The Bible has much to say about racial reconciliation. Join New Testament scholar Craig Keener in his basement study for this timely investigation of how the church is called to be ambassadors of ethnic and racial reconciliation.

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With comments by Pauline Parham, daughter-in-law of Charles Parham, who passed away at the age of 94 on December 22, 2003

He has been called a “rabid racist” and a “white supremacist.” He has been vilified as the progenitor of racial prejudice in the Pentecostal movement. Some believe that any traces of racism among modern Pentecostals can be traced to him. In a recent reconciliation gathering, repentance was offered and forgiveness asked for his sin of racism.¹ In the minds of many, Charles Parham is an embarrassment to the Pentecostal movement and does not deserve recognition as one of its founders.

On the other hand, it was Parham who first reached across racial lines to both African-Americans and Mexican-Americans and included them in the fledgling Pentecostal movement. It was Parham, a native of Kansas, who offended southern whites by preaching in black churches and allowing a black pastor to enroll in his Bible school in segregated Houston, TX. It was Parham who did the “unheard of” and invited a black woman, Rev. Lucy Farrow, to preach in his Apostolic Faith campmeeting in south Texas in 1906. And it was Parham who, until his death in 1929, maintained cordial relations with the black community in his hometown of Baxter Springs, KS, often preaching in the local black Pentecostal church.

So, how are we to reconcile these conflicting views of Parham and his racial stance. Is there more than one Charles Parham? The problem seems to be context, or lack of it. Historical events occur within a context and the historian must not ignore the context. When Parham’s life is evaluated within the social-legal-religious context of his time, what emerges is neither a saintly crusader for racial equality nor a rabid racist. What does emerge is an individual who, in many ways, reflected the times in which he lived—when racial apartheid was generally accepted and practiced throughout the land. But what also emerges is an individual who, at critical times, was willing to break with cultural mores and reach across racial lines when it was not the popular thing to do. It is for this reason that Charles Parham deserves credit for setting the tone for the inter-racial openness and harmony that prevailed for a time in early Pentecostalism.

The Historical Context

Parham (1873-1929) lived and ministered during a time when racial segregation was accepted and practiced throughout America. The 14th amendment to the constitution had included a “Separate but Equal” clause, recognizing segregation but requiring that all citizens be treated equal under the law. In the 1896 case, “Plessy vs. Ferguson,” the United States Supreme Court upheld the “separate” part of this clause when it ruled that a law in Louisiana requiring blacks and whites to ride in separate railroad cars did not violate the constitution.

It was obvious, however, that the “separate” part of the clause was upheld far more vigorously than the “equal” part. Public facilities for blacks were inferior and fewer in number than those for whites. Blacks were commonly required to sit on the back seats in trains and buses and to eat in dilapidated, back rooms in restaurants. The best hotels were for whites only and even professional sports was for whites only.

And the Church? In the 1960s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared 11 a.m. on Sunday morning to be the most segregated time in America. It was even more so fifty years earlier. A black person in a white church or a white person in black church was considered strange and even inappropriate. Most professing white Christians believed the white race to be superior and that racial segregation could be defended with Scripture.

Mel Robeck (center), during a discussion on ecumenism, at the 2014 meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

The “Memphis Miracle”* was a triumphant moment in the history of Pentecostal race relations in North America. But it was only a moment. Pastors and other church leaders returned to their places of ministry with a great deal of good will. They wanted to do the right thing, but they have not always known how to translate their mountain-top experience into action.

This is understandable. Our histories and experiences are all different. They require different approaches as we move along the process of racial reconciliation. Some pastors and congregations have extensive experience promoting racial reconciliation. Others do not. The following suggestions may be helpful as you consider your next step in this healing process.

