An Important Message from the Chairman of the Board: Confronting Racial Injustice

(Above, an important message from Dr. Jeff Adams, Board Chair, Christar U.S.)

Christar values people. All people. This value is a reflection of the exquisite worthiness that God Himself has placed on His creation. Not only did He create people in His own image, He gave His own Son to redeem people from every nation, race, culture and language for His glory.

True justice and equality begin by granting equal access to Christ-honoring transformation where He is yet to be known and worshiped. While we work toward this end in least-reached communities around the world, we see that communities within our own nation are in desperate need of this same transformation. As followers of Jesus, we cannot ignore this need.

However, as we recognize in our Statement of Faith, we have been marred by sin. While we are still bearers of God’s image, we’re only able to worship Him through loving others when we have been made new in Christ.

By the grace of God, change is possible! And, it can—and must—happen through us. Dr. Jeff Adams, Chairman of the Christar U.S. Board, suggests seven ways to begin listening, learning and transforming anger or indifference into Christ-honoring change in our communities.

1. We can refuse to speak, jest about or tolerate anything that disrespects other human beings because of skin color, ethnicity, faith or lifestyle choices.
2. We can teach our children in word and example to treat all people with respect and dignity, even those with whom we may radically disagree. Yes, we can even love those with whom we disagree. Christ taught us to love our enemies, and He loved us when we were yet His enemies.
3. We can refuse to turn our heads in denial. Rather, we can speak up about the inequalities and lack of justice for many members of our community in a nation founded on the premise of equal justice for all.
   
4. We can acknowledge the pain and anger. It’s real.
   
5. We can be careful to distinguish between the protesters and the relatively few looters, between the many good cops and the few bad ones.
   
6. We can talk to each other, listen to hearts, not slogans, and learn from each other.
7. And, most importantly, we can be humble enough to confess that each of us has in some way contributed to the problem by what we’ve said, what we’ve not said, what we’ve done and what we’ve not done.