What we are about to share isn’t an end-all-be-all solution, but rather a step forward. Providing a quick solution for a deep problem would only serve to reinforce the problem, by separating us from our responsibility of honest and continual evaluation of ourselves and our relationships with others.

Racism and racial superiority have been present forces that have influenced inequality and injustice in our country since its formation. Without a conscious effort to end this, it will continue, whether in obvious forms or unobvious.

We must first acknowledge that every man of every race is in equal need of a Savior. The same blood Jesus shed on the cross paid for our sins, but also puts all of us on the same level in God’s eyes.

Our greatest commandments, as Christ followers is to:

  1. Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
  2. Love others the same as we love ourselves.

With this frame of mind, several things should happen in and through us:

  1. I see myself as a new creation in Christ first, before my culture. 2 Corinthians 5:17
  2. When we see injustice happening to ANYONE, it should affect us in the same way we would feel if we were unjustly treated. We should take the same stand and fight for them as we would ourselves.
  3. We should seek to make others feel like they belong (Because they DO).
  4. We should consider others (ALL PEOPLE) better than ourselves.
  5. We should seek to understand and empathize with other cultures different than our own.
  6. We should welcome and acknowledge others’ feelings about how they have been treated.
  7. We should seek the friendship and influence of people that don’t look like us, and consider what is in them is as valuable as what is in us.
  8. We should think that others are as deserving of good things as we are.

We stand, as a church, and say injustice is wrong. The narrative that one culture is somehow better than another is wrong. (Micah 6:8, Isaiah 61:8)

So here is what we’re asking each of you to do.

  1. Ask the Lord to reveal racism in you, whether big or small.
  2. Don’t just stand up against egregious racist acts, but relentlessly remove less obvious forms of racism that continue beneath the surface.
  3. Pray for those being unjustly treated.
  4. Do more and spend more time with people who aren’t like you are.
  5. Start reading a book. One that we recommend is “Be the Bridge – Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation” by Latashia Morrison.

We love you, and together we can fulfill God’s desire for His kingdom
to spread on the earth.

Parkway Fellowship Church Staff