A Theology of Racial Reconciliation

At Trinity, we affirm that each person is created in the image and love of God regardless of ethnicity, gender or social status. According to scripture, God blessed the world with difference as a part of his original design for flourishing (Genesis 1:27-28). It was sin and the resulting separation from God that introduced prejudice, violence, and inequality into the human story. Under the influence of sin, differences intended by God to ensure the flourishing of a diverse creation became the means by which people sought to gain advantage over one another and the world around them.

It is, however, the ongoing redemptive work of God to make right what sin has made wrong. According to scripture, Jesus’ death and resurrection have reversed the curse of sin, so that through the power of the Holy Spirit, people might be reconciled to God and to each other. In 2 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul writes:

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,[c] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

It is our conviction, therefore, that the “ministry of reconciliation” is the work of the Spirit to draw people toward God and into redemptive community. When the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost, the church was empowered by God to worship and unify across lines of difference. Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, male and female alike received the gift of the Spirit without distinction. The “dividing walls of hostility,” erected along lines of ethnicity, gender and social status were broken down and destroyed by the cross of Jesus (Ephesians 2) so that a more diverse and unified family of faith might be raised by the Spirit. Jews were called to acknowledge the full inclusion and spiritual gifting of Gentiles just as men were called to acknowledge the same for women, and masters were likewise called to acknowledge the kinship of their servants. The apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3, 

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

These words are not a call to sameness, but rather to oneness in the body of Christ – to unity rather than to uniformity. The vision given in Revelation 7 of a redeemed world prefigures a unified, multiethnic family of faith gathered together in worship around God’s throne. That vision is both a promise and a call to the church presently to advance God’s kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven. While Christians no longer live under the curse of sin, according to scripture, we do still live in a world ordered by its influence. The evils of racism, sexism and ethnocentrism continue to be built into the structures of the world and to erect “dividing walls of hostility” along lines of difference within the hearts of individuals. These divisions not only grieve the heart of God and oppose his will, they also prevent the church from experiencing the fullness of God’s peace, joy, and love. Therefore, we recognize the need for the ongoing redemptive work of the Spirit in the hearts and minds of people, as well as in the structures created by them.

Trinity understands the work of reconciliation to be: an ongoing spiritual process involving forgiveness, repentance, and justice that restores broken relationships and systems to reflect God’s original intention for all creation to flourish (Brenda Salter McNeil, Roadmap to Reconciliation). We affirm that this work necessitates the restoration of a “common memory” (See resources below), the acknowledgment of sin and shortcomings, as well as the establishment of clear commitments for the sake of a more hopeful and redemptive future (See Acknowledgments and Commitments below). 

Acknowledgments and Commitments

We recognize that the sin of racism manifests not only in the minds and hearts of individuals, but also in the institutions and systems created by them (religion, education, politics, the marketplace, housing and social services, etc.). We also recognize that the reconciling work of the church includes not only personal and relational intentionality, but must necessarily extend into wider spheres of influence wherever racial disparities and injustices appear (Jeremiah 22:1-5). We, therefore, commit to opposing racism in all of its forms through the examination of our individual hearts, as well as through acts of redemptive justice in our community.

We recognize that throughout history there have been White Christians who have been complicit in the endorsement of racist ideas, in committing acts of racial violence, and in the perpetuation of racial divisions to the grief of God and in clear violation of the teaching of scripture (See Resource: Just Mercy, One Blood, Color of Compromise and Divided By Faith) . Even though individual persons may not be deliberately or directly involved in acts of racial injustice, we are exhorted by scripture to follow the example of Jesus who assumed and associated himself with humanity’s collective sin in order to achieve God’s redemptive purposes. We, therefore, commit to learning, acknowledging, and repairing the painful parts of our shared history so that we might also work toward a more redemptive future.

We recognize that as a pastoral leadership we have been slow to examine the cultural biases, blindspots and prejudices that perpetuate racialized separation in our city and community. We recognize that this lack of intentionality has not only been painful and costly for our brothers and sisters of color, but it has also cost every member the opportunity to experience a more robust expression of the body of Christ. We are, therefore, committed as a leadership to an ongoing process of humble self-examination, intentional learning, and genuine repentance. 

  • We commit to listening and learning. This means that Trinity’s leadership will continue to read, to study, and to build authentic relationships across ethnic lines of difference.  

  • We commit to self-examination and reflection. This means that Trinity’s leadership will continue to pray and pursue the Spirit with respect to identifying cultural blind spots and biases, and to cultivating hope in our community.

