One People: Race, the Gospel & the Church

On November 7, 1837, Elijah Parish Lovejoy was killed by a pro-slavery mob while trying to preserve a newly-arrived printing press and building, in which was located his anti-slavery newspaper, The St. Louis Observer. Born in 1802 and the son of a Congregational minister, Lovejoy moved to the Midwest after college hoping to make his mark in the newspaper business. He eventually became editor and part-owner of the St. Louis Times.

In 1832, however, his career aspirations were redirected under the influence of a powerful Christian revival. Sensing a call to ministry, Lovejoy sold his interests in the newspaper and at the age of 29 enrolled in Princeton Theological Seminary. Two years later, a group of St. Louis businessmen recruited Lovejoy to return to the city to start The St. Louis Observer, which would promote religious and moral education in the region. Lovejoy agreed and returned to St. Louis. 

At first his abolitionist views were moderate, but over time they intensified under the influence of fellow abolitionists like Edward Beecher (brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe). Due to his editorials, three printing presses were destroyed by angry, pro-slavery mobs, and he was eventually forced to move his family across the Mississippi River to Illinois, a free state.

On the night of November 7, 1837, following another anti-slavery editorial, an angry mob gathered in Alton to destroy what was now his fourth printing press and to set fire to the building that housed The St. Louis Observer. While fighting the flames, Lovejoy was shot and killed.

John Quincy Adams called Lovejoy the “first American martyr to the freedom of the press and the freedom of the slave.” The Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award, established in 1952 at Colby College, honors a member of the newspaper profession who continues the Lovejoy heritage of fearlessness and freedom.

After 182 years, is Lovejoy’s story still relevant? I think it is and here’s why. Today the United States is still negotiating its racial history and racism is still with us. If you need to be convinced, we have only to consider the racially-motivated shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Church that killed six women and three men, all of whom were African-American. Or, consider the Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in the summer of 2017. Tragedy struck when James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, hitting several and slamming into a stopped sedan. One person was killed and 19 others injured. These are only two examples, but there are many more.

It’s true, America has made progress in fighting its legacy of slavery and racism. Yet, the work is still not complete. What is more, our churches are not without blame. A few years ago, Redeemer’s denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) approved a resolution repenting of the denomination’s sin during the civil rights era. The resolution lamented that some founding fathers of the PCA taught that the Bible condoned racial segregation and discouraged interracial marriage, and many Presbyterian churches who became founding churches of the PCA segregated worshippers by race and denied membership on the basis of race.

This repentance was truly encouraging and gives us hope for the future. God’s purpose for the church is for groups of people ordinarily separated by ethnicity, economics, education or other reasons to come together, all because of the reconciling power of the Gospel. Our vision for Redeemer is to be a church where different groups of people who would ordinarily not be in the same room are in the same room because of Jesus. We want this to be our new normal, not the exception.

This brings us back to Lovejoy’s legacy in the anti-slavery movement. We forget that almost all of the first abolitionists in the United States were passionately committed Evangelical Christians. As believers made alive in Christ, they recognized the incongruity of slavery and discrimination based upon race. Affirming the equal worth and dignity of each person, they sought to be the very “salt and light” our Savior has called each of us to be in this world. (Matt. 5:13).

God’s call on our lives is no less relevant and our times are no less significant. The church is still called to be the voice of the Gospel’s hope in our culture and the embodiment of its power. Few things demonstrate this more than the unity and reconciliation of the races in and through the power of Jesus Christ.

In light of this, I’m pleased to announce Redeemer’s 2020 Christianity and Contemporary Culture Conference, “One People: Race, the Gospel and the Church,” which will be held February 21-23, 2020. Our speakers will lead us in examining the history of racial injustice and tension in America and the American church, the Gospel call to racial reconciliation, and the power and necessity of cultivating relationships across cultural and racial lines with Christ at the center.  Redeemer invites the congregation as well as leaders and members of other churches to join us with humble hearts and open ears for this important time of conversation, learning and reflection. Please make plans to attend this important opportunity now!

You can read about our speakers and find more information about the 2020 Christianity & Contemporary Culture Conference, "One People: Race, the Gospel & the Church," HERE.