice is the natural overflow of life in Christ.”

Scot McKnight

America’s racism is not so much its original sin as it is the church’s scourge. In this book Derwin Gray, block by block, slowly and carefully, lays the foundations and begins to build the Bible’s own house designed by God for all people. Racism’s scourge has always had a biblical prophetic word (sin) and a biblical prophetic vision (the multiethnic church), but many have walked away from God’s design. We need fewer people criticizing and more pastors like Derwin Gray creating solutions to the problem. This book can help heal our nation. Be Tov!

Jamie Ivey

The question, “Are we experiencing a racial divide?” is easy to answer. How to heal this divide is a conversation we should all be interested in right now. Derwin pastors each of us with his words as he shows us why this all matters and what God’s Word says about it all. With every word of this book, I felt pastored, encouraged, and enlightened.

Editorial Reviews

02/28/2022

Pastor Gray (God, Do You Hear Me?) suggests “the church” needs to lead the way to racial reconciliation in this jejune clarion call. Gray uses personal anecdotes and scripture to argue that “the way to heal our racial divide is to catch the Bible’s vision of a new community—a multiethnic community—formed around King Jesus in mutual love.” The author highlights the unifying message of biblical passages that address ethnic division, noting, for example, that the Samaritan’s generosity toward the wounded Jewish traveler in the parable of the good Samaritan illustrates Jesus’s belief in compassion across ethnicities. Gray envisions a “color-blessed discipleship” that acknowledges systemic racism and responds by “collectively mourn injustice” and “engag in difficult conversations.” Gray’s superficial approach to confronting racism by focusing on bonhomie and proselytism (“We must love Jesus”), however, will disappoint Christians looking for concrete ways to combat injustice. Additionally, some of his turns of phrase (“supremacy of Christ,” “gracist”) come across as flippant. While well-intentioned, Gray’s program leaves much to be desired when it comes to actually addressing and correcting racism. Agent: Alexander Field, Bindery Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly