Not just the Young, Restless, and Reformed, but also those of us who were a part of the Confessional, Curmudgeonly, and Reformed movement who were taught that good theology only came from 16th-17th century Europeans. Let me tell you about the "Confessionally Reformed hip-hop" ...
https://twitter.com/JemarTisby/status/1348069699029000195
In the circles I was in, people made ministries off of dunking on the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement and went heresy hunting on anyone that didn't fit their view of "truly Reformed" theology.
It was basically the Make the 16th Century Great Again movement that tried to make the end-all be-all of theology the magisterial Reformation.
What was the biggest trump card that was played in these circles I was a part of? "Well, they're not truly Reformed" and "Well, they're not confessionally Reformed."
And "truly Reformed" and "confessionally Reformed" always seemed to align specifically with 16th century European theologians and a select few gatekeepers through the 17th-20th centuries - J. Gresham Machen being the last of the gatekeepers of Reformed Christianity.
Such smugness and hubris, and the more your personal library was filled with these European theologians, the better. If you could rattle off something from Berkhof, you were golden. If you could recite a question and answer from the Heidelberg Catechism, you were solid.
Oh, but the "missional" movement? "That wasn't really Reformed." Tim Keller? "He's not really a presbyterian." Diversity and racial justice? "That's just social gospel that we fought against in the 1920s."
Oh, and evangelism? In these circles, that was entirely the role of the minister on Sunday morning, and anything outside of that was just pietism and the scary word "evangelicalism." I know churches that check off the "evangelism" box by recycling Sunday morning sermons on a
radio program and have refused to do outreach because they think they've done enough.
As a Korean Presbyterian who has generations of Korean Presbyterians in my family line, it was absolutely appalling to hear the words "truly Reformed" and "really presbyterian" with the erasure of my spiritual heritage. I learned nothing about my Korean Presbyterian forebears
and if I ever heard anything, it was about the "exotic" or "odd" Korean-style prayers, impassioned preaching and teaching styles, and devotion to prayer and fasting. Korean Presbyterians were never treated as a part of the definition of "Reformed and Presbyterian."
When I was undergoing licensure in one of these denominations, I was told that I should go to mission work in "East Asia" because "you look like them." Even though I didn't speak the language and I was culturally very different, I was an accessory to accomplish their ministry.
Christians and theologians of color were all lumped together with liberation theology, radical feminist theology, progressive theology, and basically "other" compared to Reformed theology. My seminary studies were no different, if not more heightened.
As @JemarTisby said, there is need for a sustained reckoning for this. I've known Christians of color in these Reformed circles who went through the most horrendous, racist, and abusive situations. I know many whose gifts and education were used for cheap labor for pulpit
supply and the ability to check off the "diverse outreach" checkbox. I know some who heard racist phrases and terms from within leadership meetings and heard leaders discuss well-known Christians of color with veiled racist rhetoric. Many of these Christians of color
have jumped ship entirely and are either no longer affiliated with the church, have renounced the faith, are doing their best trying to navigate mainline denominations, knowing that progressive Christians are racist too. Lots of big promises for church planting and opportunities
that ultimately turned out to be huge lies. Many of these Christians moved their families across the country to pursue year-long internships at disgustingly low wages with the assumption that it would better their chances at ministry. After struggling for a whole year, some
found themselves stuck in an all-White Reformed church, with nearly 100k in seminary debt, and no prospects for a pulpit or ministry. But, they could be used as a statistic to show that the denomination was "changing its ways" and becoming "more diverse."
I can't even count how many of these sorts of stories I've heard, and there are definitely many others that haven't even been shared because of the deep shame these Christians of color have felt, feeling as though they wasted tons of time, money, family life, and energy for
absolutely nothing to show for it all. A reckoning, indeed.
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