Should Christians Support Black Lives Matter?

Recently on my Instagram Story, I asked people the following question: “Should Christians support Black Lives Matter?” Most of my Instagram friends consist of Christian believers and, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, 85% voted “yes” while 15% vote “no.” After receiving the results, I had two initial thoughts:

1. I didn’t realize the majority of my Christian friends were so “woke”

2. I wonder why some answered “yes” while others answered “no”

I asked this question though because I was genuinely trying to figure out where I stand. I’m very aware about the controversy surrounding the topic. On the one hand, I understand how some Christians think, “Of course we should support Black Lives Matter (BLM) - racial injustice is wrong.” On the other hand, I understand the dangers of the movement and how some of their beliefs are irreconcilable with biblical truth.

I am also aware of the moderate, safe approach where Christians say we should support the statement “black lives matter” while not supporting the movement. Of course, there is also the danger that supporting the statement would in fact signal a support of the movement. I mean, if you type #blacklivesmatter, would people think you’re only supporting the statement but not the movement?

In other words, it’s a confusing topic for Christians to navigate through and something that I am trying to humbly discern. So with that being said, should Christians support Black Lives Matter? Should we use the hashtag? Should we only say it but not join it? Here are some thoughts.

A Brief History of Black Lives

In case people aren’t aware, the Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. The movement began when an Oakland-based community Alicia Garza responded to the acquittal through a facebook post saying, “I continue to be surprised at how little Black lives matter…Our lives matter.”

Following that post, Garza partnered with community organizers Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi to campaign BlackLivesMatter chapters across the United States and the world. The slogan began to gain traction and the movement was born.

According to its website, BLM functions as a decentralized network with a mission to “eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities.” While this movement didn’t initially gain national support, the protests over the death of George Floyd changed everything. In fact, some are even calling this the modern Civil Rights movement. At the very least, the history books will probably refer to this as the BLM era.

One thing that should be clear is that when people say “black lives matter,” they are not saying only black lives matter. Of course all lives matter. But they’re saying in light of the injustices taking place, it’s important to emphasize that black lives matter too. One of my seminary professors gave a helpful analogy: if you own a keyboard and all the keys are working well, you can happily say “all keys matter.” But if some of the keys are broken, you need to direct all your attention to the broken ones. While the rest of the keys matter, you must focus on the broken ones because those are the keys that matter right now.

This is basically what the statement “black lives matter” means. From my observation, I think most Christians would agree with the sentiment behind the statement. But should Christians use it? More importantly, should Christians support the movement?

Why Do Some Christians Reject Black Lives Matter?

Even though the majority of the country seem to be supporting BLM, Christians are a different story. What is the reason behind the hesitation? Generally speaking, I sense at least three.

1) Churches Shouldn’t Be Involved in Any Social Justice Initiative

One argument is that the church shouldn’t participate in any social justice movement. That’s because the church has a clear mission: make disciples (Mt 28:18-20). Therefore, we should simply preach the gospel and focus on evangelism. Churches that try to participate with social justice issues will often be accused of abandoning orthodoxy, compromising to the culture, or supporting a leftist agenda.

While I agree that discipleship is the mission of the church, I do find it interesting that churches seem to only bring this up about particular social issues. For example, when churches want to help relieve local poverty or join pro-life marches, there are no accusations of abandoning the Great Commission. But while poverty relief and protection of the unborn aren’t the gospel, they are walking in step with the truth of the gospel (Gal 2:14).

So why is seeking racial reconciliation any different? In other words, if you want to discount the church in participating in anything related to social justice, I think there are a lot of inconsistencies to consider.

2) Christians Shouldn’t Support Any Secular Movement

I think a better argument could be made about whether or not Christians should ever partner with any type of secular organization or movement. After all, the bible warns believers to “not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Cor 6:14) and that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (Jas 4:4). Therefore, how could Christians ever consider supporting or even partnering with any cultural movement?

