Our nation and our churches are broken and divided along ethno-racial lines. The church must be a credible witness to the reconciling power of the cross of Jesus Christ along all lines that divide.

Here are some highlights from the 3-day racial reconciliation track facilitated by Inés Velasquez-McBryde and Bobby Harrison at the Whitworth Ministry Summit in Spokane, WA. Objectives of this track were four-fold:

•  To provide attendees with working definitions and shared language regarding systemic racism in our churches and institutions.

•  To provide a biblical basis for racial reconciliation and its centrality in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

•  To provide a sociological understanding of race as a social construct and its intersectionality in church, institutions and communities.

•  To equip followers of Jesus as peacemakers and agents of reconciliation and catalyze movements of reconciliation through the life of the local church and its surrounding communities.