I want to preface this blog by saying that I don’t know it all. I’m not an expert on black history, on asian descent, or on minority challenges. And while I’ve done my best, I also know that there are perspectives that I have not heard, and hurts that I am unaware of. So while I share my heart on white saviorism, I want to first share that I have done research, I have searched scripture, and I have prayed, and yet I know I still have lots more to learn.
I am currently living in the Dominican Republic, the first country to ever be colonized. The Hispaniola, the island that Haiti and the Dominican Republic share, is the island where Columbus landed in 1492, called India, and began to establish European culture where Caribbean culture already existed. So again, I am not an expert, but I am a white American missionary, living in the birthplace of white saviorism, and I want to share my heart. My learning, growing, imperfect, and continuously sanctified heart.
And I want to start with a question:
Do you believe the cross to be powerful enough to reconcile any wrong stereotype, each deep hurt, and every malicious or misguided action?
If your answer to this is no, then I want you to stop reading, and use the time that you planned to read this blog, to instead approach the feet of Jesus, and wrestle with Him on this question. If you don’t know where to go, please read these scriptures instead of reading my blog:
Romans 3:23-24
John 3:16-18
Romans 8:1-6
Hebrews 10:14
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
John 14:1-6
I don’t say this to force you to make a decision that is yours to make, not mine, but I paused here because the rest of this blog is written from a heart that believes the answer to that question is yes. I am writing this blog because I trust that the cross is powerful enough to reconcile any wrong stereotype, each deep hurt, and every malicious or misguided action. And that’s where I want to begin.
The heart of Jesus is a heart for all people. For the tax collectors (Luke 5:27), for the religious leaders (John 3:1-15), for the demon possessed (Mark 5:1-20), for the outcast women (John 4:1-26), and the paralyzed men (Matthew 9:1-2). His heart is for all people, because every single person has been made in His image (Genesis 1:27). Skin color, hair type, and eye shape aside, every single person has been made in the image of our perfect God, and every single one of us imagebearers is broken and sinful, in desperate need of a Savior, the only Savior, Jesus Christ.
And if that’s the case, then the issue of racism, of white saviorism, colonization, discrimination, prejudice, supremacy or whatever other label you want to put on it, it’s ultimately not a political issue, but a spiritual issue. and it is an issue. It has caused hurts that I will never understand, and I recognize that historically, I have been on the side of the oppressor, not the oppressed, so I pray you hear my humility in this. and I want to speak from the belief that this issue isn’t first systemic, but it begins in our individual hearts. And therefore, a political leader, a good speech, or a new system is not the answer to the history of ignorance, selfishness, and hate. The answer is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone.
And that’s why I’m here, in the mountains of the Dominican Republic, sharing the gospel with people who don’t look like me, who don’t speak the language I do, who don’t eat the same foods or sing the same type of songs – I’m here because the one thing we have in common is our desperate need of a Savior.
My whiteness doesn’t make me any more or less qualified to share the gospel, and I want to be clear that I am not taking a gap year because I believe I have so much to give to the people of other countries. In fact, the only thing I have to give is the gospel, and it’s not even really me giving it away – it’s the Holy Spirit. I can only love these people (and the people in the United States) because Christ has loved me first. I can only show grace because grace has first been shown to me, and I can only do my best to understand, because I trust that my Savior has perfectly understood me.
I also want to recognize that white saviorism isn’t something that only rests in the minds of the white missionaries. The idea of superiority shadows culture and conversation throughout the world, and I can say this with experience from the past three months I’ve lived overseas. Between white models being used on advertisements of foreign products in foreign countries, to being honked at and whistled to as we’re walking down the street, the idea that Americans are wealthy and established is both sadly and obviously a belief that runs deep in the minds of people across the world.
But if discrimination and white saviorism has ruled missionaries and churches in the past, and even where it is present today, I want to be clear that that is not a true reflection of the gospel. The gospel doesn’t hurt people, discriminate, or call any race superior to the next. People do.
Jesus came and loved the Jews, just the same way He came and loved the Gentiles. So I want to begin to wrap up this blog by saying I don’t bring anything here worth giving apart from the gospel. While the culture, background, and skin color that Christ has given me are intentional gifts, to be used for His glory, they are not the reason I signed up for the race, they are not what defines me as a missionary, and that is not what I want to leave here in the Dominican when I return to the states. The only thing worth sharing is the gospel. It always has been, and it always will be.
And if the gospel is that good, then I promise you, it’s also worth it to show the same type of sacrificial love to every person. and I write that sentence with full knowledge that it is easier said than done. I assure you though, one shaky step towards love is more worth it than the thousands of steps sprinting away from difficulty. the gospel is worth it friends, Jesus’ love for His people, all His people, is abounding.
So I’m not here in the Dominican Republic for the social media posts or the stories to tell around the dinner table. I don’t live in the name of America, in the name of World Race, or even in the name of my squad, but I live in the name of Jesus Christ, the only One who can reconcile.
And I believe that the gospel that has saved me is powerful enough to reconcile any person. No one is too far gone, and no one has been elevated to higher ground than the foot of the cross. We live together in hope of eternal life in heaven, where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So today, let’s invite others into that glory.
If you’re struggling to take the next step, no matter where you’re at, I beg you, turn to the gospel. Take ownership, sit in the Word, repent where repentance is needed, and choose to receive the perfect love that Jesus has demonstrated on the cross. Trust in the grace that reached out to you when you were dead in sin, and then stand on that truth as you seek to see kingdom on earth, no matter the country, language, or skin color.
“For He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” Ephesians 2:14-16
