A Faith-filled Response to McKinney and Browder

Recent tragic incidents in the United States – a violent encounter between police officers and children at a pool party in McKinney, Texas, and the suicide of a young man who endured three years of incarceration and abuse after being arrested of a crime he did not commit – call the church to a united response.

We must name the injustice of racism in communities around the country. And we must challenge the oppressive justice system which is targeting and discarding young men of color.

The tension in communities around North America after incidents like these is a signal of our failure to value, attend to, and nurture one another. As Christians, we have not lived into our call to bear one another's burdens.

But, as Christians, we are called to speak differently about contentious topics than the world might speak. "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it" (1 Cor 12:26).

The Christian Reformed Church is a diverse church. We are a church of black teenagers, of white police officers, of formerly incarcerated people, of prison guards and prosecutors. We are a church of Republicans and Democrats. We are a church of Canadians and Americans.

We are a church of people, sinful and beloved by God, called to "the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph 4:3).

We are a church called by the risen Christ to listen to one another, lament our brokenness, and work toward dismantling systems of oppression and suffering.

The resources on this page, compiled by the Office of Social Justice and Office of Race Relations, are intended to help CRC pastors and congregations to discern the call of the Holy Spirit to faithfully engage in these conversations, that we might become more united and better honor one another's suffering and bear one another's burdens.

Colin Watson, Sr.
Director of Ministries and Administration
The Christian Reformed Church in North America