{"id":16263,"date":"2022-11-18T09:46:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T14:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=16263"},"modified":"2022-11-18T09:46:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T14:46:47","slug":"multiethnic-church-pastor-says-identity-should-come-from-the-cross-not-ones-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2022\/11\/multiethnic-church-pastor-says-identity-should-come-from-the-cross-not-ones-race","title":{"rendered":"Multiethnic Church Pastor Says Identity Should Come From the Cross, Not One’s Race"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A black pastor of a multiethnic church recently shared how he identifies more with the cross than with the color of his skin and believes a Christian’s identity should be rooted in Jesus, not race.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people, they look at themselves as a black person or a white person or a Hispanic person,” Pastor Ken Claytor of Alive Church in Gainesville, Florida, told Joni Lamb, host of\u00a0 “Table Talk<\/a>” in an episode that aired on Oct. 24.<\/p>\n

“I look at myself as a born-again person, washed by the blood, who is a child of God, that happens to be black. I don’t have a problem with my heritage or my race. I love what I am.”<\/p>\n

Claytor, who’s also the author of the book,\u00a0As it is In Heaven: How a Church That Resembles Heaven Can ‘Help\u2019 Heal Our Racial Divide<\/em><\/a>, explained why he places greater importance on his religious beliefs than his racial identity and noted that the Church is supposed to be multiracial.<\/p>\n

Christians can be racist due to living in a fallen world, added Claytor, who told the host that \u201csome of the racist rhetoric was coming from the Church, especially in the South.\u201d<\/p>\n