by Pastor Dan Baumgartner

“Heh, heh, heh.” Dolphus Weary’s wide smile softened his ironic chuckle that meant “I know I’m pushing you here.” He saved it for those statements he knew were provocative and challenging. “You will not change your racial attitudes unless you do something different…intentionally. (pause) Heh, heh, heh.”

Dolphus was in the Bethany parlor, along with his wife Rosie, thanks to Lynne Blessing and Bethany’s new Race & Justice Team. He is sixty years old, a well-known African American preacher and community developer from Mississippi. A disciple of John Perkins, many people recognize Dolphus from his nearly thirty-year involvement with The Mendenhall Ministries. His topic on that Tuesday night was “race relations.”

It’s a vitally important topic. In 2003 when Bethany’s Session leadership listed “building loving relationships across racial barriers” as one of four points of emphasis on the Statement of Direction, we knew it was important. Let’s be honest. Bethany is a mostly white church in an affluent and mostly white part of Seattle. We have a lot to learn.

In this case, I’m talking mainly about African American and European American relations. Certainly, “race relations” can be a broader term, and some of our involvement with people in Honduras and Kenya speaks to an international dimension.

In these last four years, a number of things have happened. In 2004 Bethany’s Session met with Pastor Harvey Drake from Emerald City Bible Fellowship for a morning retreat to learn more about race issues. We read the book Divided By Faith and discussed it, led by Bethany member Suzzanne Lacey. Suzzanne and Lynne Blessing also helped lead another discussion time on the topic, and Suzzanne guided a Bethany group on a civil rights tour of the South (Museum Without Walls) in 2006.

That summer, I encouraged our congregation to read Blood Done Sign My Name and led a discussion on it. Our 2005 and 2006 high school mission trips spent time in Jackson, MS working with John Perkins, and John preached at Bethany in February 2007. In between, Bethany has partnered with Urban Impact on a few other projects. In short…we’ve scratched the surface.

Our Session is currently in the process of working out an updated “Statement of Direction,” and the area of racial reconciliation has come up in every conversation. Something seems to be stirring, not just at Bethany but in Seattle as well, through the visits of people like John Perkins and Dolphus Weary.

Where will it lead? We don’t know. But I received an encouraging picture that Tuesday night in the Bethany parlor. At the end of the evening, we prayed over Dolphus and Rosie. As we prayed, I “cheated” and looked around the room. I saw folks who were white, African American and Samoan. I saw folks from Bethany, Emerald City Bible Fellowship, Capitol Hill Presbyterian, New Light Christian Church, Seattle Pacific University, University Presbyterian, and New Horizons Ministries. I saw folks who were pushing eighty and some who were pushing eight. And as we prayed we were very different people, but all agreeing in Christ: “Umhuh, yes Lord, thank you Jesus.” A great picture.

Where will it lead? There are lots of ideas, but we really don’t know. It just feels like God is nudging us, maybe even 2-handed shoving us out of our comfort zones and into some kingdom activities and relationships, things which as Dolphus said, will most certainly inconvenience us. Heh, heh, heh.