The late John Lewis wrote these words before his passing: “Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.”
At CWOW, we boldly reaffirm our longstanding commitment to stand against America’s persistent and insidious sin of racism. And, in this watershed moment where the nation’s attention is captured by the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism, we aspire to proactively answer Lewis’s call to go all in on the redemptive work of racial justice – “not only with words or speech, but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18). We believe this work is core to our collective and prophetic witness as Christ followers to “do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).
To guide us as a church family on our journey of 381 Days of Racial Justice, CWOW’s Racial Justice Leadership (RJL) team identified the November 2020 election as one pressing, strategic opportunity to advance racial equity and dismantle oppressive, unjust systems. In the run-up to the election, we will collectively live out our pursuit of racial justice in three ways: we will educate, activate, and accelerate.
Educate: We will familiarize ourselves with the structural issues that perpetuate racial injustice. Specifically, we will seek to partner with and learn from racial justice leaders and organizations, and we will look closely at three California propositions that address inequities in the criminal justice system and the policy implications of each.
Activate: We will collectively and prayerfully identify the best actions to take to address systemic inequities. At a minimum, that could simply means voting (and voting early). For those of you who are not able to vote, it will be incumbent upon the RJL to work with you to find other ways to participate.
Accelerate: We will extend the call for racial justice beyond the CWOW community. For example, we will encourage others in our sphere of influence to vote and share what we are learning about the ballot propositions. Let’s mobilize those we know and those we don’t to advance racial justice.
The November election is one step in our collective journey as a church family, but we are in the work of racial justice for the long haul. Together, with humility and great expectation, we look forward to partnering together to bring God’s upside-down kingdom justice more fully into our community, country, and world.