A permanent committee of the conservative Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) issued a statement earlier this week in the wake of multiple politically and racially charged controversies that have emerged from its North American missions arm.
Mission to North America (MNA), a subsidiary of the PCA that helps congregations with church planting and charity work, has drawn media scrutiny in recent weeks, first for publicly repenting on Feb. 12 for guidance on one of its websites that advised illegal immigrants on how to avoid detainment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The guidance, which has since been removed, linked to left-leaning resources for illegal immigrants, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, prompting worries from some within the PCA that a leftist political agenda has been infiltrating the second-largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States.
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Days after MNA apologized for its immigration website, author and Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham drew attention to a “Black Fellowship Dinner” open to only “Black worshippers” at Resurrection Oakland Church, a PCA congregation in Oakland, California.
The dinner to commemorate Black History Month stirred further debate and concern from those who worried it was an example of racial segregation and DEI-like initiatives seeping into the denomination under the guise of “affinity groups.”
Though the controversy over the illegal immigration guidance prompted backtracking and repentance from the MNA, the recent statement from the MNA Permanent Committee condemned racism while still affirming “fellowship gatherings or events that center on the shared cultural experiences of ethnic minority brothers and sisters.”
The statement also maintained that the organizers of ResOak’s Black Fellowship Dinner, which requested attendees to register, “did not prohibit or turn away anyone from attending.”
“Affinity ministries equip and encourage minority members who worship in so many of our churches. These ministries support shared cultural experiences for the edification of the whole body,” the committee said, going on to list some of the minority ethnic groups that make up “the dynamic diversity of the PCA.”
“We affirm affinity gatherings as a part of rejoicing in our unity and diversity,” the committee said, citing 1 Corinthians 12 and Revelation 7.
In a separate statement, PCA Stated Clerk Bryan Chapell suggested that media covering the dissension within the denomination over such issues have shown an “‘inability or unwillingness to understand PCA leaders’ explanations’ of the difference between groups segregated by prejudice on the one hand, and affinity groups gathered to advance gospel witness on the other hand.”
MNA offers specific ministries for several ethnic minorities, including one for Hispanics that claims the recent demographic change in the U.S. amid “loosened” immigration policies was “orchestrated by God Himself” to provide “an unprecedented opportunity” to fulfill the Great Commission.
‘Dizzying diversity’
The third point of MNA’s recent statement focused on Irwyn Ince, whom the MNA Permanent Committee elected to serve as coordinator in 2021, a position with a salary and benefits of nearly $300,000. He also previously served as the denomination’s first African American moderator for the 46th PCA General Assembly in 2018.
As head of the MNA, Ince played a role in both recent controversies. He penned the public apology regarding the immigration guidance, and was the featured speaker at the controversial ResOak dinner.
The Permanent Committee’s statement praised him for “important changes within the MNA,” and for “consistently [demonstrating] a heart for gathering people from different cultures together in Christ.”
“He has served the PCA faithfully, welcoming and pursuing peace in the PCA and the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His love for God, the Reformed Faith, the Great Commission, and the PCA is evident for all to see,” the statement said.
In September 2022, the popular Christian X account “Woke Preacher Clips” unearthed a talk Ince gave in 2019, during which he claimed black people can become “black and tired” and experience “minority fatigue” around white people.
“So you’ve got to experience some spaces and times where you just don’t have to work so hard,” he said. “There is a grounding and a positive sense of belonging that can come from an ethnic affinity in a world of dizzying diversity.”
Claiming black people are potentially subject to “trauma” being in a majority-white situation, Ince argued for the necessity of “some places of affinity space.”
“The likelihood is if you’re an all-white staff, you ain’t gonna be enough. Your church ain’t gonna be enough. They gonna wear out.”
Then we see-saw down into an extrabiblical command for majority-white churches to ensure “affinity spaces” for POC hires: “The likelihood is if you’re an all-white staff, you ain’t gonna be enough. Your church ain’t gonna be enough. They gonna wear out.” pic.twitter.com/Dq5Yfa5NJM
— Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) September 8, 2022
In an apparent reference to the MNA’s recent statement, Basham questioned Monday whether affinity groups for minorities would be well-received in the PCA if the minority happened to be white.
