Many aspects of life are greatly influenced by what are called virtuous or vicious cycles. There's no human alive who is a stranger to these two concepts. The more you study, the more you understand, and the better prepared you are for next year, which will be easier because of what you learned this year, and because of that, you are better prepared for what's coming. The less you study, the harder it gets until you drop out of high school because you are completely disengaged.
Or take exercise, for example. The more you commit to waking up early and going for that morning jog, whether you feel like it or not, the better you feel throughout the day, and you will see results that will motivate you to get up and go for it!
Those are virtuous cycles we engage with to improve our health, our careers, our marriages, and our lives. But try skipping a couple of those morning runs (especially during winter, but what do I know?) and you can most certainly kiss that 5K you were prepping for goodbye.
See, the problem is when we face vicious cycles on a larger scale. They get blurry, they become easily dismissible, and the pile of negative consequences gets diluted in the collective impact.
Now, when it comes to cycles in our community, we tend to be less prone to see the hamster wheel or the insanity of expecting different results with the same behavior. I've had the privilege of visiting many churches in my 20 years of ministry as a missionary, pastor, consultant, and interpreter. And there seems to be a trend that bothers me more than it bothers most churchgoers.
Here is the thing, in ministry, we are so familiar with the "you need to stop doing that" muscle. We spot it from miles away, and we are pretty accurate. Husbands need to stop treating their wives that way, children need to obey their parents, and so forth... good stuff!! We musicians like to say we have "the muscle memory" when we can deliver the passage without even thinking about it.
But our "we need to stop doing this" myopia is alarming. We are so unaware of our blind sprouts, pardon me... spots, that it begs the question: do we really have the value of justice as a non-negotiable?
Let me give you an example. We all believe that a leveled playing field is nothing but fair, right? Rigging the odds in favor of your kids' chances is not something you would love to find out your youth pastor is doing, I would hope. "We won because our coach cheated to give our team a better chance!" is something we would let our cheerleader team sing as they move their pompoms, I assume.
But we sorta do... Here is what I mean. As many have heard multiple times, "Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America," and we seem to be too OK with it. Yep, I'm quoting MLK. But not only that, 86% of U.S. evangelical churches are monoethnic (according to Divided By Faith), and sadly, many of them are less diverse than the neighborhood around them, mostly in suburban contexts.
And the consequences are measurable. Research shows that racially diverse congregations foster empathy, bridge political divisions, and even increase long-term civic engagement. Yet despite increased diversity in U.S. neighborhoods and schools, the percentage of racially diverse churches has remained relatively stagnant (hovering around 15%) over the past decade.
Let me rephrase it to see if it helps the "we should stop doing this" muscle... Many of the wealthiest evangelical churches in America today participate in patterns that resemble one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history: segregation. Again, 86% of churches are less than 20% minority. Even when their neighborhoods tell a different story.
One would think that, given an above-average level of wealth, access to power, and conditions that enable higher levels of education, committed Christians would tend to outperform other wealthy communities in identifying and breaking vicious cycles.
Remember, we are good at spotting where people are doing something wrong (we got the muscle memory!).
A reasonable mind would imagine that an advocate for justice (not social justice, that is a woke idea! right?), an ambassador of Jesus, would seek opportunities to discourage the crazy cycle segregation causes.
We do that at a personal level. We invite that lost teenager to our event, retreat, or whatever in the hope that he will come to his senses... and I LOVE that we do it.
I've seen so many vicious cycles destroyed in front of these very two eyes of mine. I live for those instances when push comes to shove and people abandon years of sinful behavior in pursuit of the grace and love Jesus offers.
I just wonder why it ends at a personal level, and we become so desensitized to what the rest of the world so clearly sees.
So this is my cry, as an insider, for us to do better, not as a bitter minority (though you're welcome to caricaturize me as such if you need to... no hard feelings), but almost as a "pocho" (IYKYK) someone who's been on both sides of the table and knows the fears and concerns that live on both ends. An invitation to deeper and more rewarding levels of stewardship. A plea to substitute our charity checks for seats at the table. A call for a closer representation of what Christian justice demands from those who are in the best position to show the world how Jesus would do it.
And yes, the solution, in my humble opinion, has a name: desegregation.
Not the forced kind that breeds resentment, but the deliberate, Spirit-led, justice-seeking, bridge-building kind. The kind that says, "Because Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, we will not rebuild it in His name."
The kind that resists the reflex to relocate when the neighborhood changes, or to split when the culture no longer feels familiar. The kind that sees growth in discomfort and opportunity in proximity. That doesn't just pray for the nations but sits beside them at the communion table.
The kind that refuses to walk away quietly when things get complex, and instead chooses to walk together — slowly, intentionally, and with eyes wide open. Not only because it is in tune with Jesus' heart for the least of these, not only becuase it is aligned with Christian ethics, not only because Scripture calls us to consider others more significant than ourselves, but because desegregation is the number one tool at our disposal to meaningfully disrupt income inequality. No legislation required, no ballot box needed.
As Uncle Ben (and Jesus) said, "With great power comes great responsibility."