In the final segment of our interview with Dr. Carl Ellis, Jr. he discusses:
1. How to be on mission for Christ in the ‘hood.
“The way you rally ‘cats’ in the ‘hood is you address their core concerns. You address their life-defining and life controlling issues and/or values…We address the legitimate African American cultural core concerns biblically.
2. Finding the African American Narrative in the Bible
“So you talk about the African American experience you find it throughout the whole Bible. And it has nothing to do with the amount of melanin or lack thereof in their skin.”
“So the Bible is full of those kinds of narratives that are true to the Black experience. Now is it true to the Chinese-American experience? Of course. Is it true to the Anglo experience? Of course.”
3. The Necessity of Discipleship Both Before and After Conversion
“There’s such a thing as pre-conversion discipleship and post-conversion discipleship. Pre-conversion discipleship brings you from where you are to faith. Post-conversion discipleship brings from faith to maturity.”
4. How to Teach People Who Are Hostile to Reformed Theology
“When I teach Reformed theology I just teach Bible. I don’t say it’s Reformed, I just say, ‘This is the Bible.’ And I show them the Bible.”
“I find that a lot of people are hostile towards the language, hostile toward the carelessness in the way we communicate the theology.”
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