Reflections on #whiteblessing. @louiegiglio seeking to avoid the resistance and tension resulting from white Christians recoiling from the term #whiteprivilege suggested we refer to it as #whiteblessing instead on Sunday in a conversation in Atlanta w @Lecrae about race. 1/

Giglio would later offer a ‘sort-of apology’ that his “word choice wasn’t great.” This is an important teaching moment for the church.

1) The continued tendency in white evangelicalism to water down the sin of racism perpetuates its false narratives & further wounds. 2/

It falls far short of Biblical repentance that is personal, corporate & thorough. We see this in Isaiah 6 when he cries out “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips of a people of unclean lips!” See Daniel 9 & Nehemiah 1 when they confess sins decades before their birth 3/

bc past sin reverberates into the present. The failure to appreciate the depth of racism continues to alienate people fr these spaces bc that’s not true biblical repentance. 2) Where whiteness is centered easing discomfort w terms like racism, & #whitesupremacy is priority 4/

Giglio was trying to make his message less controversial by attempting to sanitize (the already sanitized) “privilege” with “blessing.” What this is really about is #whitesupremacy. White Christians need to embrace the discomfort of the story of racism instead of avoiding it 5/

3) Tragically, @Lecrae, who has largely been cancelled by white evangelicalism for being outspoken about race has been caught up in this controversy because of his failure to immediately & forcefully denounce those words. 6/

While it is reasonable to expect such a correction, it’s unfortunate that much of the criticism has fallen to him. I can confess that I have at times heard something problematic and failed to immediately confront it preferring a lack of conflict in the moment 7/

There are moments I wish I could have back too. But the bigger teaching point is the difficulty this situation reveals of being a black person in white Christian spaces which are often deeply conflict averse & likely to spiritualize that aversion as championing peace. 8/

Black Christians experience the fallout which makes us less effective when we have to be proximate to such spaces. Giglio’s name wasn’t trending on Twitter this morning ... think about that. 9/

4) It’s time to be bold in our confession, repentance & prophetic voice. We have to call our sin and not equivocate. We have to acknowledge what @lisasharper said in response to this controversy: 10/

@lisasharper: Mr. @louiegiglio, the impact of your unwillingness to call a thing a thing, is that SIN is given the cover of sanitized language. What will it take for you to do what you claim to do? What will it take for you to lead—Into true repentance? #WhitePatriarchy 11/

White supremacy won’t simply roll away on wheels of inevitability. It needs to be surgically removed fr the Body of Christ. If white evangelicals don’t confront it-offering a biblical anti-racist response-they'll continue to find their witness compromised & irrelevant. 12/12