As the body of Christ, it is our duty to reflect the heart of God. Racism is a sin issue that breaks God’s heart. And it should break our hearts as well. This year, our pastors and staff came around a book called Oneness Embraced by Dr Tony Evans.

Although oneness is hard to achieve, the Christian must never stop striving. It’s a kingdom imperative. As Tony reminds us, “Glorifying God is our ultimate goal. Oneness exists to enable us to reach our goal.”

Our role as the body of Christ is to represent him well – that means being countercultural. We can choose to love differently. We can choose to put others before ourselves. We can choose to promote unity simply by asking God to search our hearts and transform us from the inside out to genuinely love and respect others for the image of God they represent. 

Pray

1 - Be radical in your prayer to God. You can use David’s prayer: 

Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Ask God to reveal any areas where you need to personally repent and be transformed to see others the way that He sees them.

Seek To Understand

2 – Commit to being a lifelong learner, choosing to view the world through the eyes of others. Learn to become an active listener, not just hearing what others have to say, but truly, genuinely seeking to understand their perspective before sharing yours.

3-Take Action

1. There are many ways to be a part of the solution. 

Start by evaluating your current actions: 

• Are you posting life-giving / unity-promoting content on your social media? 
• Are you speaking words of life and unity in your conversations with others? 
• Are you choosing to be radical in the way you give of your time, your gifts, and your treasures? 

Next, learn about initiatives that you can support. Perhaps there is a racial unity initiative at your job. Research city and county-wide initiatives to learn about the ones you can support.

Keep Going

4. -No one should be able to forget about this in a couple of weeks.

-Stay Updated

-Keep speaking out.

-Know this a movement, not a moment.

Oneness Embraced - by Dr Tony Evans

Woke Church - by Eric Mason