Don’t Be Color Blind: An Interview with Trillia Newbell
If you care about diversity in the church—or especially if you
don't—you could benefit from reading this book. To help motivate you toward that
end, I asked Trillia to talk with me about the book and how she hopes it will serve
the body of Christ.
Q: There are many in our Western culture who would say,
“I’m not prejudiced. Our church may be predominantly one race, but we love
everyone. I don’t see a need for reading something like this.” What would you
say to encourage someone like that to read your book?
A: A lot of people are thinking we’re post racial, but until Jesus
comes back we’re going to struggle with racism. Until then, you should want to
know about your brothers and sisters in Christ. There’s a way to learn about
others’ perspectives. Now, I’m speaking from my own perspective and not from
every African American’s perspective in the church. But I think it would be
good to open a book by someone who’s different from you because, really, it’s
about loving people. What you want to know is, “How can I serve and love people
and learn about different experiences?” We’re brothers and sisters in Christ,
and if something’s important to one person, it’s important to all of us.
Q: What are some ways we in the church display or harbor
prejudice—or just apathy toward diversity—that we might not be aware of?
A: I think one area it’s easy to slip in but hard to see is the sin of
partiality. James talks about it—where the Christians were preferring the rich—and
I think that’s a temptation. We can prefer those who either can give us
something or who are more like us. How that looks in the church is either
you’re giving select people certain privileges, or every time you get together
for lunch it’s with the same group.
We can isolate ourselves from people. Being partial to what you think
is your “own time” can be divisive and can be a form of…not necessarily racism,
but maybe a slight form of discrimination. You may not hate that person, but
you’re separating yourself from them. It takes effort. It takes a lot of effort
to step out of your comfort zone and invite someone who is not like you to
lunch.
We can think that we’re innocent in this area, but this can be a huge
blind spot. We just think, “I don’t hate anyone. I’m not going to invite anyone
to my house who’s different, but I don’t hate them.” I think the sin of
partiality is probably where discrimination in the church shows up often.
Q: What beauties and truths and joys are we missing out on by not
being more diverse in our churches?
A: At the end of the day, in Revelation, God talks about us all
worshiping together—every tongue, tribe, and nation. I think a benefit is that
we experience a taste of it now—a taste of heaven, a taste of that last day.
We’re going to be rejoicing together anyway, so let’s do it now.
Also, God has made us all in His image. We’re all made equally. But
He’s made us unique, right? We’re different. We’re the same in terms of
creation. He’s created us all: man and woman in His own image. But we’re
different. And we can really learn from each other. It’s like Paul in
Corinthians talking about how we don’t want a bunch of hands in the body of
Christ, we want hands and feet and eyes and noses.
We have different experiences also. My history and my perspective will
be different from my sister who is from Georgia and lives in a rural area, or
my brother from New York who’s adopted. By getting to know different people of
different backgrounds, you’re going to be encouraged and built up.
Another benefit is that diversity—racial reconciliation—reflects the
gospel to a dying world. Have you seen all the news stories about the “stand
your ground” laws? There’s just one story after another and people are getting
fired up about this. There’s a lot of fear. Church members that are linking
arms with one another can really display the love of Christ, which can overcome
this division and this fear. A church that reflects this diversity really tells
the world, “Oh wait. Jesus is enough. Christ’s blood is enough for this. We can
overcome this because of Jesus. We love each other!”
Q: There’s so much talk about “equality” that we may be trying to
paint everyone with the same broad brush. There’s room for discussing equality,
but we might be losing some of the beautiful nuances of people being different.
Does your book speak to that?
So for the equality, what I focus on is that we are equal in creation,
we are equal in our fall, and we are equal in redemption. But that doesn’t mean distinctions don’t go away. We are still men and
women. I’m still black. We’re still different. There should be a celebration of
differences. I don’t want to be thought of as a white woman, you know? I don’t
want to be thought of as a man.
Q: On the tail end of your experience with publishing this book,
what advice would you give to other writers who desire to share the truths
they've learned with the world around them?
A: I would encourage them to just write and be faithful. Just be
faithful to write when they can. God gives grace for today, so we don’t want to
worry about the future that we don’t even know.
I hate the term, “God will take care of the rest,” but He really will,
because He’s faithful. He’s going to put you in the place where He believes you
should be. He will shut it down if He thinks it’s not the best. And so there’s
a comfort in that. It’s freeing to realize that and not just feel like you have
to know every step of the way.
Just start somewhere. It’s probably going to be small, like a blog,
and don’t despise the days of small beginnings. And just write. Let the Lord do
His work, and for the longest time you might simply be writing for your family,
and that’s okay.
Q: Any final thoughts?
When we think of diversity, we think of politics and affirmative
action. But the diversity I’m thinking of is really what God has
envisioned—it’s His heart for all people worshipping together. We are
reconciled to God first. This book isn’t about how we have so far to go. No,
let’s celebrate what the Lord has done and can do. It’s a very optimistic book.
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Trillia, thank you so much for making room in your hectic schedule to
grant me an interview! I’m excited to read the book—and review it here at Happier Far. In the meantime, to all my
readers: I recommend picking up a copy of United: Captured by God’s Vision
for Diversity.