FutureChurch

Isn't it interesting how some people claim to be colour-blind and not see race? Isn't it interesting how those people are white people?

"I don't believe in racial and ethnic labels," many Whites argue. "I'm an American.

- Changing Multiculturalism, p217

Something else white people love: claiming to be “colourblind”. Hint: doesn’t make you seem less racist. Makes you seem unobservant.

-Seen on StuffWhitePeopleLike.com

"I have never had to confront my race. I’m just me. White, purple, black, polka dotted. What’s the difference? Can’t we all just be colour blind?"

- StuffWhitePeopleLike.com

"It's strange to come to this country and see that all of the waiters are black. I think the white people here have an unconscious expectation to be served by black people."

- A foreign student speaking in race workshop I was at last week at UCT

I came to South Africa not realising I wasn't white. After have been seen as second-rate for such a long time, in spite of me resisting it, I feel like I'm going to leave this country a worse person that before I came.

- A Sri-Lankan UCT student, at the same race workshop. She is in her early 20's, and has never experienced Apartheid South Africa. What she has experienced is the Rainbow Nation.

"That's weird. Those street cleaners are white. Never seen that before."

- Me, to myself, when I first visited England (2000)

Technorati Tags: Apartheid Array South Africa Whiteness

This conference is going to be interesting, especially from the South African side, since I think many/most of the participants are white. Perhaps the concept of "post-colonial church" is a little too "out there" for most South Africans, where "post-Apartheid" is closer to home, but it's still a case where from the white side the idea is, "Apartheid is over and racism is no more - just get over it already." And from the black side it's, "White people haven't a clue what it was like, and what it continues to be like." And then there's everyone else (Coloured, Indian, Asian, etc) who aren't in the white-black polemic, and can easily be excluded from this debate (and this is an over-simplification, of course).

Technorati Tags: Amahoro Christian postcolonial postmodern South Africa

My friend Sean Tucker recently wrote that of the 32 people who started out with him in his 1st year class at Baptist Theological College only 3 of them are now Pastors in churches. That's 9% of the class! These aren't your ordinary Christians either - these are people who were so convinced of G-d's call on their life that they committed to studying theology and preparing for the pastorate. These aren't the "weddings and funeral" people, or the "attend church once a month" people, or the "attend church weekly" Christians, or even the more involved "we have leadership roles in the church" people. These are the most committed - those who are preparing for a lifetime of service within a church, because they feel called to this as their vocation - and only 9% are currently doing that as Pastors!

I find that shocking...and I'm not pointing fingers at Baptist College either.

Technorati Tags: Alpha Course Baptist Theological College Baptists Christianity Church post-apartheid post-christian South Africa