Racial Righteousness
The Evangelical Covenant Church is committed to developing tools to assist the local church in moving forward in the area of racial righteousness. There are several experiences in racial righteousness that are available to your church. We hope you will accept our invitation to join us on this journey toward racial righteousness.
The Kingdom Mosaic
Life Together Series
This is the first iteration of what will become a series of Bible studies focused on justice, racial righteousness, and the mosaic nature of the kingdom of God. The purpose of this series is to ground our pursuit of life together in the word of God as we grow from a denomination with multiethnic ministries into a multiethnic denomination.
Interview with Alex Gee
May 8, 2020
Dominique Gilliard, the Director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation for the Love Mercy Do Justice mission priority, interviews Rev. Dr. Alex Gee about Ahmaud Arbery and what his killing means for our nation, the Church, and the ECC. They also discuss Rev. Gee’s racial righteousness work in Madison Wisconsin, through the church’s nonprofit, and the Justified Anger movement it is spearheading in the city. Rev. Gee serves as the senior pastor of Fountain Of Life Covenant Church, and is also the Vice President of the ECC’s African American Ministers Association.
- Your Work With Justified Anger
- How Justified Anger Has Been A Tool For Racial Righteousness In Madison
- Why Can’t We See Ahmaud Arbery As An Isolated Event?
- How Do We Pastorally Respond In This Crisis Moment?
- What Does Practicing Solidarity Look Like Right Now?
- Can You Pastorally Speak To Our African American Community?
- COVID Racial Disparities
- The Toll Racism Takes On Us Pastorally
Interview with David Swanson
May 7, 2020
Dominique Gilliard (LMDJ Director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation) interviews ECC pastor David Swanson about this new book Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True Solidarity.
David is the lead pastor of New Community Covenant Church in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, and he also helps lead New Community Outreach, a nonprofit that collaborates with the community to reduce sources of trauma, and speaks around the country on the topics of racial justice and reconciliation.
- What Led You To Write This Book?
- The Power of Immersive Discipleship Experiences
- Hopes for this book within, and beyond, the ECC
- Spiritual Practices and Formation Tools Readers Will Walk Away With
- Why Was It Important To Frame This Book Through The Lens Of Discipleship?
- Can You Talk About Your Own rediscipling process?
Sankofa Journey
The Sankofa Journey is an intentional, cross-racial prayer journey that seeks to assist disciples of Christ on their move toward a righteous response to the social ills related to racism.
Learning to Love Our Muslim Neighbors
Jesus taught that love of neighbor included individuals and groups who are unlike us; even those we many consider to be our enemies. Learning to love our Muslim neighbors is needed today perhaps more than at any time in recent history. In response, Serve Globally and Love Mercy Do Justice have collaborated to create a congregational training to help ECC churches understand why we are called to love our Muslim neighbors and what practical steps churches can take to live this out.
Learn more about Loving our Muslim Neighbors >
Interview with Dr. Stan C. Sonu
In this conversation Dr. Sonu and Rev. Dominique Gilliard (Director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation) discuss the racial disparities associated with COVID-19. They explore why these disparities are so glaring, the root causes of racial health disparities, and COVID’s connection to a broader history of injustice and inequity within healthcare. Their conversation ends with a discussion on why COVID is spreading so aggressively behind bars, and ways the Church can help love our neighbors during this pandemic, while also advocating for a more equitable system of healthcare.
Dr. Stan C. Sonu is an internal medicine/pediatric specialist at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. He is recognized as a leading practitioner in the medical field of trauma, particularly regarding his work on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s), and creating systemic equity within healthcare. You can watch Dr. Sonu’s TEDX Talk on The Science of Adversity and the Case for Systemic Empathy. Dr. Sonu is also a member of New Life Covenant Church.
Additional Resources:
COVID-19 Racial Disparities
Root Causes
Why are Blacks dying at higher rates from COVID-19?
Tuskegee Experiment: The Infamous Syphilis Study
Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
Why I don’t feel safe wearing a face mask
History of inequality within healthcare
How does implicit bias by physicians affect patients’ health care?
Unwanted Sterilizations and Eugenics Programs in the United States
Victims speak out about North Carolina sterilization program, which targeted women, young girls and blacks
COVID’s aggressive spread behind bars
Chicago’s Jail Is Top U.S. Hot Spot as Virus Spreads Behind Bars
Tracking Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic behind bars
Memorial for Ronald Rice, our North Park Theological Seminary student in the School of Restorative Arts program at Stateville who died due to COVID.