A Burning House
A Just Mission: Laying Down Power and Embracing Mutuality by Mekdes Haddis is required reading in the missiology course I teach. It chose the text with great intentionality. Without fail, several students begin the term expressing trepidation, disconnect, disbelief, disagreement—or all of the above—regarding her argument. Even when they can appreciate her core claims, they will still take issue with how she makes them: her language and the stories she employs.
Rather than rightly confronting the deeper issue (racist theological foundations that have distorted our understanding of the Missio Dei and led to spiritual and physical harm) it is easier to dismiss the messenger. Thankfully, by the end of the course, with space for honest discussion, reflection, and development, many of those very same students become strong advocates of the book and Haddis’ witness. It can be a prickly and uncertain process, but one I thank God for allowing me to help steward. While I’m not responsible for what students ultimately believe, caring for their souls and shepherding them academically makes a meaningful difference.
All of this is to say that while I haven’t yet assigned it, A Burning House: Redeeming American Evangelicalism by Examining Its History, Mission, and Message by Brandon Washington is now on my shortlist. I need to find some way to make it a required text. A few phrases that have stayed with me include our tendency to “model apartheid,” the contrast between “disingenuous versus communal integration,” and our frequent obliviousness to the “ubiquity of one’s own culture.”
Washington carefully clarifies what evangelicalism is meant to be, in contrast to how it has been twisted for the sake of control and power. He also makes a compelling case for its ongoing value—particularly from the perspective of a Black man deeply formed within it. Not everyone will readily receive what he contends for, but he contends for it with such clarity that any remaining resistance is likely more spiritual than intellectual. Some people just want to remain where they are, and frankly, although it drives me batty, don’t feel bad about it.
At its core, the issue is simple: while Scripture makes clear that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and that division is one of his primary tools—we continue to pursue supremacy. Gaining and maintaining that forced deference often requires drawing distinctions that favor us, then reinforcing and refining them over time. In the process, we overlook or even malign fellow believers—brothers and sisters across racial, socioeconomic, national, and linguistic lines—despite what the gospel we claim to uphold says. We affirm that all are made in God’s image, yet too often settle for shallow attempts at unity that soothe appearances more than they reflect sacrificial conviction.
Washington addresses these realities with honesty and care—not as a distant critic, but as someone who has navigated these tensions firsthand with grace, truth, and courage, even at personal cost.
At one point, he writes, “American evangelicalism is a burning house. Do we find an exit or honor Dr. King’s call to become firefighters?” He recognizes that leaving may seem like the easier path, but he senses a call to stay—to link arms across lines of division and labor toward healing. That calling, however, demands both courage and maturity. If a house is on fire, urgency matters more than tone. If we demand perfectly packaged warnings while ignoring the danger itself, we all suffer—and the fire spreads. And we all perish!
It doesn’t have to be this way. But it will be unless we grow—together—and develop a greater capacity to accept truth. If we can only hear hard truths from voices that look or sound like us, or share the same experiences as us, then the issue lies within us, not with those speaking. A Burning House covers significant ground in a relatively short space, and some readers may feel overwhelmed at first. My encouragement is to stay with it. Press through. As I’ve seen time and again with my students, clarity often comes with patience and perseverance.
The psalmist writes in Psalm 49:10 that the wise and the foolish perish alike. This truth echoes in the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Washington’s work helps Christians confront and dismantle harmful theology that leads to such folly—so that the Church, as a diverse body, can more faithfully live out the purposes of its Creator.