First Congregational United Church of Christ

A Resolution to Become a Racial Justice Church

Adopted on May 22, 2022

Background

            The United Church of Christ’s history is replete with instances of work with and on behalf of slaves, Africans, African Americans, and other minoritized communities.  As early as 1700, Congregationalist minister Samuel Sewall wrote the first anti-slavery pamphlet in America, “The Selling of Joseph,” which built a foundation for the abolitionist movement that occurred more than a century later. 

            In 1839, enslaved Africans seized control of the schooner Amistad. The Africans were arrested and held in a Connecticut jail while ship owners sued to have them returned as property. Congregationalists and other Christians organized a campaign to free the captives.  The Supreme Court ruled the captives were not property and the Africans regained their freedom. 

            Between 1862 and 1877, the American Missionary Association started six colleges:  Dillard University, Fisk University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Huston-Tillotson College, Talladega College, and Tougaloo College. These are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which continue to offer excellence, access, and opportunity in higher education today. HBCUs continue to educate and promote academic excellence and provide not only quality education, but a sense of pride and honor of self.

            The United Church of Christ is not innocent, and has in some ways been complicit in the history of racism in the United States and around the world.  Along with other denominations, the predecessor denominations of the United Church of Christ operated boarding schools for Native American children, who were harmed by being removed from their families and forced to assimilate into white European culture.  Hundreds of Indian boarding schools were established in the United States, including 45 in New Mexico.  Mission work at home and abroad has often been damaging to the people and cultures in whose midst missionaries have worked.

            First Congregational Church of Albuquerque was founded in 1880 and has always occupied land that was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples at least 12,000 years ago.  That land was settled by Puebloan people at least 800 years ago.

            In 1993, the Nineteenth General Synod called upon the church to become multiracial and multicultural, being inclusive in all settings. The General Synod defined a multiracial and multicultural church as one which confesses and acts out its faith in one sovereign God, who through Jesus Christ binds in covenant faithful people of all races, ethnicities, and cultures, embodying diversities as gifts to the human family, and rejoicing in the variety of God’s grace.  The General Synod recognized marks of a multiracial and multicultural church, which included:

1. CONFESSIONAL: A multiracial and multicultural church being called by God, through Jesus Christ, to acknowledge and confess its sins of racism, and to repent and refrain from all acts of racial discrimination or bigotry.

2. THEOLOGICAL: A multiracial and multicultural church affirms Christian unity while celebrating the theological and liturgical richness that arises from its racial and ethnic diversity.

3. MISSION: A multiracial and multicultural church is called to participate in God’s mission of doing justice, lovingkindness, and walking humbly with God through Christ in all communities, with all peoples, in all places.

. . .

7. PROPHETIC ADVOCACY: A multiracial and multicultural church engages in effective prophetic advocacy and public policy development on  issues of racial, social, economic, and environmental justice, with particular concern for issues impacting the quality of life of communities of color.

            In 2013, the Twenty-Third General Synod adopted a resolution repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery, confessing that the Doctrine “has been and continues to be a shameful part of United States and our Church’s history,” and called for an exploration of ways to compensate American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians for lands and resources that were stolen and are still being stolen from them, among other actions.

            On June 23, 2020, in the midst of national racial unrest following  killings of numerous Black people, many of whom were unarmed, the leadership of the First Congregational United Church of Christ of Albuquerque adopted a Statement on Racial Justice supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. The statement vehemently condemned all forms of racism, both institutional and individual.  The Statement on Racial Justice acknowledged ways in which systems of privilege and power have maintained a status quo of violence and oppression against People of Color for centuries. Acknowledging that the status quo of violence and oppression has gone unchallenged too long, FCUCC remains committed to the work it requires to truly see and undo these systems within our own lives in an effort to create a safer, more just, and equitable world for all people. This social justice work will impact all people of future generations to come.

            The Ministry Leadership Team authorized the formation of a Racial Justice Task Force to lead the Church’s study, which continued to work toward racial justice.  Following almost two years of study, reflection, and action, the Racial Justice Task Force presents this resolution for ongoing work as a Racial Justice Church.

