A Church Reconciliation Project

Project proposal prepared for Cabanne United Methodist Church-Saint Louis, Missouri. Dr Theo Triplett, Pastor. Program concept developed by Reverend Alan L. Joplin,.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my Savior, because he has looked upon his lowly hand maid . He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away. (Luke 1:46-53)
Biblical Foundations: Equal in God’s Eyes
The Bible addresses the idea of racial and cultural divisions in terms of "partiality." Partiality means showing undue favor for one person or group over another. The books of the law warn against showing partiality in legal decisions (Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:17; 16:19). The Bible’s prohibitions against this type of judgment are based on God’s own character; for He does not show partiality toward any person (2 Chronicles 19:7), and He will not allow those who follow Him to judge others on the basis of external factors such as wealth, cultural background, or ethnic identity.
This view of impartiality was the foundation of the Great Commission. The book of Acts speaks of Peter’s discovery that Christ had intended the Gospel for all men, regardless of race or culture. As he was trying to be faithful to the practice of exclusion taught by the Pharisees, Peter was shown a vision of "wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air," which traditional Judaism had declared unclean. When Peter refused to "kill and eat," God said to him, "What God has cleansed you must not call common" (10:15).
This was yet another epiphany for the headstrong apostle. Luke writes, "Then Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him" (Acts 10:34-35). And later Paul confirms that message: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:27-28).
The apostle James later warned that any attempt to show partiality or judgment against those of other races and cultures, particularly because of economic status, was inconsistent with the teachings of Christ (James 2:1). James declared partiality is a sin (2:9). Paul also warned the Ephesians who held slaves to be fair in their dealings with their servants, for God Himself is impartial and, for those who are in Christ Jesus, the master is no better than the slave and the employer no greater than the employee (6:9).

The Moral Opportunity
Social scientist Glen Loury, a distinguished black professor at Harvard and Boston University, is one who does not accept the liberal interpretation of America’s race crisis. The truth of our condition, he believes, demands a hard look at ourselves. Institutional barriers to black participation in American life still exist, but they have come down considerably and other barriers have grown up within the urban black milieu in these last decades which are profoundly debilitating.
Euphemisms abound. Instead, we hear familiar intonations of platitudes and empty phrases: "racism," "inadequate funding for social initiatives," "no jobs," "no hope." Even as the collapse of social life among the inner-city poor worsens, we have these pat, ritualistic public conversations full of platitudes about "caring" and "compassion," but devoid of hard-edged judgments about decency and personal morality.
Healing cannot come until first, blacks and whites admit that the real problem is the condition of the human heart; second, we must be willing to follow that line of thought to its logical conclusion, which will bring us back, inevitably, to the moral and spiritual content of our character.
We are challenged with taking the responsibility for our future by exerting the moral leadership that is needed within our Christian communities. The problem cannot be solved by government or by social programs. Christian communities must do it for themselves; but for that to happen, churches in the must embrace their responsibilities.
The Four Faces of Racism

The face of racism looks different today than it did 30 years ago. Overt racism is easily condemned, but the sin is often with us in more subtle forms. In examining patterns of racism today, four forms of racism merit particular attention: spatial racism, institutional racism, internalized racism and individual racism.
SPATIAL RACISM. Patterns of metropolitan development in which some affluent whites create racially and economically segregated suburbs or gentrified areas of cities, leaving the poor—mainly African-Americans, Hispanics and some newly arrived immigrants—isolated in deteriorating areas of the cities and older suburbs.
INSTITUTIONAL RACISM. Sustaining institutions that privilege people like themselves and habitually ignore the contributions of other peoples and cultures. This "white privilege" often goes undetected because it has become internalized and integrated as part of one's outlook on the world by custom, habit and tradition.
INTERNALIZED RACISM. Many blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans are socialized and educated in institutions which devalue the presence and contributions of people of color and celebrate only the contributions of whites. People of color can come to see themselves and their communities primarily through the eyes of that dominant culture. They receive little or no information about their own history and culture and perceive themselves and their communities as "culturally deprived." Seeing few men and women from their own culture or class in leadership roles, they begin to apply to themselves the negative stereotypes about their group that the dominant culture chooses to believe.
INDIVIDUAL RACISM. This perpetuates itself quietly when people grow up with a sense of white racial superiority, whether conscious or unconscious. Racist attitudes find expression in racial slurs, in crimes born of racial hatred and in many other subtle and not-so-subtle ways. People who are horrified by the Ku Klux Klan might quite readily subscribe to racial stereotypes about people of color. When individuals automatically award superior status to their own cultural group and inferior status to all those outside it, they are acting as racists.

