OUR JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION JOURNEY
Our Story
At Common Ground Northeast, we believe the values of Justice & Reconciliation are not “elective” topics but central to the liberating (Luke 4:14-21) and reconciling (2 Cor. 5:11-21) work of the Gospel. We believe these values must be biblically informed and gospel-driven and that it takes intention to make this subject stay at the forefront of a congregation. This is especially true in the racialized social climate of America where marginalized communities must endure and majority communities may opt out.
In 2015, a small group of our congregants heard a clear directive from the Spirit to begin a focus on racial reconciliation. Out initial focus was on achieving the result of having our mostly white congregation become more “multi-ethnic,” but as we embarked on trying to understand what this meant, we quickly learned that we didn’t understand much of what the journey would entail. We engaged with multiple non-white thought leaders who were external to our church and heard a variety of ideas, perspectives and challenges. We hired an intern to individually and collectively coach, challenge and encourage us as we continued pursuing this vision of multi-ethnicity. We purposefully pursued diverse staffing and leadership roles for both ethnicity and gender. We hosted two “Reconciliation” conferences highlighting voices to educate and enlighten us and engaged in multiple Reconciliation Workshops to open our eyes to the effects of generational oppression, implicit bias, and cultural diversification.
“...(Reconciliation is) 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.””
Christ-followers must pursue biblical justice and work against oppression
Systemic racism is real and has influenced all of us
We must educate ourselves, build genuine relationships, and reverse the effects of racism
OUR JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION TEAM
Our J+R Team helps to keep our church grounded in our values, current in relevant topics, and seeks to creative opportunities for the church to learn and engage.
EDUCATING OURSELVES
Join us as we continue to learn about the impact of racism.
BUILDING GENUINE RELATIONSHIPS
Listen to our podcast where we hear the stories of black faith leaders, accept their challenges, and refocus our attention.
