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372 Biblical Faith and Social Ethics
and to men in society, then the Church must undertake to carry out
her mission by being both prophetic and redemptive.
In the third place, the Church has a responsibility to manifest in her
own life the unity and the brotherhood which she proclaims. As the
Amsterdam Assembly of the World Council of Churches declared,
racial segregation in the Church is a “scandal” in the Body of Christ.35
It is in clear violation of the nature of the Church as a supraracial
community of those who share a common faith in Christ. In this sense
the Church’s primary responsibility in the area of race relations is “to
be the Church.” This does not mean that every congregation ought
self-consciously to attempt to become interracial, but it does mean
that every church should be racially inclusive in the sense that its
membership should be open to members of all racial groups. Many
factors contribute the actual character of a particular congregation.
Generally speaking, churches tend to reflect the constituency of the
neighborhoods in which they are located, and neighborhood churches
are not likely to become interracial until the communities in which
they are located become integrated. All churches can, however, wel
come visitors, and all can open their membership to persons of other
races. Churches in down-town and transitional areas of cities, in rural
communities, and in integrated urban communities have a special
opportunity to demonstrate the sincerity of their commitment to the
Lord of the Church and to realize in their own life the richness and
depth of fellowship which transcends the boundaries of race. More
over, all churches have a responsibility to work toward the elimination
of segregration in the life of the communities in which they are located
—in schools, on public transportation facilities, in hospitals and
restaurants, in employment, and in housing. As these barriers are
broken down, it will become increasingly possible, not just to over
come segregation in the churches, but to achieve a genuine unity of fel
lowship and mutuality. In the words of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ, churches have a double responsibility to “work
for a non-segregated church and a non-segregated community.”36
It is important, in this connection, to make certain that emphasis
upon the obligation of the churches to become inclusive in their mem-
35
First Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Amsterdam, Hollandt
August 22nd-September 4th, 1948: Findings and Decisions,
p. 19. Available
fromTheWorld Council of Churches, Geneva.
36From a statement adopted in 1952. Quoted in
The Christian Hope and
the Task of the Church,
Section on “Intergroup Relations—The Church Amid
Racial and Ethnic Tensions,” p. 39.