Important updates from Pastor Royce and the leadership team…

While we are eager to meet together again in-person for Sunday Gatherings, the safety and well-being of our church family and surrounding communities are our highest priority. As such, we are following the safety guidelines set by our local officials for religious gatherings, which not only limits the number of people that can participate in gatherings, but requires a lengthy list of other safety protocols. For full details on our Governor's guidance on Phase 2 and Phase 3 Faith-based and Religious Organization Requirements, click here. 

My African ancestors suffered some of, if not the worst atrocities of humanity.  We suffered from being kidnapped, enslaved, groomed for sale, shackled, brutally whipped,  branded, using pepper, salt or other hard substances like sand to rub on open wounds; held in instruments of torture for infinite amounts of time, families separated from each other; mutilations, amputations, castrations, genitals tortured, sexually assaulted, cruel executions (lynchings, hangings & being buried and burned alive) and anything else demonically atrocious against a human being; limited only to imagination of the captors; no matter of the age, gender or health condition; including any disabilities or pregnancies. 

Before these last few weeks, I can’t say that I have wept with the Black community. I am ashamed that I have rested in the comfort of my complacency for this long. Yes, in the past I may have expressed my anger after hearing about the countless acts of racial injustice and police brutality, but that anger has never propelled me to take action in any way. What was it about the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery that struck a chord with all of us? Maybe it is because we are in the middle of a pandemic– one that has quite literally forced us to sit in our thoughts and reflect on the ugliness within ourselves and our society. Now again we are forced to face head-on with another pandemic that is so deeply rooted in the soul of this country– systemic racism.

In light of current events, the following anti-racism resource guide is intended to help us as a church continue to move the conversation forward around racial injustice. Our hope and prayer is that no matter where you may find yourself on the racial justice and reconciliation journey, together we would see this moment as an opportunity as Jesus followers to lean in as a community and to go deeper and further in our listening, learning, understanding and action. Let us remember that the work of justice and reconciliation is not a sprint, but a marathon.

As we all are trying to navigate how to be people of faith and what it looks like to be the church during these very challenging and unusual times, I want to share a few resources and spiritual practices that may be helpful for you during this pandemic. These spiritual practices and disciplines may be new to you, but they are not at all new to the Christian tradition. In fact, it’s sometimes in new seasons that often the best thing that we can do is to look back in church history and uncover ancient traditions that have benefited so many who have come before us. I pray that you will consider building some of these spiritual disciplines into your daily rhythms.