CRC Employees Call for Justice in Ferguson

Honking horns greeted more than a dozen Christian Reformed Church employees who stood outside the CRC’s Grand Rapids, Mich. office recently, holding signs calling for attention to the tensions in Ferguson, Mo., where police shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9.

Starting about 7 a.m., just as rush hour began, employees and supporters lined up along the edge of 28th Street SE. near Kalamazoo Avenue SE and showed motorists their signs that said such things as “Black Lives Matter,” “Justice for all,” “Standing with the Suffering of Others,” and “Justice for the Mike Browns.”

But they weren’t just there calling for a focus on Ferguson, where many questions remain about what happened on Aug. 5.

“We want to be with all of those who are grieving today in Ferguson, but we also want to call for justice for everyone everywhere,” said Peter VanderMeulen, coordinator of the CRC’s Office of Social Justice.

Several CRC employees held a prayer service on Wednesday afternoon, where they decided to go out and hold the signs the next morning.

“The prayer time and the event that took place was solely for the purpose of the church trying to stand in the gap between what is taking place between law enforcement and the communities,” said Esteban Lugo, director of the CRC’s Office of Race Relations.

Overall, he says, the church needs to be a presence of healing, a voice of  God’s justice, of promoting peace for all of those involved in places and situations such Ferguson and elsewhere.

Ferguson endured several days of unrest following the death of Brown, who was shot by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. An investigation continues into the incident.

The Obama administration last week sent Attorney General Eric Holder to the community to underscore its commitment to civil rights in Ferguson and elsewhere.

Several nights of unrest occurred in Ferguson following the shooting, but the suburb of St. Louis, Mo. has calmed in recent days.

The show of signs along 28th Street outside the CRC building emerged from the afternoon prayer service held on Wednesday in the atrium of the CRC’s office.

A handful of people took time away from their work to hear Lugo read an article that helped to inspire the prayer service.

Written by Thabiti Anyabwile, assistant pastor for church planting at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., the article calls for a groundswell of action “for theology applied for justice” in the Ferguson situation.

Silence and inaction regarding Ferguson by many evangelical leaders, he writes, shows that the evangelical church has relegated itself to the margins of society at time when it should be speaking boldly about injustice.

Lugo said he wasn’t telling people gathered in a circle how to pray, but he said prayer and some type of action was crucial, not just in Ferguson but in communities across North America. Race Relations sponsored the prayer service along with World Renew.

When it came his time to pray, Lugo said, “Move your church, Lord. I pray you move every church in our denomination where they are planted to actively stand with those who suffer and are oppressed and marginalized.”

He prayed that all CRC congregations “be a voice of the justice of Jesus Christ in the lives of people” in their communities.

Bonnie Nicholas, director of Safe Church Ministry, said that unfortunately incidents such as the one in Ferguson are not isolated.

Even so, she said in her prayer, it is important to remember that whether in Ferguson or in other cases, “we all have a role to play in bringing about awareness and healing, to seek peace where there is polarization.”

She asked God “to give us the courage to look deep inside of ourselves and see where we are not showing your love and concern for every person.

“Wake us up, Lord. Give us your power. You can do things we can’t even imagine.”

Josh Leo, communications manager for Christian Reformed World Missions, prayed “that events (in Ferguson) can lead to long-lasting change in the hearts of people and in the systems that lead to this kind of injustice.”

At the end of the prayer service, Ryan VerWys, operations director for Christian Reformed Home Missions, said he “felt moved by the Spirit” to ask others if they would join him from 7-8 a.m. to hold signs on Thursday morning.

“It was important for us to pray, but I thought it was also important to take some kind of action,” he said. “I was ready to go right out there after we prayed.”