A Thank You Letter to My Church
A Thank You Letter to My Church
New Springs,
Thank you. Thank you for your commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Your commitment and faithfulness pushes me to pursue excellence because your faith demands it. I appreciate that a watered-down gospel, lazy preaching, and fake community are not welcome in our church. Because you follow the Good Shepherd so unashamedly you know his voice. That is both an encouragement and a motivator for me as your pastor.
In this season, I would most like to thank you for willing to be pastored by a young, black man. It has been clear to me since day one that my skin color doesn’t matter to you. You haven’t joined New Springs because it adds to your street cred; you haven’t sat under my leadership out of a misplaced sense of guilt; and you haven’t naively ignored my blackness, either, instead you have celebrated it as the beauty of God’s kingdom. I can’t thank you enough for that. I have always felt that you call New Springs Church your home because God is with us, the gospel is preached, and community is authentic.
This letter comes from the heart because this has not always been my experience. We live in a country where black people are best taken in small, controllable doses. We are often perceived to be a threat and feel forced to carry ourselves in such a way that we are seen as non-threatening as possible. You just never know when someone may feel the need to “defend” himself or herself. The death of Ahmaud Arbery is yet another wake up call to the other pandemic that has plagued this nation since its inception.
Racism doesn’t always manifest itself in an objectively wicked public lynching and justice system cover-ups. It does manifest itself in the hearts of those who see black men jogging as a threat. It does manifest itself in the hearts of those whose first instinct is to look into a black victim’s “past” in order to justify lethal action. Racism manifests itself in the hearts of millions, but as long as it doesn’t result in name-calling, abuse, or murder our nation, and our nation’s churches are disturbingly okay with it.
I am thankful that that is not the story of New Springs Church. Keep doing what you’re doing. Your hospitality toward me and other black and brown skinned people is an unbelievable encouragement. Keep including us in your lives. Keep considering us genuine brothers and sisters with whom you can share burdens, laugh with, cry with, and even be willing to learn from – and not just in matters of race, sports, and hip-hop.
I love you New Springs Church. You are a tangible expression of God’s design for the church and his love my family and for me as a man – a black man in America.
Your Brother in Christ,
Pastor Gavin