About Me
- Cross-Racial Clergy
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Joyce M. Anderson is a Provisional Elder in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church. She draws on her MBA and MDiv education and nonprofit and for-profit corporate work experiences to encourage an “Art of War” approach to spiritual warfare.
It is a marvel how the Holy Spirit works to present truth to us. So, in the midst of cross-racial appointments my prayers for deliverance from the gainsayers, naysayers, and talebearers is heartfelt. We all share our truth with a purpose. At the worst, “The dog who brings a bone, carries a bone.”
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, the greatest asset in pastoring is to love the sheep, enjoy them, run away from conflict and watch as well as pray as Matthew directs. Loving the sheep means speaking the truth in love by matching energies with my folk. When a person wants to talk about black and white issues, I engage. When a person insists that someone’s contemptuous behavior has nothing to do with race, I cannot argue with that. I may then suggest that such behavior happens for outsiders. When pressed further, I point out specific examples of clandestine or other activity that help to exclude others. The immediacy of my truth telling has great impact.
Naming the silent complicity and ungodly alliances is as soon as it happens is as disconcerting for me as it is for those I expect to receive it, for the challenge to receive the truth is as much mine as it is for others.