John M. Perkins
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John M. Perkins is an American Christian minister, civil rights activist, Bible teacher, best-selling author, philosopher and community developer. He is the founder and President Emeritus of the John & Vera Mae Perkins Foundation with his wife, Vera Mae Perkins (also known as "Grandma Perkins"). He is co-founder of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). Despite being a third-grade dropout, Perkins has been recognized for his work with 16 honorary doctorate degrees from schools. Perkins has advised and/or served on the Presidential Task Forces of five U.S. Presidents. He is the author of 17 books, including the best-selling One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race.
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Quotes
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"God loves everybody equally, but He has a special concern 4 the poor & underprivileged.”
Dr. John M. Perkins “Reconciliation is not a fad, program, or event. It is the living, powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ.” -Dr. John Perkins “We cannot reduce God to a Black church, a White church, a Hispanic church, a Chinese or Korean Church!! God's church is a reconciled church!” -Dr. John M. Perkins “You don't give people dignity, you affirm it!” -Dr. John M. Perkins “We must lie awake at night and wrestle with how we can individually and collectively bring our faith from talk to power, how we can bring our faith and works to bear on the real issue of human need” -John M. Perkins It is said of Christ in the Gospel of John, “In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”(1) Literally, John says that the light shines and the darkness could not “lay hold of it”; the darkness could not master it. Undoubtedly, as John penned the words that testified to the events which had unfolded before his eyes, his mind hastened back to the Cross, the darkness of that day—the unfairness, the ugliness, the confusion and regret of that overwhelming scene. And then he says boldly: Even in the jaws of darkness on the cross, the light of the world did not go out. The Light was not mastered by even the darkest moment in time. -John M. Perkins I’ve given most of my life to the cause of reconciliation, fighting the battle in the trenches and working with community development organizations. We developed the three Rs – relocation, reconciliation, and redistribution – to offer a process to help communities work together to balance some of the inequities of life in America. By God’s grace, much good work has been done, and I’m humbled to have been a part of it. -John M. Perkins But as I come closer to the end of my journey, I am aware that community development can only take us so far – because this is a gospel issue. The problem of reconciliation in our country and in our churches is much too big to be wrestled to the ground by plans that begin in the minds of men. This is a God-sized problem. It is one that only the church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can heal. It requires the quality of love that only our Savior can provide. And it requires that we make some uncomfortable confessions. G. K. Chesterton said, “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.” I believe this statement can be applied to the lack of reconciliation within the church today. -John M. Perkins "The problem is that there is a gaping hole in our gospel. We have preached a gospel that leaves us believing that we can be reconciled to God but not reconciled to our Christian brothers and sisters who don’t look like us – brothers and sisters with whom we are, in fact, one blood. The apostle John talks about that: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Yet from our early days as a country we adopted the practice of slavery and demonized the slave as inferior, subhuman, and deserving of exploitation. For this wicked system of slavery to survive there had to be distinctions made between normal folks and this new breed of people that would be treated like animals. This is where the idea of race came into play." -John M. Perkins "The problem is that there is a gaping hole in our gospel." -John M. Perkins "The truth is that there is no black race – and there is no white race. So the idea of “racial reconciliation” is a false idea. It’s a lie. It implies that there is more than one race. This is absolutely false. God created only one race – the human race. We’re at a unique moment in our history. We’ve come through – and in many ways are in the midst of – great upheaval. The soul of our nation has been laid bare. We have only to look at the signs of the times to realize that the church may not have long to get this right. We may not have much time left to offer the world a glimpse of this unity that will point the eyes of the watching world to the power of our great God. Yes, there’s an urgency. Time is running out … for all of us. But while we still have time, let’s reflect on the heart of Jesus, who prayed that his church might one day be one." -John M. Perkins |
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