Our Statement on Racial Diversity and the Christian Community

A BROKEN REFLECTION OF BEAUTY

We praise God for the beautiful diversity of his Kingdom and believe that the visible Church of Christ should reflect this beauty. We believe that social forces in North America have shaped Evangelical Christian culture in ways that undervalue this diversity and that privilege the norms and assumptions of “white” majority culture. Until this changes, implicit and explicit support of power structures that harm people of color will persist in evangelical Christian culture, perpetuating ongoing discord and division in the Body of Christ.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF INVOLVEMENT

We acknowledge that these same social forces inevitably exert influence on Christian institutions, including Revoice. Despite the value we place on embodying racial diversity, we recognize that the current representation of people of color in our organization is insufficient. This lack of diversity is a loss for everyone impacted by our ministry, including both racial minorities and those within the majority culture. Moreover, Christian institutions—including Revoice—have often failed to communicate proactively with Christians of color, and instead have communicated reactively, resulting in pain and threatening trust. We lament this and apologize to the communities we have hurt.

ACTIVE LEARNING

Revoice is grateful for the courage, patience, and love that many Christians of color—both formally associated with Revoice as well as outside the organization—have demonstrated in helping Revoice in our efforts to reflect more faithfully the diversity of Christ’s Church. We praise God for them. Revoice has taken steps to engage and learn actively from these believers, and to seek their influence in ways that are consistent with our doctrinal and missional priorities. Revoice affirms the need to promote increased representation among conference leadership, staff, and volunteers in both public-facing and administrative roles.

Revoice also affirms the value of learning from a diverse array of voices as one means of helping evangelical organizations like ourselves more accurately represent the beautiful diversity of the Kingdom of God. Though achieving the degree of diversity we desire for our organization will not be quick or easy, Revoice is grateful for the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and are hopeful about future organizational changes. Christians of color have vital gifts and perspectives to offer the Church, and organizational choices concerning racial representation during corporate worship and prayer, in workshops, and in keynote addresses must reflect this.

ACCURATE REFLECTION OF DIVERSITY

Racial diversity and representation matters at Revoice because the Kingdom of God includes people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the help of our brothers and sisters of color, we hope to reflect more faithfully the beauty of God’s Kingdom, and the actual diversity of the Church that he is building today around the world. Jesus is our hope.

[Updated April 2019]