The Problem of Racism

The problem of racism has been well defined over the past two decades.
Racism is still very much with us. Some of its more subtle forms surface in discussions of racial inclusiveness. For example, racism includes not only prejudice against persons of other skin colors or languages, but also prejudice against the ways of other groups, ways of processing information, of celebrating, of building community, of bringing about change. The judgments of established groups and persons tend to assume that any dominant culture's ways of making change are superior, more logical, more effective.
We understand racism to be the assumption that one (or more) races within the human family is superior to other racial groups and entitled to supremacy via discriminatory systems and behavior. In recent years it has been stressed that the sin is one of white racism, since in our society – and to a large degree globally – it is whites, people of European origin, who have been able to combine racial prejudice with power. Many have focused on the results of white racism in largely white churches.
But prejudice is not limited to white people. Persons of color may not have the numerical or institutional power to translate prejudice into racism. But none of us can ignore our own sin of exclusion, how we reject others who are different, how we withdraw love from sinners who are practicing racism. We cannot hate their sin while forgetting our own (see Romans 2:1).
We are hopeful. The sin of racism may seem so deeply rooted as to be invincible, but it can be identified, confessed, and forgiven. In our repentance we can turn away from it. Many people in our church and the larger society are truly committed to fighting this sin. When we despair of change ever coming, when we see the enormous continuing power of white racism in our society, we need then to ask if we have forgotten the power of the powerless, the strength of the lowly, and the indomitable energy of weakness added to love.


Envisioning the future
The gospel compels us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to abandon patterns of seeing those who are racially or culturally different from ourselves as strangers and to recognize them as our brothers and sisters. Even those who have suffered at the hands of others, individually or collectively, must pray to overcome hostility, forgiving those who have offended them and asking forgiveness from those whom they have offended. We must embrace one another as formerly estranged neighbors now seeking reconciliation.
Maintaining current patterns of ethnic, cultural, racial and economic isolation and hostility tarnishes we are called as a Church to be a universal sacrament of salvation. Consciously changing these patterns returns us to our fundamental identity as a community called to universal communion with God and with one another.
We meet God in the created, visible, tangible surroundings of the home, the neighborhood and the workplace. We encounter God in children, brothers and sisters, and the family next door, the shopkeeper on the corner, our teachers, the stranger on the street. In short, we meet God in and through people of every color, ethnic background, religion, class and gender. God is active in and through the people, places and circumstances that constitute our ordinary daily life.
This belief places upon us the mission to transform all relationships into instances of love and justice. Our love of God, expressed in prayer, pilgrimages and other acts of devotion, must be made visible in our practice of the love of neighbor, expressed by establishing patterns of right relationships in our daily lives, in our work and everyday encounters. Loving and just relationships are the manifestation of our communion with God.
Ethnic, cultural and racial diversities are gifts from God to the human race. In Jesus, we are called to a radical love—to love of the stranger as our neighbor (Lk 10:25-37). Others may be different from us in every respect except one: each man, woman or child we encounter is also a child of God, a brother or sister in the Lord, whom we should welcome as our neighbor. The stranger whom we encounter is really our neighbor in Christ. Through communion with our neighbors who are racially and culturally distinct from ourselves, we begin to live, as a community, the unity in diversity that is the life of the Triune God. We can learn to live, work and pray in solidarity with the stranger now recognized as our neighbor.
Living with our neighbor. Our neighborhood is the first place we encounter those with whom we are to dwell in love. A just neighborhood must be open to all people—black and white, Hispanic and Asian, young and old, wealthy and poor, Christians and people of all faiths.
Working with our neighbor. Although the phenomenon of racism can exist independent of economic factors, it is bound up with entrenched poverty, which persists despite our national affluence. Most poor people are white; but blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans are disproportionately poor.
Supporting cultural diversity. The ability to live and work in a culturally diverse environment equips us to work toward universal peace and justice. Our efforts to encourage “welcoming” will be more credible when the Church truly becomes a model of what she advocates.
One of our desires as disciples of Christ is to support people of every race and ethnic group in enjoying their human rights and freedom. We are called to promote love, justice and a "culture of life." Striving to be a witness for Jesus Christ as a good neighbor to all is difficult. To embrace the vision proclaimed in Jesus' preaching of the Reign of God, we need to see new patterns and possibilities.
Constructing socially just patterns of relationships within our churches presents the same difficulties met in being a good neighbor anywhere; but, as Christians seeking to be true disciples, we can never abandon our efforts to embody the love and justice given us by Christ.
ENGAGING THE PARISH
After careful preparation during the during the project period, we will kick off the racial healing process in the broader church community. The Pastor will preach on racial justice and reconciliation at each service on a chosen Sunday. After the sermons, interracial teams will shared with the congregation their own experience of racism.

