Reconciliation

Who Will Lead Racial Reconciliation in Your City?

By Glen Elliott Evangelical leaders have been very intentional about creating unity among the faith community to make a spiritual, social, and economic difference in our city, Tucson, Arizona. Our combined prayer is the one Jesus asked us to pray: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, in Tucson as it is in Heaven.” Even after seeing huge progress among the white and a few of the Hispanic churches, we realized the racial divide still exists. So about three years ago, a group of white and black pastors decided to meet. One of the black pastors agreed to host the

June 9, 2016

We CAN Bridge the Racial Divide

By Travis and Dena Hurley Society”s efforts to build racial unity are not succeeding. Only the gospel offers the possibility for easing racial tensions and bringing together those who have long stayed apart with suspicion toward each other. The church can make the difference””if we will. When the American Crime Story miniseries revisited the O.J. Simpson trial this spring, it reminded us of the “not guilty” verdict in 1995. At the time, the evidence of Simpson”s guilt seemed overwhelming. We were baffled by what appeared to be scenes of celebration among the black community. Was there no respect for the

May 24, 2016

The First Step Toward Unity

By Mark A. Taylor What does Christian unity look like? Sometimes it takes the form of two or three preachers getting together just to talk and share common experiences, dreams, and convictions. Often this leads to joint ministry projects and worship services between congregations creating new associations where once there was only suspicion and separation. Maybe the sweet aroma of unity will create a longing for it among others ready to include more people among “us” and fewer as “them.” And that can create an expression of unity in a large, public event attracting hundreds of separated brothers and sisters

December 23, 2015

Peace on Earth?

By Jim Tune In the movie Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a racist, embittered, retired factory worker and Korean War veteran living in a deteriorating Detroit neighborhood dominated by gang violence and Asian immigrants. Walt has little relationship with his grown sons and their self-absorbed suburban families. His two loves are his dog, Daisy, and his cherished 1972 Ford Gran Torino. A family of Hmong immigrants has moved in next door, and as part of a gang initiation, the teenage boy Thao is pressured into trying to steal Walt”s Gran Torino. Walt interrupts the attempted theft, and over

August 19, 2015

Contact

By Jim Tune Gordon Allport was an American psychologist and early groups theorist with a knack for broadly conceptualizing important behavioral topics including religion and prejudice. Allport is said to have used the following conversation to show how group segregation leads to bad attitudes toward the other group. “See that man over there?” “Yes.” “Well, I hate him.” “But you don”t even know him.” “That”s why I hate him.” Allport believed that homogeneity is never harmless. He introduced contact theory as a way of bringing groups together in order to reduce prejudice. The idea is if separation of one

July 22, 2015

A Conversation with John Perkins

John Perkins, one of the leading evangelical voices coming out of the U.S. civil rights movement, spoke with contributing editor Jennifer Johnson at the North American Christian Convention, June 2015. In this exclusive interview, he explains why many efforts toward racial reconciliation are like trying to cure cancer with Tylenol and what the church’s role in racial healing must be. See the interview here.

June 12, 2015

In All Things, Charity

By Richard J. Cherok People and movements frequently search for pithy statements to encapsulate ideas they deem worthy of remembering. Within United States history, for instance, citizens were once called upon to “Remember the Alamo” or vote for “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” Whatever the slogan or motto, it is meant to strike an emotional chord and evoke a precise belief or action. One such statement within the Restoration Movement goes something like this: “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” Though often expressed with variant wording, this slogan has become one of the movement”s most enduring mottoes.

June 11, 2015

Road Bumps on the Middle Path

By T.R. Robertson For Christians who seek to chart a path down the radical center of a hostile culture, the road can be rocky. There are others navigating a parallel route, fellow travelers whose experiences are instructive. Following the July 7, 2005, terrorist bombings in the United Kingdom, anti-Muslim sentiment spiked among the British populace, just as it did among Americans in the wake of 9/11. In response, Dr. Fuad Nahdi, editor in chief of Q-News, a leading international Muslim magazine, formed an organization called Radical Middle Way (RMW). His purpose was to use modern strategic communication methods to promote

June 9, 2015

Truth in Labeling

By Mark A. Taylor If you”re buying fashion, you look for the right label. But when you”re relating to people in a polarized world, labels can be as damaging as they are discouraging. I, for one, am tired of the expectation that I”ll believe and behave according to the label someone else places on me. Must I, for example, echo the rhetoric of either the blue state or red state where I live? Must I agree with every statement and every position of the presidential candidate I vote for? Must I commit to either a conservative or liberal position in

June 8, 2015

How to Cope in the Radical Middle

By Ian DiOrio GoneÂ are the daysÂ in our society whenÂ Christians couldÂ hope to occupy aÂ “moral majority.” But two biblicalÂ qualities, modeledÂ by Jesus and taughtÂ by the apostles, offerÂ us strategies forÂ relating to thoseÂ unlike ourselves. “United” has become anÂ ironic descriptor for America, forÂ if the United States is anything duringÂ the 21st century, it is divided. Divided over power. Who should have it and how should they wield it? Is the shape of society better molded by the masses, or does history show us it best moves forward if a select few wield tremendous influence? Divided over ethics. Are moral truths merely personal restrictions of human activity, like