“If it had been the Gentiles in Galatians 2 separating from the Jews because as minorities in a majority culture derived from Jewishness they needed an ‘affinity group’ to reflect their unique background and interests, do you think the Apostle Paul would have been okay with that? Or would he rebuke that too?”
“Related question — should PCA churches in the city of Detroit begin offering affinity groups for white members because they are minorities in Detroit? If not, why not?” she added.
‘Unequivocally toxic and irredeemable’
After Basham drew attention to the ResOak dinner last month, Irwyn Ince’s son, Jelani Ince, fired off a multi-post X thread on Feb. 24 that tagged her and railed against “white evangelical culture” as “unequivocally toxic and irredeemable.”
An assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington with pronouns in his bio, Jelani also dismissed the upheaval within the PCA in recent weeks as “absolutely [sic] buffoonery.” He also defended his father, saying he is “standing on the work he’s done.”
“White evangelical culture is unequivocally toxic and irredeemable,” Jelani wrote. “The worst of its defenders work from the same playbook as segregationists and xenophobes. You think your culture is under attack, but to be honest: it lacks the imagination that would warrant copying.”
“For more years than I would like to admit, I have sat in your pews, read your books, listened to your sermons, [and] forced myself to enjoy those mid post-service potlucks and small group meetings,” he continued.
For more years than I would like to admit, I have sat in your pews, read your books, listened to your sermons, & forced myself to enjoy those mid post-service potlucks and small group meetings.
— Jelani Ince (@jelaniwrites) February 24, 2025
“If there is one thing evangelicals love, it is a culture war that frames them as the victims, which requires leveraging any and all resources (online and offline) to purge anything that departs from their hegemonic gaze,” he added in an apparent reference to the Cultural Marxist worldview of power.
Jelani went on to accuse “the worst of white evangelicals” of believing “the country and its institutions belong to them,” and claimed the recent controversy within the PCA was an example of “juvenile hubris disguised as authority.”
“Nobody — and especially any of the apostles you adore and worship — gave you authority or asked you to defend the ‘truth,'” he added before telling Basham he’s “not afraid of you or your troupe.”
In a separate tweet, Jelani said, “Affinity spaces are a necessary response to the continued legacy of [the PCA’s] reverence for whiteness.”
“A structural response is needed. The work does not stop with a confession, a report, a prayer, and certainly not singing hymns,” he wrote.
Steve Dowling, moderator of the PCA General Assembly, told CP in response to Jelani’s tweets that he “doubts any elder in the PCA would be OK with generalizing like this on the basis of skin color.”
“I think it’d be considered an abnegation of the Gospel,” he said. “He doesn’t seem to be operating from a Christian perspective, but from a social perspective. And to characterize a whole group as ‘irredeemable’ based on their skin color is sin. Period.”
Dowling, who penned a statement supporting Irwyn, was unwilling to claim that the views of Irwyn’s son reflect on his father.
“I don’t think that Irwyn can necessarily be held accountable for what his grown son has to say,” he said. “[Jelani’s] comments don’t particularly seem to be rooted in the Gospel, but instead seem to stem from something else, and I would refrain from holding Irwyn responsible for that. I think that Irwyn should be held accountable for what Irwyn says and does.”
Neither Irwyn nor Jelani Ince responded to The Christian Post’s request for comment.
Ryan Biese, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, expressed greater concern regarding how aligned the worldviews of Jelani and Irwyn might be.
“To describe an entire culture as ‘unequivocally toxic and irredeemable’ sounds racist to me,” Biese told CP prior to the release of MNA’s statement. “How ironic that he says this in the context of defending his father keynoting a segregated supper for ‘Black worshippers.'”
“Even the assistant pastor of the congregation hosting the event seemed to recognize how bad it sounded, since he awkwardly tried to explain it in the announcements portion of their worship service,” he continued, referencing ResOak’s assistant pastor Dave Lee acknowledging to his congregation that it “may be jarring for some of you to hear that we’re creating an event for black Christians.”
“Professor Ince asserts, ‘I stand behind my father Irwyn,’ but I wonder if his father stands behind his son’s assertions on social media,” Biese added.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
