return to main article
Clip 1c — begins at 44:48
Jeff Wright: So in Life-Changing Cross-Cultural Friendships, the church is going to get practical approaches and strategies to help bridge the current racial divide that we’re experiencing in the country. Do you [Clarence] believe that can happen for black churches and white churches?
Clarence Shuler: If God is real, yes! You know, if you go look at Jesus, [you see that He] was really into cross-cultural relationships. Jesus — remember He met the woman at the well, in Samaria? He breaks traditional religious laws to even walk through Samaria. He breaks another Jewish traditional law by speaking to a Samaritan woman who makes Him ceremonially unclean. He risks losing His followers [by taking actions that cause them to think and say,] What in the world are You doing, talking to her — she’s a Samaritan! He risks all that because she’s worth it.
Even when she initially rejects Him, He has staying power. You know, and He keeps staying, and eventually tells [her] about her life; He meets her where she was with water, but then He talks [to her] about the water that she can drink [through which] she can have eternal life. And God uses that time, for that woman, and she turns the city around through the grace of God. So, I think it can. I think it becomes a faith issue for us. I’m not trying to cop out. I mean, it’s…and I still wrestle with this. I don’t have it all together, but, I think it’s what God’s calling us to do, yeah!
return to main article