Some described the summer of 2020 as a summer of racial reckoning, others as a summer of racial unrest. As individuals, as a church, and as a society we learned the names George Floyd and Brianna Taylor. We saw protests nationally and right here in Wichita. Members of our congregation committed to reading articles and books and watching movies related to race. We gathered and discussed. Corporately we have not talked much since then.
Yes, our book club has read and discussed books related to race and religion. Individuals in our congregation have certainly done this. This summer the Christian Discipleship Team invites you to a study of the Belhar Confession.
At first glance, a study of one of the confessions in the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) Book of Confessions may not sound like it has anything to do with race, but it does. The Belhar Confession comes from the Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa. It was written in the early 1980’s as a statement of faith and as a form of protest against the sin of apartheid.
We studied this confession after the PCUSA approved it and added it to our Book of Confessions in 2016. This summer we do the same study but through the lens of what has happened in the United States since then. Does the witness of the Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa have a word for us today?
The study takes place on Sunday mornings at 10 am in the Parlor.
The dates are:
- July 17
- July 24
- August 7
- August 14
- August 21
- August 28
There is a book for the class, and the cost is $5. Books are available on Sunday mornings or in the church office. If you can’t come to all of the classes, that’s okay.
Questions? Contact catherine@mygpc.org.
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