Statement // Racial Justice & Unity (Grace Community Church)
Following the death of George Floyd and the racial unrest that followed, I wrote the below statement on behalf of Grace Community Church and distributed to our church congregation through email, social, and web. Worked closely with the church leadership to respond and care for our church congregation through a statement, listening sessions, and ongoing relationship reconciliation.
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OUR COMMITMENT TO RACIAL JUSTICE & UNITY
(originally posted to grace.community/rju)
At Grace, it goes without saying that we are followers of Jesus Christ. Loving God and loving our neighbor is core to who we are as a church and with that, comes a commitment to righteousness and justice. We aim to live out our calling as a body of believers, a family knitted together by our faith and trust in Jesus and our commitment to the Gospel.
Part of the Gospel story is that the world is broken because of sin. That includes our relationships and society as a whole. Racism and discrimination based on physical characteristics such as skin color is a sin that has permeated the very fabric of this country. It is often silent and subtle, and even when it’s overt, it is often overlooked and ignored.
Sin thrives in darkness and in isolation. So, we take this moment to shed light on this sin by publicly stating that racism and discrimination have no place in God’s family, specifically at Grace Community Church.
To our brothers and sisters of color, Grace Community Church stands with you. While we may not fully know the pain and hurt, we see you. We are standing together with you because we are one family, and when one member suffers, we all do. George Floyd’s life mattered, as did Ahmaud Arbery’s, Breonna Taylor’s, and so many countless others. YOU matter.
The leadership at Grace is committed to not only teaching on this, but also living it out and equipping our body to do so as well.
As we strive to become the church family God has called us to be, we are committed to fighting for our unity in the following ways:
Engaging in Family Conversations around the biblical, historical, and interpersonal implications for race in order to learn and grow together.
Drawing closer to one another by learning about different perspectives and experiences as it pertains to race. We will do this by continuing and expanding our Be the Bridge groups.
Hosting listening sessions to hear from our Grace family about where racial tensions may exist. We will do this in order to better understand the pain, repent where necessary, and to reconcile.
Training staff and leaders to understand race issues in order to be more humble and gracious in caring for our diverse body.
Taking steps to ensure that our leadership, at every level, represents the beautiful diversity of our Grace family and God’s vision for the church.
We have a long way to go together, but God is not done with us. We believe that as He continues to do his reconciling work in and among us, we will be an instrument for righteousness and justice for this hurting world.