  • We commit to admitting mistakes. This means that Trinity’s leadership commits to owning mistakes when they are made by inviting feedback and accountability through diverse relationships, as well as formal structures. 

  • We commit to fostering diverse leadership environments. This means that Trinity’s leadership commits to pursuing diverse representation in our staff and to creating space for diverse voices in our community to shape the ministry life of our church.

Responses to Important Questions

Q: How does Trinity’s leadership understand and define racism?

Racism is negative race-related prejudice toward individuals, groups, or environments that manifests through individual acts, as well as structures and systems that favor one racial group over another. 

 

Q: How does Trinity’s leadership understand and define white supremacy?

White Supremacy is a culture or environment within which White people share an internalized sense of superiority and are socialized to assume White Culture is normative and best.

Q: What is the view of Trinity’s leadership on Critical Race Theory? 

CRT is an academic theory devised by social theorists to help explain the impact of racism on society by looking “critically” at systems of power. Given that people often associate racism with individual acts of prejudice, CRT can be useful as a resource in helping us to better understand the ways in which racism operates beyond individual acts through the permeation of our wider culture. However, because CRT is an academic theory, based on social science rather than the Bible, it contains tenets that are incompatible with important Christian convictions. For this reason, our recommendation is to “eat the meat and spit out the bones” of CRT while giving more focused attention to following the clear teaching of Scripture on issues of justice, as well as the Christ honoring example of our brothers and sisters of color in their work for social change. 

For more information on the “meat” (positive aspects) and “bones” (negative aspects) of CRT, please see the resources below. The examples below are taken from Drew Henley’s “Letter on Critical Race Theory.”

“Meat” (Examples of aspects of CRT that are compatible with a Christian worldview.

1. CRT helps to connect the dots between racism and power

2. CRT rightfully points out that people of color are able to see and identify racism that white people are often blind to.

3. CRT shows us how race is socially-constructed.

4. CRT helps to explain how COMPLEX racism is.

“Bones” (Examples of aspects of CRT that are incompatible with a Christian worldview.

1. CRT undermines our primary common identity as Christians.

2. CRT invalidates hope for forgiveness and reconciliation.  

3. CRT oversimplifies society into groups and neglects to see people as individuals.

Sources

Current Issues: Critical Race Theory by Bishop Todd Hunter  

Letter on Critical Race Theory by Drew Henley 

Resources

Conversation on Race

In November of 2018, we hosted a two-part Conversation on Race where Ashley Mathews joined by our good friend Darryl Ford, pastor of Ikon Community Church, to discuss the often omitted parts of our American story, as well as how race has shaped our own stories.

In part one, Ashley and Darryl examined the origins of racial division in America. They then considered how our faith might compel and equip us to address those divisions. Listen to Part One here.

In part two, they looked at how we might move past some of the common barriers to interracial community with the hope of modeling reconciliation, both in and outside the walls of Trinity. Listen to Part Two here.

Conversation on Reconciliation

In November of 2021, we hosted a two-part Conversation on Reconciliation as an opportunity for our pastors and other leaders in our church to share about Trinity’s vision and commitment to working for racial reconciliation. If you missed it, we hope you’ll give the audio a listen.

In Part 1, you’ll hear a backstory on why we hosted the event, some of the work we’ve been doing, as well as a theology of reconciliation and why we believe it’s so important.

In Part 2, you’ll hear from members of our Race, Diversity and Inclusion Council and our leadership team as they share about their own experiences of this work of reconciliation.

Exploring Race

We recognize that the current cultural climate makes it very hard to be a learner. We also recognize that addressing issues as complicated as our national racial history can seem overwhelming. The following resources are recommended for those who are beginning to explore issues of race and cultural identity.

Common Memory

We recognize that one of the primary barriers to cross cultural friendship and reconciliation among Christians is a lack of shared history or “common memory.” Historically, the voices and experiences of People of Color in America have been underrepresented and often misrepresented in everything from textbooks, to movies and television, to church pulpits. This lack of shared understanding, language and historic knowledge serves to create and reinforce much of the painful division that presently exists between Christians of different races and ethnicities. We recommend the following resources for the purpose of fostering understanding and restoring a “common memory.”  

Racial Healing

We recognize that regardless of whether or not a person is a victim of blatant acts of racial prejudice, there is an emotional and spiritual cost for People of Color who live, work and worship in majority White culture spaces. The following resources are recommended for the purposes of addressing and beginning to heal racial pain: