Black History Month 2021

The Friends Church Throughout Black History

February is Black History month. Because of recent events highlighting racial tensions and racism in our country, and because of recent efforts to learn more about anti-racism in our own church, we recognize the importance of promoting racial reconciliation and anti-racist efforts in our own church and the church at large.

Over the next month we will be doing a series which includes  articles and resources on racial reconciliation. Our hope is that you can use these resources to either begin or continue your journey through understanding racial reconciliation and what that looks like in light of the Kingdom of God.

Introduction

Why is this important to Christians? What does this have to do with the Gospel?

This article goes into what scripture says about reconciliation, righteousness, and justice.

Re-digging the Wells

“Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.” Genesis 26:18

The biblical concept of re-digging the wells refers to the idea that we need to look to the past at the good things that those who came before us did. We want to look at our Quaker brothers and sisters as an example of what Biblical justice can be. As modern day Friends we have strayed so far from our roots. While certainty not perfect, let’s use our forefathers as a springboard to propel us into action in our church and community.

Part 3

In an effort to continue learning about Quaker/Friends involvement with anti-racism and abolition movements we have put together a document with additional links to stories about our forefathers and the impact they made.

Part 4

As a reminder, the purpose of these resources is not to take credit for what has been done historically by Friends as something that justifies our denomination. Rather, this is continued effort to re-dig the wells to help us understand that many Christians and Friends have done the hard work of addressing racism and injustice and should inspire us and convict us to do the same.