Definitions

Prejudice is belief about other races based on incomplete and inaccurate information learned from a culture of White supremacy.

Bigotry is a form of prejudice paired with individual actions that carry the negative side of prejudgment contrary to our Baptismal vows.

Racism is prejudice coupled with power to oppress or discriminate against a people.  Racism exists to maintain power and control of one group over another; to determine who is normal and who is abnormal; and to decide who gets resources and who does not.

Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people on the grounds of race, age, sex, etc.

Bias is prejudice in favor of or against a thing, person, or group compared to one another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.

Microaggressions are statements, actions, or incidents regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintended discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority.

Cultural Humility is the ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented in relation to aspects of cultural identity, which is made up partially by what is generally called race. These aspects are parts of cultural identity that are most important to the person.

Inclusivity is a practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those having physical or mental disabilities or belonging to other minoritized groups.

Anti-racism is the practice of actively identifying and opposing racism. The goal of anti-racism is to actively change policies, behaviors, and beliefs that perpetuate racist ideas and actions.

Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.

Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. *Note difference between equality and equity*

Theological and Contextual Basis

            In Genesis 1:26, 27 God said: “Let us make humankind in our image, to be like us… Humankind was created as God’s reflection: in the divine image God created them; differently gendered, God made them.” There is nothing in our foundational understanding of humanity created by God that excludes any human being from reflecting the image of God, and there is no reference to skin color.

            In Galatians 3:27-28, Paul writes: “All of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, slave or citizen, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus.”

            The two greatest commandments in the Gospels (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31, Luke 10:25-28) are, “You must love the Most High God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

            “If you say you love God but hate your sibling, you are a liar. For you cannot love God, whom you have not seen, if you hate your neighbor, whom you have seen.” (1 John 4:20)

            Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament are numerous verses about loving others. None of these considers anyone made in the image of God as “The Other,” and othering is never promoted by the Scriptures.

            Race is a societal construct dividing people into distinct groups based on the amount of melanin in our skin, which determines color, regardless of human ability or need, and is meant to maintain the power of White people.

            The Sacrament of Baptism is the universal acceptance into the Church of Jesus Christ that makes all people receiving it part of a wider ecumenical family. Christians are bound to receive as kin in Christ, with full equality and participation in the leadership of the church, all people, regardless of how much melanin is in their skin.

            Our baptismal vows include the promises “to be Christ’s disciple, to follow in the way of our Savior, to resist oppression and evil, and to show love and justice.”

            The Church has not sufficiently understood the role of New Mexico in the slave trade and as enslavers, nor appreciated the contributions of African Americans, Indigenous Peoples, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, or other minority groups, to the culture and economy of this state over hundreds of years.

            The Church has not sufficiently understood the role of New Mexico in the oppression of Indigenous People and colonized people, and as oppressors, nor appreciated their contributions to the culture and economy of the state over hundreds of years.

            New Mexico is home to a rich tapestry of Indigenous Peoples as well as people of Hispanic, Asian, and African origin, making the topic of racial justice in New Mexico a complex and multifaceted issue.

            If one person suffers from racism, all people suffer because our humanity is bound together (see 1 Corinthians 12:26).

Covenant:

            We, the members of the First Congregational United Church of Christ of Albuquerque, New Mexico, covenant to become a Racial Justice Church and to engage in an ongoing process of remaining

●      learners, in a community of mutual accountability, about slavery, white privilege, white supremacy, implicit bias, and all aspects of racism in our midst;

●      witnesses, interrupters, and transformers away from the continued cycle of racism and embedded systems of white supremacy; and

●      allies and accomplices with Black, Indigenous, Asian/Pacific Island, Hispanic, and other minoritized groups in challenging race-based injustice in all its manifestations.

Implementation:

            The Racial Justice program of First Congregational UCC shall be coordinated by the Racial Justice Team, established under the Social Justice and Outreach Mission Team.