1. Acknowledge that there is a problem of how we relate to one another across racial and ethnic lines.
2. Personalize the problem. Ask yourself what role you play, implicitly or explicitly, that contributes to the present situation, then offer it to the Lord.
3. Seek God for wisdom in addressing the problem in your own life.
4. Begin to pray regularly for a specific pastor or a local congregation that is of another color or race. As they become part of your regular prayer life, your attitudes toward them should begin to change.
5. Seek out one or more individuals of another race and build a relationship. Do not assume that this is a relationship that will only benefit the other person. Open yourself to receive as much as you give.
6. Listen to the other person as a peer. Be willing to learn from him or her. This is critical. Do not assume that you have all the answers or that money is the real issue. Move past the level of rhetoric and hear the heart.
7. Begin to share with your congregation those things you are learning in your new relationships.
8. Be willing to enter into a pulpit exchange across racial and/or ethnic lines. Exchanges may be extended to include a food festival, music, youth activities and cooperative efforts in the community. Together Celebrate their significant cultural events (e.g. Cinco de Mayo, Martin Luther King Day, Chinese New Year).
9. Adopt another congregation as a sister congregation. Ask them what contributions you can make to their lives. Ask them what they would like to do for your congregation. Act on those things that are possible to do. Do not over-commit yourself or your resources. It can lead to disappointment. Prioritize.
10. Share with other pastors what you are learning and how it has blessed your church.

* The Memphis Miracle was a meeting of North American Pentecostals in October of 1994 where the Racial Reconciliation Manifesto was drafted and signed and the Pentecostal Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) Task Force was formed. See the Spring 2000 issue (Vol 3, No 2) of the Pneuma Review for more information on the “Memphis Miracle” and comment.

From the Summer 1998 (No. 1) issue of Reconciliation, published by the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA). Used by permission of the author.

The Memphis Miracle was a meeting of North American Pentecostals in October of 1994 where the Racial Reconciliation Manifesto was drafted and signed and the Pentecostal Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) Task Force was formed.

Challenged by the reality of our racial divisions, we have been drawn by the Holy Spirit to Memphis, Tennessee, October 1 7-19, 1994 in order to become true “Pentecostal Partners” and to develop together “A Reconciliation Strategy for 2lst Century Ministry” We desire to covenant together in the ongoing task of racial reconciliation by committing Ourselves to the following agenda.

I. I pledge in concert with my brothers and sisters of many hues to oppose racism prophetically in all its various manifestations within and without the Body of Christ and to be vigilant in the struggle with all my God-given might.

II. I am committed personally to treat those in the Fellowship who are not of my race or ethnicity, regardless of color, with love and respect as my sisters and brothers in Christ. I am further committed to work against all forms of personal and institutional racism, including those which are revealed within the very structures of our environment. 

III. With complete bold and courageous honesty, we mutually confess that racism is sin and as a blight in the Fellowship must be condemned for having hindered the maturation of spiritual development and mutual sharing among Pentecostal-Charismatic believers for decades.

IV. We openly confess our shortcomings and our participation in the sin of racism by our silence, denial and blindness. We admit the harm it has brought to generations born and unborn. We strongly contend that the past does not always completely determine the future. New horizons are emerging. God wants to do a new thing through His people.

V. We admit that there is no single solution to racism in the Fellowship. We pray and are open to tough love and radical repentance with deep sensitivity to the Holy Spirit as Liberator.

VI. Together we will work to affirm one another’s strengths and acknowledge our own weaknesses and inadequacies, recognizing that all of us only “see in a mirror dimly” what God desires to do in this world. Together, we affirm the wholeness of the Body of Christ as fully inclusive of Christians regardless of color. We, therefore, commit ourselves “to love one another with mutual affection, outdoing one another in showing honor (Romans 12: 10).”

VII. We commit ourselves not only to pray but also to work for genuine and visible manifestations of Christian unity.

VIII. We hereby commit ourselves not only to the task of making prophetic denouncement of racism in word and creed, but to live by acting in deed. We will fully support and encourage those among us who are attempting change.