Our Commitment
to Racial Justice.

The very foundation of Christianity is the affirmation that all people are created by God in the image of God, without exception. Thus as image-bearers, all are worthy of dignity and respect. Therefore, any practice and/or prejudice that robs an individual of their dignity is incongruent with the Christian faith. 

We recognize the long history of racial injustice present in the United States. Particularly, we repent of the complicity and participation of the Church in those sinful practices, for this is entirely incongruent with the faith we confess.  This history of racism must not be ignored, forgotten, or white-washed for it is a history that directs our present more than we could ever know. Therefore, we will remember this history, despise its evils, and mourn its victims. While racist crimes like chattel slavery, Jim Crow laws, and racial discrimination have been outlawed the insidiousness of racism is its ability to morph with the times. 

Today, racism takes on more subtle tones in the form of veiled rhetoric, discriminatory practices, and unconscious bias. These practices must be specifically named and addressed in order to confront the evil in our community and in our heart. Generic condemnation rarely serves to reveal the bias we all harbor. In order to rightly discern all of racism’s expressions, we must be attuned to the voices of those harmed by it the most. 

This requires the Church to be a safe place for the pain to be shared. Therefore, we surrender our desire for the pain to be substantiated or justified. While we should seek understanding and take measures to prevent harm, no one should have to defend the pain they feel.  We recognize ourselves as learners constantly improving how we love our neighbor. 

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus describes his task to “proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) This is the Gospel message: the Kingdom of God is in our midst! For wherever the poor receive good news, the prisoner walks free, the blind are healed, and the oppressed are freed– there the Kingdom of Jesus is at work. This Kingdom is revealed when Christ’s people work toward justice for all. 

As Midtown Church we make these 6 commitments in addressing racial injustice:

1. We commit to teaching that racism is utterly incongruent with the Christian faith and that the Kingdom of Jesus is a diverse gathering of people from all nations and tongues. 

2. We commit to being a refuge for those who have been discriminated against to vocalize their pain and to heal from their trauma. 

3. We commit to remembering the horrific crimes, of the past and present, against members of minority communities and specifically against the black community.

4. We commit to sowing into and working alongside organizations specifically dedicated to combating racism.

5. We commit to leadership practices that promote minority community members not as tokens but as leaders in their own right.

6. We commit to communication practices that declare that we want to be a diverse community, even if we are not there yet.