This may be a shock to some of my readers but I firmly believe that Gracepoint is white supremacist. How can an organization that was started by a Korean America couple (Becky and Paul Kim) and is led by a Korean American couple (Ed and Kelly Kang) and has mostly Asian Americans as their congregants be white supremacists? The answer is complex.
Christianity in Korea was introduced in the context of European colonialism and imperialism. One cannot separate Christianity in Korea from that context. Korean immigrants brought this colonized version of Christianity to America when we immigrated here and got plugged back into American/Western Christianity that gave birth to Korean Christianity. I could say a lot more about this but I am not a historian so I'll let you use google.
Gracepoint is a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC is rooted in white supremacy as an organization. Again, I am not a historian but I encourage you to learn more about the SBC and it's origins. Many Christians supported the continued enslavement of African Americans and SBC is a major part of that shameful legacy.
During my many years at Gracepoint, I read countless books and listened to countless messages by other Christian leaders that the church promoted. Who were these other Christian leaders? White men. Cis het white men. (Except for Ravi Zacharias who turned out to be a sexual predator.) Bill Hybels, Chuck Colson, John Ortberg, CS Lewis, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Tim Keller, John Piper, Philip Yancey, J.P. Mooreland, etc. etc. etc.
How many Black Christians were promoted at Gracepoint? ZERO. Not one can I recall in my memory.
How many Indigenous Christians were promoted? Zero.
How many Hispanic or Latinx Christians were promoted? Zero.
I think you get the point.
This is probably going to be a very unpopular post.
I came to this realization not that long ago but it's helped me uncover yet another layer in the multitude of ways that Gracepoint was harmful to me. My intention for this post is that it helps you think more critically about why Gracepoint promotes mostly white men. And if you did not even notice this fact until you read this post, I invite you to lean into that awareness.
