Willie Jennings, a Liberation Theologian and Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University, recently gave a lecture at Fuller Theological Seminary called “Can White People Be Saved?” During a Q&A session afterward, he said that if churches aren’t involved urban planning at city council meetings, they are “resisting the Spirit.”

“In this church and the country, the fundamental reality is that we are resisting the Spirit,” Jennings said. “And I think the fundamental reality is that we have especially resisted the Spirit in thinking about place, where we live in geography.”

“We resist the Spirit saying, ‘Stop being quiet when it comes to how communities are formed, how neighborhoods are formed.'”

Jennings then said that “deciding on bus routes,” and “deciding on price points for housing” are “deep moral issues” that the Church must be involved in.

“I want everyone here in this room to find out when your city commissioners meet to discuss bus routes, housing, price points, real estate. And I want every Christian here to go to those meetings. And I want you to learn how your cities function, how your towns function. And I want you to push against the segregation that is built inside economic segregation. I want you to fight and argue about where people are allowed to live, where people can’t live, about housing, about fair housing; I want you to be there, pushing as hard as you possibly can, because when you do that, you’ll start to address whiteness.”

Keep in mind that this Willie Jennings who was considered to be too much of an “expert” to debate Neil Shenvi on the issue of Race and Racial Reconciliation and canceled the scheduled debate which was to be held at the Veritas Forum this week.