About Race

A Statement on Race by National Presbyterian Church

Approved by the Session (elders) of the National Presbyterian Church on May 24, 2021

 

Race National Presbyterian Church - We embrace cultural diversity.

The Session of The National Presbyterian Church (and the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.), embrace racial and cultural diversity as God-given assets of the human family.1

 

God created human beings as a diverse family, to live together and to love one another as God loves us.2 We violate God’s intention for the human family by creating false categories of value and identity, based on identifiable characteristics such as culture, place of origin, and skin color.3 Racism is fundamentally a spiritual problem because it denies our true identity as children of God.4 We therefore affirm that racism is a sin which violates God’s purpose for humanity, and is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ.5

 

We confess our own complicity in this sin.6 We confess our frequent blindness to privilege, and to the impact of racism on structures and systems7 in all parts of our nation’s life, including the church itself. We also recognize that we have not spoken boldly enough, nor acted courageously or creatively enough in response to racism. 8

 

We are committed to becoming a community that resists oppression and works to overcome racism within our own life and the life of the society.9 We long to be led by the Holy Spirit to participate in transforming personal lives and institutions, such as our own church and to heal racial prejudice and hatred.10 We long to be led by the Holy Spirit to build The Beloved Community11

 

For our part, we as a Session commit to lead the congregation in:

  • Praying to become vessels of reconciliation that God can use to help end this scourge on our nation and the church of Jesus Christ.
  • Reading, listening, and learning together.
  • Opening the door to engage in difficult and honest conversations in which we share a diversity of perspectives.
  • Reviewing our congregational programs and mission involvement, as well as our connections with other congregations, to ensure that we serve Christ faithfully by pursing racial reconciliation into our ministries for the long term to dismantle and end racism where we can.

Have questions? Contact us.

View our list of Beliefs.

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1. Revelation 7:9; John 3:16

2. Acts 17:26, 28; Matthew 5:9

John 13:34; Genesis 12:3

3. Genesis 1:26; Acts 6:1; Luke 10:25-37

4. Malachi 2:10

5. Ephesians 2:15-16; 1 Corinthians 12:13

6. Romans 3:23; James 2:8-9

2 Corinthians 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:11-14,18-19; Genesis 3:17-19

Matthew 25:44-46; Ephesians 6:12

7. See John Piper https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/structural-racism.

8. Joshua 1:8; Luke 12:4; Esther 4:13-14

9. Micah 6:8; Amos 5:4, 24; Matthew 5:9; Colossians 3:11; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20

10. Acts 6:1-5; Acts 10:1-11:18; Esther 4:13-14

11. Matthew 28:19-20. “The Beloved Community” is a term used by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to refer to any community in which “Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.”