Bellevue Loves (White) Memphis

Off of interstate I-40 stands three large crosses marking the location of Bellevue Baptist Church, a mega Southern Baptist Church lead by Pastor Steve Gaines.  All throughout Memphis Bellevue has put in place billboards advertising that “Bellevue Loves Memphis,” which serves as an ironic statement given their location in the suburbs and their overwhelmingly white congregation.  Each Sunday, Steve Gaines preaches messages that align directly with conservative Southern Christian values in which the declarations of wanting the congregation to bring their black friends to service is coupled with praising Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again!” stances. 

Churches like Bellevue wholeheartedly believe in the idea that as long as they are not attending white supremacist rallies or uttering racial slurs in Sunday School, then they are adhering to Jesus’ call to “love thy neighbor.”  These churches take great care to stress the missions they are involved in around the city such as providing backpacks to children on the first day of school, or providing vacation bible school teams to impoverished churches in Memphis. What these teams of church members fail to address is the systems in place that cause school children to not have school supplies or for inner city churches not to have funds.  They are approaching ministry from their own view of what mercy looks like, without taking into account that these issues will continue to be issues unless they use their power and influence to work on changing governmental policies.  In order for a mission to be successful, mercy and justice must both play a role, with mercy addressing the current issue at hand (such as the need for backpacks) and justice seeking to end the systems that cause the issue (lobbying for blue collar workers to be given a living wage to provide for their own families.)  

For the members of Bellevue however, the idea of engaging with the justice aspect of charity is not appealing, for they choose to be blind to the ways in which systematic oppression exists.  Their goal is to gather together once a month to paint someone’s shutters in South Memphis and then return to their homes in the suburbs feeling accomplished in carrying forth the kingdom of God.  They don’t feel the need to fight oppression because they are benefitting from it.  Their benefit is what allowed Steve Gaines to urge his congregation to vote for the presidential candidate that would make America great again and restore it to the image of God.  The toxic nature of churches like Bellevue allow for a clandestine form of white supremacy to thrive for it exists under the guise of “helping” the children of God.