Questions?
As we prepare for this series, we understand that some may have questions. We would love to set up a time to connect.
Undivided Panel Discussion
The best way to interact with a complex topic is with conversation. The best way to get into a conversation is to ask questions.
Join us for an evening of panel discussion, shared food, and a time for Q&A. We will ask key questions around very current issues related to ethnic unity and reconciliation. Panelists will talk through Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, immigration, and other present topics as they relate to the Gospel.
Our panel consists of three voices:
James Talbert is a pastor at Citizens Akron and experiences racial awareness every day as a pastor, dad, husband, and disciple of Jesus.
Dariush is a member of NCC, husband, and father whose story of immigration has a lot to teach us about otherness and cultural empathy.
Dr. Greg Miller is the president of Malone University. He is a historical theologian whose area of academic expertise includes church history in the USA.
The goal of the panel discussion is to normalize the conversation around racial reconciliation and unity that is thoughtful, compassionate, courageous, and rooted in God’s Word.
A light dinner will be provided along with an opportunity to submit questions to the panel. No childcare will be available.
God and Race Study Group
A recent Pew Research study discovered that 6 out of 10 adults in America believe racial tension is a major problem in this country—and one that is only growing worse. Today, people across the nation are dealing with tensions between blacks and whites, and often this tension breaks out into violence. People are talking about the issue; but sadly, the church has been reluctant to engage in the discussion.
In God and Race, pastors Wayne Francis and John Siebeling seek to provide a non-threatening means for pastors, church leaders, and churchgoers to start to dialogue about this important issue. Wayne Francis, lead pastor of The Life Church in New York, speaks to the “Black Fist” part, showing how the racism that blacks have faced have led to many solidarity movements that have served to increase racial tensions in our country. John Siebeling, lead pastor of The Life Church in Memphis, Tennessee, speaks to the “White Knuckles” part, showing how many whites today are “white-knuckling” it to try and hold on to old (and wrong) ways of thinking . . . or are just tensing up when approached with the issue and hoping that it will just go away.
In this video study, Wayne and John show how neither black fists or white knuckles are the answer to the problem, but that what is needed are open hands, open hearts, and open minds. They do this by discussing seven key statements that they believe the church needs to acknowledge today:
– Racism is a problem
– The gospel is the solution
– It’s more than just a spiritual problem
– It’s complicated
Facilitated by Pastors Alex Cook & Matt Brumfield
You will read and watch during the week and utilize our Sunday morning time to process together.
In-Person at 9AM
In-Person & Online at 10:30AM
$10 Covers Study Group Materials
4 Weeks to Prepare Your Heart
Our world is loud in our ears right now, isn’t it? It seems that wherever we turn, everyone is shouting their opinions and fears about a whole litany of divisive and explosive topics.
Perhaps you feel angry and unsettled; maybe even though you know it will likely be fruitless, you find yourself entering into heated and damaging conversations, desperate to be heard, longing for truth to be upheld.
Perhaps you are weary, wounded, and tempted to shut down from not only other people who have hurt you, but also from God. Maybe you’re struggling to even know how to pray or if God will hear.
Perhaps you feel afraid or hopeless. It feels like the world is coming apart at the seams everywhere you look, and you are wrestling with the temptation to despair.
Perhaps you’re just tired of it all.
Starting the week of August 27, we are beginning a five-week teaching series called Undivided. We will be examining racial unity and reconciliation as we seek to allow God’s Word to lead and guide us as we navigate the tensions. We know these may be emotionally laden topics for all of us in different ways, and address issues that can be divisive or sensitive to navigate. Over the next four weeks, we want to create space for God to move in our hearts as we seek to be people filled with the peace of God, in a world that is anything but peaceful.
Each week has one passage to focus on and some suggestions for how to clear space in your heart and life to be ready to hear what God has for you.
Want a physical copy?
Stop by the Next Steps area in the main lobby or pick up from the church office Monday thru Thursday 8am - 4pm.