After two officers were not indicted in their involvement in the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, protests were sparked across the nation, and comments of frustration and anger were prevalent throughout discussions on social media and mainstream media. 11 church leaders decided that it's time to speak out about how Christians should go about processing these recent racially-charged events.
"A Time to Speak," will be featuring a panel that includes Matt Chandler, author and pastor of The Village Church; John Piper, pastor, author, theologian, and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary; Derwin Gray, pastor of Transformation Church in Indian Land, South Carolina; and others, during which the panelists will engage in conversation about these events, with the gospel at the center. Ed Stetzer, the executive director of LifeWay Research, will be moderating the panel.
"We want to boldly declare that there is hope," said Bryan Loritts from Kainos, the ministry that is hosting the event. Kainos is a movement that works and aims to see a majority of multi-ethnic churches in the nation.
"In the midst of this sense of hopelessness and the national conversation on racial relations and reconciliation, Loritts saw a need for a conversation that displays the source of real hope," Kainos said in a statement.
Indeed, the recent incidents with Eric Garner and Michael Brown, both who were African American and were killed by white police officers, have brought about intense discussions about the state of racial relations in the U.S. today. The frustration and confusion throughout the nation in regards to these incidents are evident by the hundreds of protests that occurred in various locations including Ferguson, New York, and Berkeley.
"A Time to Speak" hopes to offer a space in which church pastors and leaders can come together to discuss their opinions regarding the issue, and help to bring a measure of clarity on what the church can do in the midst of confusing times for the nation.
"Twenty years from "It's Time to Speak' will be viewed as a reformational movement," Derwin Gray told Christian Post. "This event will be a call for the local church to be what she was meant to be"”a multi-ethnic and multi-class of communities of reconciliation, love, and unity."
The panel will be taking place at Lorraine Motel and National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis on Tuesday, December 16 from 4 to 6 PM, and will also be live streamed at live.kainos.is.
