Dear City Hope,
In 2020 we are continuing to struggle against a very real and dangerous problem. White supremacy and the racist policies, ideas, and hate that flow from it has plagued the world for far too long. This has come at great costs. It has cost black people and other people of color their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, their well-being, their opportunities, their livelihoods, their prosperity, their peace, and their very lives. It has gone on not only because of the evil intent of the vocal and active proponents of white supremacy, but also because of the silence and complicity of white people. The silence and complicity of pursuing the status quo, of voting into power those who have created or maintained racist policies, of not challenging policies and decisions, of not being “our brother’s keeper,” and of concerning ourselves with only that which promotes our flourishing rather than actively pursuing an equitable society in which everyone flourishes and in particular those who are marginalized.
1 John 3:16-24 says:
We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister* in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
Love must manifest itself in actions and not merely in words. So, if we want to see meaningful change in the pursuit of racial justice and equity in our nation, we must have profound actions. Not only that, but knowing what we know about racial injustice, we cannot simply go on living as ‘normal.’ James 4:17 says, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” It is not just the active sins of commission that we must take into account when we consider the devastating effects of white supremacy, but also the passive sins of omission. In light of this, I would like to challenge us to a commitment to seeking racial justice, not simply in words but in action. We can and should all advocate that black lives do indeed matter. But let us not just say it, but let our actions prove it. Let our work showcase itself so that our black brothers and sisters experience and know their value, worth and dignity not simply from our words or social media posts but through our actions.
A word to my black brothers and sisters:
I want to lead our church in repentance. And therefore if you have experienced any racial trauma at our church, please contact me so that I can seek for us to grow and change and personally repent to you of the way our church, under my leadership has caused you harm. During this season please prioritize your own healing and self-care (that is self-care in Jesus) and let me know of any ways that I can shepherd or serve you better. Also, please reach out in any ways that we can grow or amend our Action Plan.
A word to my white brothers and sisters:
I want to ask you to enter into this document and this season for our church in humility. We will recommend action steps that you might disagree with personally. That disagreement might come along policy conversations or seeming political conversations. Certain things are certainly political, and certain things are certainly moral. Both are important. We may disagree on political solutions but not on moral categories. We may advocate for something that you disagree with and that is fine, you are free to disagree, but please engage with humility and love. However we will not back down from the moral realities of our current moment. We must declare with certainty that black lives do in fact matter and do so not only with words but with actions. The moral categories for racism and racial injustice are clear. The policy solutions to dismantle a system of white supremacy and build a more equitable one in a fallen world, are admittedly not as clear. We must be clear on what is clear and humbly engage in the complicated nature of policy solutions in order to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our city and world.
A City Hope Action Plan on Becoming a Church in Pursuit of Racial Justice
Repentance. Martin Luther described the Christian life by saying that all of life is repentance. Therefore if we are to pursue racial justice, we must begin with repentance. Repentance is not a call for you to experience some wallowing in guilt but to acknowledge sin, seek forgiveness and then seek real and meaningful change so that you live differently. This means we must understand how our country was and continues to be racialized and the devastating effects this has had and continues to have on Black people and other people of color. And then we seek to repent of the ways we have owned this narrative of white supremacy in our own hearts and minds and the ways that has come out against other people. We must also think about the ways we have contributed to this corporately. As a predominantly white church in a predominately white denomination with a sinful legacy on the history of race and injustice we need to be honest and own the corporate dimensions of sin as well. That means the ways we have voted for, been silent in the face of, or benefited from the systems of oppression that exist in our culture. We must not wallow in guilt for that will not move us forward but we must truly own, repent, flee to the cross, and find comfort and new life to walk in public holiness. This repentance will take time and work. We will need to examine our biases and our history and see the world with new lenses. We will need to consider how policies and policing has affected people and then acknowledge that we have not been our brother’s keeper. We need to then put on Christ’s righteousness and walk in love, action, and boldness to promote the flourishing of black lives.
We must commit to educating ourselves in the pursuit of anti-racism. We cannot simply live in the status quo of racism, but must move into an anti-racist mindset. This is a matter of our discipleship to the Lord Jesus Christ who is near to the broken-hearted and the marginalized, and who shed his blood to purchase a multi-ethnic bride. However, while you and I are called to this work by our discipleship to Jesus Christ, we are not experts. We must commit to having the humility to know that we need help in this pursuit. Thankfully we have a plethora of resources available to pursue anti-racism work and do not need to bombard our black brothers and sisters with questions that scholars and books have laid out for us.