Black team members, in the congregation will described the reality of racism and its painful, limiting impact on their lives. The White speakers, rather than presenting themselves as great fighters for racial justice, admitted their own racial prejudices, how bias was ingrained in them at an early age and how the stereotyping “tapes” still play in their heads. They also shared what was motivating them to move beyond guilt, to overcome their own racism, and to join the struggle for justice and healing.
PERSONALIZING THE MESSAGE

The personalizing of our message will have a great impact on parishioners. After hearing the Black speakers, it will be hard for anyone to pretend that racism no longer exists or that Christians have no obligation to fight it. The White speakers’ humility and admission of their own racism will make it possible for many White listeners to say, “I don’t have to pretend that I’m free of prejudice; maybe I can bring my prejudice out into the light and be part of a movement to eliminate racism.”
• A permanent literature table in the church foyer will continuously supply copies of articles and other information pertinent to racial justice and healing.
• Providing parishioners with well-written information and verbal encouragement to recognize and combat the new forms of racism. Help parishioners see that it is not enough to be just a “good person,” a non-racist. You must be actively anti-racist if racism ever is to be overcome.

• At the end of Service, a member of the parish council speaks to the assembly, reading from a list of probing questions on how the parish is working to overcome racism. This will become apart of a regular, parish wide "examination of conscience," which will keep before the parish its fidelity to racial healing.
• White parishioners can turn to people of color in the parish to test their own perceptions and ideas and to learn how to build relationships and address racism. Parishioners who are people of color can feel freer to share their lives with white parishioners.
• which ensues when people decide to break through the superficiality and face the real issues that racism raises.
• Parishioners will examine themselves, share their fears and vulnerabilities, admit their prejudices, and express a willingness to change and speak the truth in love, chaos can give way to stage three: real community.
• What are we currently doing pretty well in the parish to create racial healing?
• What more can we do to deepen racial healing?


Create "safe spaces" where healing can happen

This project will take on the challenge of organizing small groups. A project coordinator, with help form the team and contact outside experts. This same person will work to develop a guidebook that outlines a small-group process to probe racism. The coordinator will also train small-group facilitators, realizing that the groups could become bogged down if left entirely on their own.
It is extremely important to create well-organized and skillfully facilitated "safe spaces" where parishioners could delve deeper into racial healing. A time line will be developed for the initial proposal period outlined for a two-year process plus follow-up.
Racism in the post-civil-rights-movement era has taken a more cunning form. Its demonic power has transformed into more subtle shapes than at the time when colored drinking fountain signs abounded. This makes it more difficult to eliminate, though no less urgent. It underlines the importance of providing parishioners with well-written information and words of encouragement to recognize and combat the new forms racism has taken.
Some of our white parishioners have recognized their prejudices and unearned white privilege, but this recognition has made them feel guilty and immobilized. Maybe we can help them develop a new and positive antiracist self-image. This image, while renouncing unjust white privilege, uses the power they have to side with people of color as they struggle for equality. It's a great journey, but we have a long way to go.

The Goal of Racial Inclusiveness
Racial inclusiveness has not been well defined. Although there are many definitions of racism, the taskforce had to develop its own definition of racial inclusiveness.
• how the issues specific to individual groups and those common to all groups can fit together into a mosaic;
• how our oneness in Christ can enhance our capacities for struggling with racial conflict;

• what true participation and inclusive process with all people of color can mean;

• the riches, skills, and spiritual gifts present among people of color;

• The potential for healing of racial wounds available among spiritual leaders of all racial groups.

• How much in other cultures is not in conflict with Christianity and how these ways can be included in the worship and spiritual life of the church.

• How congregations in racially homogeneous areas can become more racially inclusive.

