Woke helping the Woke: McLean Bible Church gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Thabiti Anyabwile’s Anacostia River Church.
Thabiti Anyabwile famously blamed all white Americans for the assassination of Martin Luther King in a column published by The Gospel Coalition where he blamed white people, saying they were culpable for the political assassination of Martin Luther King.
Just so you know exactly what Thabiti Anyabwile said in 2018, “My white neighbors and Christian brethren can start by at least saying their parents and grandparents and this country are complicit in murdering a man who only preached love and justice.”
That is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. He also blamed white heterosexual men for oppression of women and LGBTQ people and even called on foreign governments to “hack” the 2020 Election to stop Donald Trump. And of course, Thabiti Anyabwile joined the lies and race-baiting about conservative Southern Baptists.
Naturally, this is someone David Platt was drawn to. In the summer of 2020, Thabiti’s Anacostia River Church sponsored the Faith + Works Prayer Rally in support of the BLM movement. Faith + Works DC was started by “sisters” from Anacostia River Church. Thabiti introduced David Platt, and it was Platt who delivered the opening prayer for the rally while his church was closed. You might remember that Platt kept McLean Bible Church closed while other churches in the DC area were opened. There is also a picture of Mike Kelsey, recently confirmed as MBC’s Lead Pastor, and his son holding a sign at the event that says “Black Lives Matter to God”. The ERLC even reported that the march was organized by Faith + Works and Mclean Bible Church.
But, of course, let’s not forget about the financial support that Platt donated, using tithes from conservative Christians at McLean Bible Church, to Thabiti Anyabwile’s church. Based on an internal document disclosed in the recent litigation (spreadsheet below), we know that in 2020, McLean Bible Church gave $125,000 to Anacostia River Church. Some of these documents were uncovered during discovery of a lawsuit that Platt and McLean Bible Church. The church fought the lawsuit and then fought in court to prevent these documents from being made public.
According to an internal document (see at bottom of post), in 2017 Mclean Bible Church had previously sent $125,000 and his leadership understood that this support was to continue and even discussed moving it around in the budget among various line items. Assuming that was the case, and the same amount was sent each year between 2017-2020, conservative McLean Bible Church potentially funded woke, leftist race-baiter, Thabiti Anyabwile’s church to the tune of at least $500,000. Did this funding continue beyond 2020? Why was Platt sending money from this conservative church to Anacostia River Church?
This is a particularly important question as the McLean Bible Church/Thabiti Anyabwile association was raised in a document sent in February 2021 by former elders and ministry leaders over serious accountability and theological problems at the church under David Platt’s leadership.
In that 17-page letter, Platt and elders are taken to task for allowing Thabiti Anyabwile access to MBC as a ministry partner. According to those former elders and ministry leaders,
- Thabiti Anyabwile, despite promoting progressive talking points at the expense of Christian truth, dividing the body of Christ across racial lines, and promoting the political agenda of Black Liberation Theology, has been used to train the MBC staff and played a prominent role within MBC church life.
- Despite having been compelled to ask forgiveness for his writings and actions in 2019, he was still a featured speaker at the New City Network Gala.
- Sadly, his conduct has only proved more contentious and controversial at times, including recent endorsement of the clearly problematic, unbiblical appointment of a transgender man as Assistant Secretary of Health.
- By partnering with him and maintaining ties with him, the elders have affirmed his unbiblical views? (2 John 10-11)
- It is our opinion that Thabiti Anyabwile should not be given access to MBC staff nor our pulpit, and ties should be severed with him. (II Cor. 5:18)
The all-important question(s) remain. Why would David Platt grant Thabiti access to MBC, a conservative evangelical church, to train their staff, organize and march in a rally supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and donate large sums of money to his church given his theological stance and race-baiting views of white Christians? Perhaps the answer lies in his relationship with Mclean Bible Church’s newly confirmed lead pastor, Mike Kelsey. According to a recent article from Christianity Today, Kelsey was the first to welcome Thabiti to DC in 2015. Of course, Thabiti praises the pastor who publicly admitted that he has urges to torch all white people (especially white Evangelicals) as someone who is a “peacemaker” and who has a love for Christ’s people.
Did Platt weigh the concerns that were expressed and were these former elders and ministry leaders aware that church leadership potentially sent $500K of church tithes to Thabiti and Anacostia River Church? Was the congregation aware? Based on everything that has come to light recently, the answer is probably no.