Page 32 - Presbyterian Connection, Spring 2024

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PRESBYTERIAN
SPRING 2024
presbyterian.ca
Anti-Racism Covenant Update
Connection
By the Life and Mission Agency
The General Assembly resolved in 2022 (A&P 2022, pp. 183-191, 24) that it would seek to become anti-racist. As one step in that journey, it approved a recom- mendation to create an anti-racist covenant and accompanying strategies for the church.
The church has long held that racism is a sin. The Presbyterian Church in Canada has further af- firmed that racism is incompatible with the gospel and operates as a blatant denial of Christian faith (A&P 1972, pp. 269-270, 59). While the church has made state- ments like this, clearly rejecting racism, a rejection of racism is not the same thing as actively and vigilantly working to oppose and dismantle it. Seeking to become an anti-racist church is just that.
Over the past several decades, since the PCC affirmed that rac-
ism is incompatible with the gos- pel, there has been a growing re- alization of how racism operates, how much harm it has done and continues to do, how deep it runs in social structures, institutions and relationships (including in the church) and how dependant on it so much of society’s current economic and social structure is. As the church has started gaining that better understanding of just how powerful this force is that is incompatible with the gospel— and how it has even shaped the church’s own witness—the need to begin working more actively to oppose racism has become increasingly clear. The church must do this work to live up to our own understanding of disci- pleship. How could we not op- pose something that operates as a blatant denial of Christian faith, but is nevertheless operating in any number of ways, not only in
society but within our own struc- tures?
Becoming an anti-racist church is a process and a journey. Those who have lived experience of be- ing targeted by racism will have more expertise when it comes to trying to understand the best ways to oppose and dismantle racism; so, though this is the work of eve- ryone in the church and we must collectively pull together to do it, the church will need to listen es- pecially to the voices and wisdom of racialized people. This is nec- essary because it can be very dif- ficult to see all the ways in which racism is baked into our systems for those who are not immediately targeted by it.
Working toward this goal will take time to do it well and to af- fect real change in the church. One of the first steps that has been undertaken is an audit of the church’s practices, policies and lived experience. To conduct this audit, a knowledgeable and expe- rienced firm was contracted at the beginning of November to help the
church take stock of itself from a more objective position than we could possibly do through an in- ternal committee. The firm will not only review the church’s pol- ity, policies, correspondence and committee membership but also consult broadly with presbyteries, ministries, committees and other relevant bodies to gather informa- tion that will establish a baseline from which the work can better continue.
An Advisory Committee has also been formed to oversee the process of creating that anti-rac- ist covenant and the production of relevant programs and resources to help accomplish this work. The members of the Advisory Com- mittee provide feedback to the Life and Mission Agency Com- mittee and will present updates in reports to the General Assembly, in the newspaper and by way of other accessible and relevant means of communication. The committee has met once in per- son, in September of 2023, and continues meeting virtually.
The work of anti-racism is transformative work that must reach all areas of our lives and institutions, and it will not be easy. But we will know it by its fruits and that, when done well together, it will demonstrate a greater alignment with Christian faith and Jesus’ teachings. We already know the fruits that rac- ism has produced and continues to produce. Privilege and wealth for some, to be sure, but at the cost of broken relationships, lives cut short, traumatized people and communities, inequality and ineq- uity. Its fruits show its sin. These things cannot be part of the wit- ness the church gives.
There will be stops and starts as we discern together, and no doubt missteps too. As Living Faith reminds us, the church is in constant need of reform (Liv- ing Faith 7.1.6). But what better way than to show with our ac- tions the witness of what faithful love—seeking the best for others, which is the mark of a Christian (8.3.2)—looks like?
Celebrating 180 Years
CONVOCATION
CEREMONY
KNOX COLLEGE CHAPEL
MAY 25, 2024 2:00PM Convocation Speaker:
Dr. Kirsteen Kim, Fuller Theological Seminary
Find more information at knox.utoronto.ca/2024convocation.