• How people of color are close kin to other excluded groups, including those with disabling conditions, those who are poor, women, children, and older persons, and how they can collaborate rather than compete.
Why not a vision? A vision, of what it might be like if all of us were part of an inclusive church. In designing our vision, We found several underlying principles:
• We are a church. Evangelical, biblical, theological, and spiritual understandings are central to any efforts to help us become more inclusive.
• God has created diversity and celebrates it. "All these are the work of one spirit, who distributes different gifts to different people, just as he chooses" (1 Cor. 12:11 Jerusalem).
• The church can be a harmonious tapestry of racial and ethnic diversity.

• Every culture can to be enriched by all other cultures. God is at work in nature and history apart from the specifically Christian revelation, and we need to affirm that (Romans 2:1445).

• It is possible to become a Christian while retaining important elements of one's traditional culture, since every culture has its ways and beliefs that reinforce the gospel of love, healing, mercy, and justice which comes in Jesus Christ. These ways should be incorporated, not abandoned.

• At the same time, not everything in traditional cultures is compatible with the new life in Christ – and that applies to us all, whether of Asian, African, European, Hispanic, or Indian origin.

• All people are worthy of respect, regardless of their attitude toward their own cultural heritage or of how much they have retained. Society has forced on many people of color the rejection of their traditional culture, then invented negative labels to describe those who have become like white people. These labels needlessly divide brothers and sisters in Christ.

• Exclusiveness and prejudice are ugly no matter who is practicing them.

• People of color have styles for approaching the world, group building, decision making and communicating that differ dramatically from those of the dominant culture. Seriousness about inclusiveness calls for justice not only in economics and politics but also in processes and procedures – the very way the church communicates about life.

• Pursuing racial inclusiveness will require our church self-consciously and with equity to provide presence, visibility, and representation for persons from racial minority groups which may be disproportionate to their numbers in the church's membership – until such time as the whole church has become inclusive in thought and practice.

• There are strong correlations among racism, sexism, classism, ageism, handicapism, and other oppressive systems of thought and behavior. The generic sin underlying them all is the sin of exclusion; thus the real issue is one of inclusiveness versus exclusiveness.

Our Vision
By his blood he purchased for God people of every race and tongue, of every folk and nation. (from Revelation 5:9)
The visions approach was born of struggle, anger, pain, and the love of Jesus, who heals all wounds. The project envisions a day when the people of the earth will forgive one another, link arms, and rise up together to make the Body of Christ truly whole.
The visions document is built on the premise that a vision can make a profound change. It suggests that a clear, appealing vision can be most effective in forming an inclusive church. Such a suggestion may fly in the face of human logic, but it is quite biblical. Jesus presents his followers with a vision of the kingdom of God that continues to have tremendous power (Acts 2:1-4, 12-18). It is in this tradition, one that permeates both Old and New Testaments with dreams and visions, that we will make our statement, in hopes of moving the mountain which is racism. We ask that God grant the mustard seed of faith to us, that we may learn to respect the gifts of one another and to welcome the unique contributions of all in a newly inclusive church.

How Did the Church Get This Way?

The church began its quest for inclusiveness by turning to the gospel (Philippians 2:5-11). It concluded that the Inclusiveness Principle emerges directly from the good news that all people are included as the beneficiaries of Christ's death and resurrection. These conclusions were then part of the stages of growth which followed:
• Cross-cultural/racial judgments. The church discovered that one race cannot judge another easily without first understanding the "logic" of the other. For example, judgments of "good" and "bad" in one culture do not easily transfer to another. The church learned to make judgments within the world view of each culture, only then rejecting cultural norms which did not harmonize with the gospel, and affirming joyfully those which did.

• Fear of conflict. The church learned that at the source of poor relationships was a tremendous fear of conflict, prevalent especially among white church members. Conflict was generally viewed as only negative and to be avoided. Where conflict became an opportunity to communicate and negotiate, racism issues were dealt with quickly and all parties learned to be more sensitive (1 John 4:18). The ability to manipulate others with threats of conflict was eliminated and groups found it possible to work out their issues constructively. "Opponents" learned not to reject one another.

• Elitism and truth. The church had to learn to recognize signs of elitism within it. Where individuals and groups operated with assumptions that their beliefs, processes, and opinions were the only right ones, racism was not far behind. It was difficult to address this question because some members felt it questioned God, intuitively assuming that God held the same opinions they held. The church asked its members to view reality like a diamond, which can be studied from many sides and may appear different, depending on one's vantage point.

