Racial Reconciliation is the biblical value that calls us to build trusting relationships between the races, and through this practice of intentional community, to break down the dividing walls of hostility and display the power of the cross.
"My prayer is not for them alone [the 1st century disciples]. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have l loved them even as you have loved me." ~Jesus Christ (John 17:20-23 NIV)
It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, the same hour when many are standing to sing: "In Christ There Is No East Nor West." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The great tragedy today is not so much that our society is still divided along racial, cultural, and ethnic lines. The tragedy is, rather, that God's people, the church, are equally or even more deeply divided." ~Dr. Tony Evans
"I believe the road to true reconciliation will involve whites coming on our turf, eating our food, listening to our music, and being uncom- fortable as they experience faith, history, and culture through our eyes...
Minorities have long been learning from white Christians. We have learned their hymns, read their books, practiced their theories. But it is time for whites to recognize they can benefit from minority perspectives on life and faith. If whites do learn from minority Christians, this will enrich, embolden, and strengthen the whole church.
The shift from whites saying, 'What can I do for you?' to 'I need you' would signal that perhaps words and deeds are starting to come together."
