{"id":2310,"date":"2008-08-18T18:32:18","date_gmt":"2008-08-18T18:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=2310"},"modified":"2010-12-22T12:22:23","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T17:22:23","slug":"6516","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/08\/18\/6516\/","title":{"rendered":"Reformed Church Representatives Join in Sankofa Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO, IL (August 18, 2008) \u2013 Eleven members of the Reformed Church of America (RCA) participated in a Sankofa Journey last week as part of that denomination\u2019s attempt to evaluate its own path towards racial reconciliation and becoming multiethnic.
\n
\nThe success of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), which sponsors the Sankofa trips, in pursuing those same goals caught the attention of the RCA, which is 95 percent Anglo, says Earl James, who serves in the denomination\u2019s newly created position of coordinator of multiracial initiatives and social justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been searching since November 2007 for models of denominations like the RCA that transitioned from being largely Euroethnic to being multiracial. \u201cThe ECC is one of a very few that has engaged that transition with substantial measurable result.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RCA is serious about making the same transition, says James. \u201cIn June 2008, our highest assembly \u2013 the General Synod \u2013 voted to put the RCA on the path of becoming a \u201cmultiracial denomination freed from racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

RCA leaders have been talking with ECC representatives, exploring the reasons for the Covenant\u2019s progress. James said he learned through those discussions the roles of the Sankofa Journey<\/a> and Journey to Mosaic<\/a> experiences. Members of the RCA will participate in the Journey to Mosaic in September.<\/p>\n

The Covenant Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice<\/a> facilitates the Sankofa trips. Sankofa is Swahili for “Looking backward to move forward.” The 72-hour trip is a journey to various sites in the South that played prominent roles during the civil rights movement and the quest for racial righteousness.<\/p>\n

Journey to Mosaic (J2M) is a multicultural ministry experience of the regional ECC conferences. J2M helps contextualize the Sankofa concept to explore the historical and present-day injustices related to the ethnic communities of each conference.<\/p>\n

James says he is grateful for the Covenant\u2019s support in the collaborative effort to fight racism. \u201cIn the family of God, partnering rather than merely reinventing the wheel can bring the kind of blessing the world needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my perspective, we didn\u2019t see ourselves as two different churches,\u201d says Debbie Blue, executive minister of the ECC Department of Compassion, Mercy, and Justice. Although the trips have involved primarily Covenant members in the past, \u201cI don\u2019t see this as restrictive to Covenanters only,\u201d she adds. \u201cI see this as a kingdom effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RCA and ECC members on the trip came from across the country and included a mix of church leaders and laity, including several college students and a high school student. A member of the Vineyard Fellows also participated. The group spanned generations, with participants ranging in age from 17-72, Blue says.<\/p>\n

Blue says she was impressed at the commitment of everyone to listen to one another\u2019s stories across ethnic and generational lines without judgment. She recalled that a student entering the traditionally black Howard University in Washington D.C. was grateful to hear the story of an older African-American and her struggles, because it helped put her own journey into a new context.<\/p>\n

Blue added that the older participants also were eager to learn from those who were younger. \u201cEveryone valued each other\u2019s perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO, IL (August 18, 2008) \u2013 Eleven members of the Reformed Church of America (RCA) participated in a Sankofa Journey last week as part of that denomination\u2019s attempt to evaluate its own path towards racial reconciliation and becoming multiethnic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nReformed Church Representatives Join in Sankofa Journey - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2008\/08\/18\/6516\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reformed Church Representatives Join in Sankofa Journey - 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