• Oral and written tradition. The church learned that not all cultures and races operate in the way of the northern Europeans. Many members were particularly perplexed with peoples from oral traditions, appearing not to take them seriously at first. It required several years of experience with Asians and Indians before an appreciation of their ways could develop. The road was hard, but church members were willing to see the process through. It was determined that since the church is Christ's body, and Christ is inclusive, therefore the church must be inclusive. There was no other choice. (See 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4.)

"Visions of our Inclusive Church" presents a vision of a more fully inclusive church, embracing white people and people of color, women and men, elderly and young, rich and poor, those who currently have disabling conditions and those who currently do not. The vision is deliberately a celebration of all peoples and an attempt to promote the highest good of all, while focusing primary attention on racial inclusiveness.
This document desires to describe the living out of the redemption which is ours in Jesus Christ. It speaks of the nature of the fellowship of all people of Cod in their life and work together. The taskforce wishes to state clearly that it does not promote syncretism, that is, an attempt to unite conflicting faiths. It seeks rather to identify the variety of ways in which the uniqueness of the Christian gospel can be enfleshed in many cultures. Former ways of giving expression to that unique gospel have been meaningful, but sometimes incomplete. This vision is also incomplete. What is sought is ever-more inclusive expressions of our Christian faith. (See 1 Corinthians 13:9-13.)

WELCOME TO THE INCLUSIVE CHURCH

• The inclusive church. Its members celebrate the fact that their church is diverse, healthy, uninhibited by differences, and skillful in addressing issues confronting it and its society. They are newly alive to the teaching of the Scriptures. They worship a Lord Jesus Christ who affirmed the Canaanite woman and made an outcast Samaritan the hero of a story of compassion. They find new richness in biblical testimony such as: Acts 17:26a, From one single stock [God]... created the whole human race (Jerusalem Bible), and Ephesians 2:14-15, For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them . . . in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself (TEV), and Galatians 3:28, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ (RSV).
• The new inclusive church notes that there is a great diversity among people, a richness and a beauty obviously intended by the Creator. In honoring the diversity of gifts God gives, the inclusive church bears witness to the basic unity of the body of Christ, that great gift which transcends all differences, binding people together in "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5). The church has learned that, though there are varying ways of serving, Jesus Christ draws all people to bear inclusive witness to the one God. Church members, with St. Peter, rejoice to find that God has given the gift of faith in the gospel to people of all nations (Acts 11:17).

The Inclusiveness Principle

Once we committ ourselves to reflecting the entire Body of Christ, with all its colors and dimensions, all its styles and folkways, it adopted the inclusiveness principle. It continues regularly to valuate itself against the principle. Inclusiveness is defined as: a way of being that promotes wholeness in the midst of diversity and honors the distinctive gifts of all people. Using this definition, the inclusive church can be further described as one which:
a. bonds the diverse groups within it through the gospel.
b. celebrates the richness of cultural variety.
c. transcends cultural limitations with the love of Christ.
d. shares power equitably among all groups.
e. promotes both representation and participation by all groups.
f. ensures processes, procedures, and results attuned to the needs and desires of all groups.

g. secures resources and designs policies to benefit all.
g. encourages inclusiveness by honoring and affirming examples of it in the church's life.
3. The inclusive church adds the building of community among groups to everything it does. It designs cross-group opportunities, putting the needs of people ahead of the needs of systems.
4. The inclusive church has global vision which inspires its local activity. It is involved with peace-making and reconciliation both locally and globally. Hearing and heeding the many biblical exhortations to serve the poor, the church makes the needs of the poor and powerless its first priority.
inclusiveness: a way of being that promotes wholeness . . . and honors the distinctive gifts of all people
5. The inclusive church acts, then reflects, before acting again. It strives to say less and to do more, understanding the need for works as well as words (Romans 2:13). The inclusive church communicates through traditional and newer media, understanding the need for differing stimuli for different groups. The arts are used freely as the church dances and writes, paints and prays, mimes and meditates, plans and improvises. The church is as well known for having a heart as for having a head.

A plan of action


We will develop a plan of action to include the following:

• Use the discipline of social ethics to encourage effective advocacy.
• insure that worship is an intentional witness against racism.

• identify, name and share information with each other regarding programs and initiative.

• claim Martin Luther King Jr. Day and similar appropriate occasions for dialogue leading to systemic change.


• maintain a strong program of Christian education on the dynamics of racism and the demands of racial justice.

• search for racism embedded in the structures, politics and programs of churches.
• renew the commitment to the struggle for equal human rights through advocacy.

• develop resources to address the issue of racism in the response of churches to new immigrant groups.