Racial Reconciliation in the Church #prayerACTS

Let’s all study the book of Acts at the same time.

For a long list of varied and intricate reasons, we tend to be separated by ethnicity on Sunday mornings. So, what do we actually DO about it? What is step 1 in addressing what many perceive to be a huge issue within the collective church? As we go to our separate worship spaces, the world burns. Our culture desperately needs us to take the lead and set the example toward racial reconciliation.  We have the gospel which is the cure to sin which is the root of racism. We have the answer and His name is Jesus. So, it is incumbent upon us to show the way… or the Way, more accurately.

I cannot, with my hands, build an adequate number of new buildings in centralized locations for churches of differing ethnic makeups to share. I cannot change the long history of pain that led to the way we tend to segregate ourselves. I cannot single-handedly move families into new homes to make communities take on an ethnically heterogeneous mixture. I cannot salve decades of economic hardship. I cannot forcibly align the music preferences of millions of people. However, we can give away Explore the Bible’s Reading Plan for the spring and invite believers of all walks of life to share it together. We can ask a panel of experts to come together and talk about the book of Acts and what it has to do with racial reconciliation in the church. We can give away the Bible itself in digital form and we can give away some other sermon videos that will bless people. So, we have and we will. These will all be available here. Since over 1 million people will be studying Acts together anyway, we Christians ought to move through Acts together this coming spring and share our stories in a conversation that is curated by God’s perfect Word. This is a movement of believers whose minimum number is over 1 million. It is a simple call to read the Bible in sync together.

Too often, issues of race are discussed exclusively in the comments section of a video of a horrifying tragedy. I propose that we allow something better to prompt our discourse; the Bible. Let’s read Acts at the same time, LIVE OUT WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS, and share our stories of reconciliation at #prayerACTS. I know that the book of Acts is not a book about racial reconciliation. However, there are many stories about racial reconciliation throughout the book of Acts. This is the case because the Holy Spirit’s move necessarily brings about racial reconciliation. When the Spirit of God moves, people are reconciled. It simply happens because of who God is. In His presence, we cannot practice racism. When you embrace the Holy Spirit’s move, you forsake prejudice. Just look at Peter in Acts 10. Look at the way God brought every nation together in Acts 2. Look at the way God called Philip to cross cultural lines in Acts 8. Look at the way God invented the diaconate to protect the church’s unity in Acts 6.

You cure racism exclusively by following God’s will. There is no other way. What we need is revival and nothing else will do.

So, come together, Christians. Unite as Jesus prayed we would in John 17. Become one. Be a part of something beautiful. I know that it’s not everything, but it is something: let’s all study the book of Acts at the same time. This is not the cure-all, but it could be the first step which some have sought bewildered. Imagine God’s church coming together, the world seeing how it is done, and doing likewise as they too embrace the move of the Holy Spirit that draws people to salvation in Jesus Christ. Imagine it. Stay tuned for a video on racial reconciliation in the book of Acts featuring a phenomenal panel of experts including Dr. Tony Evans. It will be available at prayeracts.com soon and you can give us your name and email address to be notified when the video goes live here. Starting March 6, the corporate church will become closer.

You are loved much, brothers and sisters in Christ.
-Jesse