Reactions from Our Story Together: A History of Race

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Reactions from Our Story Together

[fusion_button link="https://fellowshipmemphis.org/gospel-race-story-together/" title="" target="_self" link_attributes="" alignment="" modal="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" color="default" button_gradient_top_color="" button_gradient_bottom_color="" button_gradient_top_color_hover="" button_gradient_bottom_color_hover="" accent_color="" accent_hover_color="" type="" bevel_color="" border_width="" size="" stretch="default" shape="" icon="" icon_position="left" icon_divider="no" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset=""]Info on Our Story Together[/fusion_button]We asked people who completed the equipping class Our Story Together: A History of Race to give their thoughts on how it moved them.The reason I chose to take part in the race equipping class was mostly that I wanted to engage in something different. In our day and age where we live, it was super intriguing as well as something that I wanted to dig a little deeper in. I realized I don't know a lot of things about our culture and history. There was definitely a lot of things that were not taught in school. Having a background in Social Work definitely really clueless there's to a lot of different things that I could have taken with me into my field.As an African-American, as a Christian, and as a member of a diverse church, I wanted to see how well my history meshed with the history of the church. And how I as a Christian could learn from this class how to better relate to my Caucasian brothers and sisters in Christ. And how to respond to the way that they sometimes relate to me. I think this has prepared me to listen more. To love them in spite of our differences and to embrace them first as a Christian. Even though we may not always agree on what we think or what we see in the gospel, that we will still see Christ as it's center.

Growing up in Memphis, I feel like it's really applicable. I grew up in a white bubble. And I just wanted to better learn history and why my views were what they were and what I could do to change that.

So I think it's easy to kind of read history and watch these movies watch these documentaries, but it's much harder when you actually apply the gospel to it. When you actually talk about reconciliation and forgiveness and things like that. So I think that that's one of the main reasons why I joined this equipping class.I think it really is speaking to a lot of issues that are both factual and Biblical. Which I believe when you talk about race you have to have a biblical perspective if we're gonna come out of this situation where glorifies God.I'm just getting a chance to see other heroes of the faith who looked like me. And to look at other people we've done things and just getting to see other people who've been lionized or kind of immortalized. To see them as amazing people and more of their humanity, more of their sin and fallenness, that as a minority I may feel but not necessarily have the words of the context to communicate.Because we (my husband and I) just think now more than ever it's so crucial for black people, white people, Asians, Hispanic, and everyone to come together and have these conversations. A lot of us don't know how to have these conversations. We don't know the context in which is appropriate to discuss these things. So we really wanted to come and just learn more about our culture.A lot of times as a black person in America, you're constantly figuring out am I a Christian first, am I black first, am I both at the same time? That's a struggle that both my husband and I deal with very regularly. So we love how this equipping class has helped us to understand.My ancestors who grew up in South Carolina could have been lynched at any moment. But they survived. They survived that tension in that kind of environment. So I feel like I take that with me. Also, there is an openness to discuss. I'm very open as a person, so I like conversations and this class makes me want to have more conversations.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]