Here is a short list to get you started:
The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi
The HD Leader by Derwin Gray
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Strength to Love by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
White Awake by Daniel Hill
I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together by Beverly Daniel Tatum
White Rage by Carol Anderson
A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
The PCA Report on Racial Reconciliation: https://www.pcahistory.org/pca/digest/studies/2018_Racial_and_Ethnic_Reconciliation.pdf
A note on resources: some of these books are by Christians and some by non-christians. At City Hope we believe that all truth is God’s truth no matter who is telling it. The truth of the matter is that for much of American history, the predominately white church has been largely either actively working to oppose racial justice or complicit with racial injustice. This means that our tradition lacks the resources necessary to understand how to integrate theology and race conversations well. This means we will have to be humble and learn as well as integrate this knowledge with a full gospel worldview. So, will you disagree with some of the things you read in these books, yes. Is that ok, yes. The point of learning is to engage the material and integrate it with the things you already know. For the Christian we do this constantly in many disciplines, however, unfortunately and unironically we have failed to do this when it comes to the social sciences in their study and understanding of race. We can do better in this regard and so rather than reject the whole approach, we need to interact, engage and grow. Also, I do not pretend that this is an exhaustive list of resources. There are many more great resources available as well.
Get involved in local conversations about justice, policing, and race. The Concerned Clergy recently put together a proposal that we should advocate being adopted by our City leaders. It is not a perfect proposal, but one that would create meaningful change in our city. Please look into it here: https://www.change.org/p/racial-justice-plan-2020-muncie-delaware-county-in?recruiter=1117121517&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard&recruited_by_id=1a67ddc0-af3a-11ea-8ef6-ff4d5b550343. You can sign this petition and you can contact local leaders to advocate for them to review it and adopt it. We will continue to bring to the forefront issues that arise in our community as they come forward.
Give. We are creating a new fund here at City Hope entitled the Racial Justice Fund. This is a way for us to follow and practice the biblical model of restitution. We live in a society that has generational racial injustices. This cannot be mended without real and lasting restitution or reparations. I do suggest that you research the idea of reparations and support it on a federal government level as well. Jesus says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mat. 6:21). If we say that we love our black brothers and sisters and yet do not seek to alleviate the economic disparities that exist, do we love them? How can we as a church plant with a small budget do such a thing? Well, we start small and trust God that if we are faithful with little things he will make us faithful with bigger things. So, we will be starting by committing $2,000 from our general fund into this new Racial Justice Fund. And I am calling on you, City Hope to match that amount through additional giving. We hope to continue to use this fund proactively in our church and in our community. Our first opportunity will be in helping to send Adriana Arthur to graduate school well resourced. She will bring much good to the world in anti-racist policy work, research, and writing and we want to see her thrive. Second we will be supporting the Collective Clergy’s MLK scholarship fund. And third we will be supporting a local historic Black church in Muncie. We believe that the local church is the strongest outpost of the Kingdom of God and that this church will be able to do the work of justice in our City. We will continue to grow and proactively seek ways to utilize this fund for the sake of racial justice in our city. You can access this by clicking here: https://cityhopemuncie.churchcenter.com/giving/ and designating the Racial Justice Fund.
I would also encourage you to think about your own personal giving to missionaries and ministries. Octavia Miller is raising support currently for her role with the Impact Movement at Ball State and I would love to see her get fully funded mainly through her local church family. You can reach out to Octavia or get to her give site here: https://give.cru.org/1005274. Also, the arts and justice are integral partners. In order to change the narrative of our nation we need to support the arts. Again, on our staff team we have an opportunity to do that with Rome Herbert and the Do For Three Collective. Please reach out to him or connect with his Patreon Support page here: https://www.patreon.com/romeherbert
Seek to build genuine relationships with people who are different from you. To build relationships of trust, it will take time. And you must be genuinely interested in the personhood of the other person and not just their perspective on the issues on which you need to grow. Also, let’s give the black people and other people of color in our church time to heal in this traumatic season and not everyone reach out to them at once. Genuine relationships will change lots of things for us, but they take time and proximity.
We must continue in all these ways in prayer and a mighty trust in a good King Jesus. It is easy to lose heart and to grow weary in doing good. So we must constantly connect with our King Jesus in prayer and remember his promises to come again and right all wrongs. It is true that the universe bends towards justice, however, we must realize that it is bent that way by King Jesus. So we desperately need him. And we need to be transformed by Him so that when we pray, “Your Kingdom Come” he can use us to expand his rule and reign of love and peace in our city.
If you have any questions please reach out to me. I would love to sit down and talk through any of these things with you.
In Christ alone,
Pastor Josh Holowell