June 6, 2015

Voices from the Middle

By Ben Cachiaras Contemporary examples to demonstrate the value of “and.” “¢ Jim Collins coined the phrase “embrace the and” in his 1994 book Built to Last. He and coauthor Jerry Porras reported on extensive studies at Stanford University School of Business revealing best practices of exceptional companies. One such trait among enduringly great companies was their ability to embrace the “and.” The authors” point was that choosing between seemingly contradictory concepts””focusing on this or that””leads to missed opportunities. Is the product low cost or high quality? Do I focus on short-term opportunities or long-term strategy? Should the company be

October 21, 2014

Diverse, Dynamic, and Difficult to Summarize

By Mark A. Taylor Suppose you were asked to summarize the current condition of Christian churches and churches of Christ to an interested but largely uninformed audience. That was my assignment at the Sunday-evening worship service sponsored by the Stone-Campbell Dialogue in Austin, Texas, October 5. As I reported in this space last week, I was one of three speakers, each with a similar assignment; the others spoke, respectively, about the a cappella churches of Christ and the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. Realizing that no one in our group can represent the whole group and no one can know everything

October 14, 2014

Sowing Seeds of Unity

By Mark A. Taylor Two weekends ago (October 5, 6, 2014) I attended the 19th annual gathering of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue, this year in Abilene, Texas. It was a wonderful gathering! I had the privilege of preaching at the Minter Lane Church of Christ before the Dialogue convened, and I enjoyed rich fellowship with members and leaders of all three “streams” of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. The goal of the Dialogue is to foster understanding, trust, and partnership among these “streams”: the Christian churches/churches of Christ (my group); the traditionally a cappella churches of Christ; and the Christian Church (Disciples

March 23, 2014

Not the Only Christians on Campus

By T.R. Robertson Believers””and nonbelievers””from a wide range of backgrounds gather under the influence of campus Christian ministries. How do they experience and express the reality of this motto? James was raised in a Christian family, part of a rural Missouri church that brought him up to know and follow the teachings of the Restoration Movement. Gary was the product of a church that does not share the legacy of the Restoration Movement. Both James and Gary attended the University of Missouri when they left home, and both became involved with the Mizzou Christian Campus House, a Christian church/church of

March 22, 2014

Witness and Cooperation

By C. Robert Wetzel I can think of several examples where cooperation with other groups enhanced Christian witness. And my relationship with Lesslie Newbigin taught me principles that can guide all of us. Members of Christian churches and churches of Christ are heirs to a movement that attempted to hold in balance two ideals that could sometimes seem contradictory. On the one hand, there was a commitment to restore New Testament Christianity. Restoration would, in turn, be the means upon which Christians could unite. Hence, we wanted to be “Christians only.” But on the other hand, there was a desire

March 18, 2014

Extending a Hand and Standing Firm

By Mark A. Taylor The cover headline on Christian Standard”s July 2, 2006 edition was “We Are NOT the Only Christians.” The lead article was from a book written by Rick Atchley and Bob Russell, a small volume about Christian unity titled Together Again*. The book”s publication coincided with the historic 2006 North American Christian Convention, whose theme and goal was to repair wounds and open doors between a cappella churches of Christ and independent, instrumental Christian churches and churches of Christ. But the book talked about more than that division. It also offered a challenge for how we view

March 16, 2014

“˜Not the Only Christians”

By Robert Oldham Fife As the sun arose on a spring morning in 1945, I stood at the gates of Dachau, one of Hitler”s horrendous concentration camps. It had been liberated only a few hours. I will not here attempt to describe the horror, but will say only that what you may have read in disbelief is true. Other soldiers and I could talk only in shocked whispers as we gazed upon the scene. I did not know at the time that imprisoned within those very gates was a now famous Lutheran pastor, Dr. Martin NiemÃ¶ller. After years of harsh

March 15, 2014

Collaboration Without Compromise

By Rick Grover The congregation I serve has a long tradition of cooperation in our city. We intend to continue on this path without compromising what we hold dear. John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39, 40)1. Sectarianism is as

March 14, 2014

Which Do You Perceive as the Bigger Danger? . . .

By Darrel Rowland Which do you perceive as the bigger danger: Christian churches and churches of Christ being overly exclusive and thus missing out on opportunities for real service and growth available by greater interaction with other Christian groups, . . . or brotherhood churches losing their scriptural distinctive, especially on baptism and weekly observance of the Lord”s Supper, by interacting with other Christian groups? Bob Russell, Retired minister, Louisville, Kentucky Twenty-five years ago I would have answered that the greater danger was that we were too exclusive””we isolated ourselves too much. Today I think the greater danger is we

March 14, 2014