I’ll share more thoughts on this below, but this is a biblical warning that Christians should not take lightly. It makes me worried when Christians simply jump on the bandwagon and join marches and vigils without considering if this even contradicts their profession of faith.

3) BLM Seems to Affirm Non-Christian Values

Perhaps the main issue that Christians have with BLM is that it’s packaged with other secular agendas that contradict biblical truths. Implicitly, there may be some anarchist tendencies. Explicitly though, they seem to affirm the LGBTQ movement. The BLM website states that it “affirms the lives of Black queer and trans folks.” This is something that is clearly against the Scriptures (a topic I’ve written about on several occasions). Therefore, how could Christians align themselves with a movement like this?

In light of these concerns, I wonder if the 85% of those on my Instagram who affirmed BLM actually wrestled with these questions. My suspicion is that a lot of young Christians are blindly affirming BLM because they like to appear “woke” and are being influenced a lot more by the culture than the scriptures. However, as Christians, need to consider these questions so that we’re not being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14).

Why Do Some Christians Support Black Lives Matter?

Given everything I mentioned above, why should Christians even consider supporting this movement? Well, in my opinion, it’s not so simple. Here are a couple of reasons why:

1. The Existence of Common Grace

I find that one of the most neglected doctrines of the Christian faith tends to be the doctrine of common grace. While saving grace is found only in Christ, common grace is found throughout all of creation. Though the world is condemned in sin, God “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mt 5:45).

The idea of common grace provides the basis for why non-Christians are able to do good. As Paul writes, we all have the law of God written in our hearts (Rom 2:15). Therefore, non-believers can be wrong about faith yet right about specific issues - and that’s all due to common grace. This is why we don’t reject things simply because they’re not from a Christian source and why we can enjoy works from Aristotle and Disney.

Therefore, just because the source is secular doesn’t necessarily mean we reject it. Otherwise, we’d have to reject most things we experience in life because God’s common grace is found in all of creation.

2. Partnering With Non-Christians is Inevitable

Is it always wrong for Christians to support and partner with non-Christian organizations? I know I grew up always believing this. But as authors Justin Giboney, Michael Wear, and Chris Butler argue, avoiding partnership with non-believers is virtually impossible.

According to Aristotle, the city-state itself is a partnership. Think about your citizenship. By being an American citizen, you’re already in partnership with non-believers. You’ve agreed to give up certain things like tax-money in exchange for the benefits of safety, order, and justice. Think about your job. By working with a secular corporation, you’re partnering with them in their secular work. Think about your city league team, cross-fit gym, or Disneyland pass.

We’re always supporting and partnering with non-Christian organizations in order to accomplish something whether it be our profit, health, or entertainment. Is it wrong to partner with a secular organization to seek the justice and the welfare of a nation? I’m not saying that’s what BLM is trying to do. But the mere secularization shouldn’t disqualify support or partnership.

3. Partnering With Non-Christians is Seen Throughout Christian History

Another important fact that Giboney, Wear, and Butler point out is that throughout history, churches have always partnered with secular organizations for the welfare of a city. Ezra and Nehemiah worked with Persian authorities in order to rebuild the temple and wall of Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1-7:28; Neh 1:1-7:3). Esther “partnered” with Xerxes to save the Jews from genocide (Esth 5:1-8:17).

In the 1940s, Christian activists worked with non-believers in CORE (Congress of Racial Equity) to desegregate the South and end Jim Crow Laws. In the 1960s, Christians partnered with non-Christians to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Why so? As Christian abolitionist Frederick Douglass once said, “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

While there are definitely dangers in partnering with secular organizations, to say Christians should never partner with them would go against reality and history. As even conservative theologian John Piper (surprise!) writes, “Yes, we may partner with — in fact, I think inevitably must partner with — unbelievers…partner with unbelievers in the pursuit of behaviors, policies, laws that you think are good for everybody.”

