Jeff Vanderstelt: White Christians Have To Admit 'We're Ignorant,' Don't 'Know The Right Way'

Jeff Vanderstelt (Doxa Church) reacts to the video of George Floyd's death in May 2020. This video has not been edited.

--TRANSCRIPT HIGHLIGHTS--

For several years now, I along with Doxa leaders have been asking how can we grow in our awareness of racial inequality + injustice in our country. We've been wanting to see our church grow in diversity and all of us, and we've sought to own our part...We've sought to really listen to African-American pastors and leaders in our own context and around the country, as well as Asian-American pastors and leaders. And we just continue to ask: "What have we done? And what could we do?" And the reality is, family, we could do so much more.

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The depths of the roots of systemic racism in our country run far too deep, and they're just simply demonic. I understand that the issues of racism are complex, that they're far-reaching, that the solutions and the answers, they're not simple, they're not clear-cut and we may not all agree on it. But we have to agree that there really is a problem.

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I've interacted with several black pastors over the last couple days...I felt some shame in those interactions. I felt like I haven't done enough and I felt shame over the fact that it's like, *now* I'm responding. Why wasn't I doing a lot more before this? So I can live with all that and it can crush me, but thankfully the gospel does not pour more weight on me and it doesn't crush me with the guilt. Jesus already took care of the guilt. I'm forgiven...The gospel can free you to face it.

What I want you to understand: the gospel is not only about your forgiveness. It's not only about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord on the cross to forgive us of our sins and make us right with God. It is that. And it's only about the future reality of a new heaven and a new earth with a new resurrection body. It is that. It's also about the present reality...In this moment, God is wanting us to press in to his heart, to his power over sin, to enable us to live differently in this moment. See, we've been reconciled with God through Jesus Christ so that we might be committed to the ministry of reconciliation between one another.

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As we pray, we ask God: "What do you want us to do? What does repentance look like? What's my part? How have I contributed to this evil? And where are you calling me to repent? What are you calling me to do? What do you want me to do with my station, my platform, my privilege, my position? How can I leverage that? How can I steward that for people who don't have privilege or position or a station that gives them upward mobility in life?"

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Family, we're gonna walk humbly. We're gonna walk forward in humility, not in condemnation but contrition. We're not here to condemn people or even ourselves. We're gonna walk forward in humility without hatred but love, without slander but blessing, neither being passive and doing nothing but also not being ignorantly assumptive, as though we know the right way. We don't. We have to posture ourselves in a learning posture, even ask our African-American brothers + sisters to say "Will you teach us? Will you help us? We need to listen. We know we're ignorant. We know we've not done everything right. We know there's stuff that we need to own, but we don't know it all."

[qianashaw]

He cleared up his fake emotion really quickly.

[micahlantz]

I so hate what they are doing to one of my favorite verses. Micah 6:8. These woke preachers are something else man.

[qianashaw]

Please don't ever befriend me simply BECAUSE I am black!

[alechsb]

Didn’t even get his last name right “Lloyd” 😂😂

[DWCVlog]

Growing a church in diversity isn't the goal at all. You stumbled out of the gate.

[allenfurlanhair]

If you’re forgiven for whatever sin....there is NO reason to revisit

[HonestlyNowReal]

Mourn, fast, and pray for the Lloyd family... or whatever the name is.

[KingdomeBleachers]

Jeff V: "See, we've been reconciled with God through Jesus Christ so that we might be committed to the ministry of reconciliation between one another."

Jeff's soteriology here almost makes reconciliation with God secondary to being reconciled with man between races. Being reconciled to God is the supreme message of the gospel. It is impossible to have real reconciliation between man without the grace of God. I think it's very important for pastors to give up the pagan/worldly term and ideology of race and embrace the Biblical term of ethnos. Race has, since it's very inception, been used to disparage and divide people. It was the driving force between human zoos, darwinian theory backed eugenics, abortion and various other forms of division including within and from the church. I would warn against this influence in the church. God is our God, and the church His bride. God chose His people, and they end up in churches. Who are we to question those He brings amongst our midst? Now, there are probably small things you can do to bring in people of differing demographics such as change your music, etc. However, taking on pagan and worldly ideologies so that you can appease your conscience and satisfy your carnal flesh in seeing more folks of a certain skin color in your church is not becoming of a leader of the flock. As someone who had attended a church under Jeff's ministry, his teaching in this way, and those under him (they have taught this for years, and expressed frustration when they weren't getting the results they so desired), caused me to stumble and commit the sin of partiality, something I had to confess as my sin was uncovered recently.

What comprises a multi ethnic church, and who or what is the standard? Is it one person of another ethnicity? Two people? 10 people? Equal to the outside worlds population? And what if that is not enough according to those in the church? They want more! This feels very fleshly driven, and seems divergent from what the Gospel states our focus as a church body should be, which most definitely should not be the fetishization of skin color.

[aslan]

There appears to be a distinct “useth thou hands” methodology common among woke preachers

[KingdomeBleachers]

I was just waiting for Jeff to use eisegesis of Micah 6:8. He held off for 7 minutes tho.

[DefenderoftheCross]

What histrionics. The crocodile tears are simply insufferable.

[aslan]

No, no. The “ministry of reconciliation” that Paul refers to is the work of Christ to reconcile us…with God

[kentbergeron]

Lying actor - name the pastors you interacted with. Name them quick quick. Horse manure. This guy is marketing himself and he is terrible at it.