The Christian tradition has always been home to human evils that divide and destroy. The Crusades of the Middle Ages, chattel slavery in America, ongoing inequality according to race, gender or sexual orientation — the injustices of Christian history are many and they have not stopped. Those who love the church must speak honestly and confessionally about the vile parts of our tradition and own responsibility for sins that injure God’s precious creation. For the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), this means directly and honestly facing the impact of racism on how we have done and continue to do our ministries. For a 90 percent white denomination in a rapidly changing country, this work is as urgent as ever.
At NEXT Church – a community of church leaders engaging faithful, creative work all over the country – we are trying, quite imperfectly, to be about the work of inclusivity and reconciliation. One example began three years ago when we made an intentional decision to develop our leadership team into a group made up of at least 50 percent persons of color. It took three years and a lot of hard work, and we did it. But we are just now starting the real journey: how to be together in ways that are just and honor everyone around the table.
In recent months the strategy team leadership of NEXT Church has been called into work that is powerful and painful. We acknowledge that, entangled by the evils of racism and white supremacy, we hurt others even when we don’t mean to. We are working to reassess our priorities in both the processes and outcomes of our work. As leaders, we are all in different places; we feel a need for both urgency and patience as we grow together.
As we do the work of leading together, we practice holding space for discomfort to be felt by those who are privileged, and we practice holding space for comfort to be felt by those who have long been silenced. These spaces are sacred.
At the conclusion of our last meeting, we anointed one another with oil, sharing words offered by Tasha Hicks McCray. As we made the sign of the cross on one another’s foreheads, we said, “Because you belong to Christ, you belong to me; and we belong to one another.”
For NEXT Church leadership, this journey has been and will continue to be a mix of discomfort and comfort in the midst of grace-filled ministry. As leaders we have felt called to share this work with our congregations. We believe this is important work for the church at large.
Back in 2017, NEXT Church introduced a confession of faith we call the Sarasota Statement, which speaks to many urgent theological issues of our time. It included these words we are trying to live by:
“We commit to reject and resist all racist practices, however explicit or subtle. We commit to dismantle white supremacy, including societal structures that maintain and protect white privilege.”
— Sarasota Statement, NEXT Church 2017
Shavon Starling-Louis and Adam Fronczek are co-chairs of the NEXT Church strategy team.
