John Perkins, a distinguished black civil rights activist, author and Bible teacher known for his work in racial reconciliation, has died at the age of 95.
V. Elizabeth Perkins, one of his children, posted an announcement to the John & Vera Mae Perkins Foundation on Friday stating that Perkins had died that morning while surrounded by his family.
“To the world, he was Dr. John M. Perkins, a voice for justice, reconciliation, and the gospel of Jesus Christ,” she wrote. “He received 19 honorary doctorate degrees, but most importantly, he was the devoted husband of his bride, Vera Mae Perkins, for 74 years, and together they were blessed with 8 children.”
“But to me, he was Daddy. My heart is broken, yet full of gratitude for the gift of being his daughter. His life was marked by courage, humility, faith, and love. He poured himself out for God, for people, and for the work of reconciliation.”
Trevin Wax, vice president of research and resource development at the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, was among those who offered condolences.
“Rest well, John Perkins,” Wax tweeted. “A hero with an incredible story of resilience and faith, who leaves behind a legacy of calling us all to deeper love and justice.”
Jemar Tisby, a prominent African American Evangelical author, historian and proponent of racial reconciliation in churches, also conveyed his condolences.
“We lost another luminary today,” wrote Tisby in a post on Facebook. “I feel the passing of John Perkins deeply because he was a forerunner of the evangelical racial reconciliation movement that — despite its shortcomings — was a crucial part of my Christian journey.”
Born in 1930 in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, Perkins was the son of a sharecropper who fled the state at age 17 for California after a town marshal murdered his older brother.
Perkins accepted Jesus Christ as his savior in 1957 and ultimately returned to Mississippi in 1960 to preach the Gospel and to be active in civil rights efforts.
“His outspoken support and leadership role in civil rights demonstrations resulted in repeated harassment, imprisonment and beatings,” explained the John Perkins Center at Seattle Pacific University.
“In 1989, he co-founded the Christian Community Development Association, a network of evangelical congregations and organizations working in urban settings.”
In addition to his prolific public speaking and teaching, Perkins also served on the board of directors of numerous Christian organizations, among them World Vision, Prison Fellowship and the National Association of Evangelicals.
Perkins authored multiple books, including One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race and Love; He Calls Me Friend: The Healing Power of Friendship, and Count it All Joy: The Ridiculous Paradox of Suffering.
“In those three books, what I have there is an overview of the centrality of the Gospel,” Perkins told The Christian Post in an interview in 2022, labeling the works his “manifesto.”
“That’s the idea. What I try to do is to put the centrality of the Gospel in those three books. The issue is what to do with our sin. … Someone said we don’t have a skin problem. It’s really a sin problem.”