4. Partnering With Non-Christians is What Realistically Accomplishes the Goal

My church is located in Buena Park, California. We are an evangelical, reformed, Baptist, complementarian, gospel-centered church. However, if we want to help relieve poverty in the city of Buena Park, should we only partner with groups that share our evangelical faith? How many of those organizations exist in our city?

If there are secular organizations whose goal is also to relieve poverty in the city, is it wrong for us to partner with them? More importantly, can we accomplish that goal by only working within our small, reformed-baptist circle of churches? Or would we be more effective working together? I’m not saying churches should just work with anybody to achieve a desirable cause. But if you have different values but the same cause, is partnership possible?

While we must never adopt the identity of a secular organization or bow to their idols, can we support and partner with one to help do good to the city? As author Tim Keller writes, “When Christians do evangelism, they can only count on the support and understanding of other believers. But when believers seek to do justice in the world, they often find it both necessary and desirable to work with others who do not share their faith.” While I understand the dangers, I can’t help but agree with this assessment.

Approaching Black Lives Matter

Now back to Black Lives Matter. I recognize this is a secular organization. I recognize they have secular values that do not align with biblical truth. I recognize that supporting a movement can mistakenly communicate that we affirm everything they stand for. I recognize BLM is evolving and its trajectory might lead to weird things.

At the same time, should we dismiss a movement due to their different values if the goal is a common grace goal? Perhaps that’s where people may disagree. Perhaps BLM’s mission sounds good on paper but is actually quite destructive. Or perhaps while its goals are noble now, the trajectory it’s headed towards looks bleak.

What about the affirmation of the LGBTQ community? As far as I can tell, LGBTQ inclusion is one of their values but not their mission. I agree that Christians should not partner with any organization whose mission is to promote an LGBTQ agenda.

But if you say Christians should not partner with any organization that affirm LGBTQ values, then I have questions. Should Christians not work for companies like Target, Instagram or Google even though they affirm the LGBTQ community? Should Christians not work for any Hollywood film studio unless it’s owned by Kirk Cameron?

Final Thoughts

In my opinion, Christians can choose to only partner with organizations from their theological tribes - and that probably works best if you want to plant churches together. But if you want to tackle something as large as poverty or racial inequality, you probably need to partner with organizations that have different values but have the same goals.

And here’s the thing: I can’t help but empathize with those who support what BLM is trying to do. It’s probably the strongest, most recognizable movement that’s raising the issue of race and justice. I understand why 85% of Christians polled in support of BLM - because there’s nothing else really out there.

And that’s why I empathize with African-American Christians like Mika Edmondson (an evangelical, reformed pastor) who argues,

“I strongly recommend full engagement with the concept and critical engagement with the [BLM] movement, especially since there’s no evangelical alternative to Black Lives Matter. It grieves me deeply to say there’s no evangelical movement robustly, consistently, and practically affirming the value of disparaged black people. So we must be careful how we criticize Black Lives Matter in the absence of an evangelical alternative”

I’m not sure what Edmondson means by “full engagement,” but if he means Christians shouldn’t simply dismiss BLM but wrestle with it intentionally, I’m all for it. That’s because I believe our country suffers from racial injustice. I believe it’s not simply due to sinful individuals - there seems to be a systemic issue. I believe black lives matter. I think it’s good for churches to participate in social justice issues. I believe churches should even be willing to partner with secular organizations to achieve common goals.

That’s why I empathize with those who support the BLM movement. I don’t like how Christians use buzzwords (e.g. cultural marxism, liberal) to shutdown honest conversations about this topic. And I feel saddened that there really isn’t an evangelical alternative out there. It should be the local church, but I can understand how the church in America has more work to do to earn such credibility in regards to race.

So whereas before I may have quickly dismissed movements like BLM, I’m now choosing to humbly engage and wrestle with it more intentionally. I’m hoping for better alternatives. And I hope Christians - no matter where they stand on the issue - would also consider doing the same as well.