The Kansas City community was developed and shaped in ways that segregated us, God’s people. These ways were inconsistent with anything followers of Christ should support. Sadly, this is true of the history of Methodism in our country as well. Because our community, and earlier versions of our denomination, were intentionally designed in ways inconsistent with Christ’s teachings, we as the Church must be intentional about redesigning it. We must begin in our segregated churches by building trusted relationships and friendships.

We must work to put aside fears, biases, and prejudices that have come from our separation. These changes will not happen overnight. We are called to intentionally engage with one another and move out of our comfort zones to love each other, as Jesus commands, as we love ourselves.

The senior pastors of Church of the Resurrection and St. James United Methodist became determined to transform our congregations and our city into the place envisioned by Jesus, a place where all brothers and sisters in Christ care for and empathize with one another – a transformation that begins with understanding and listening to each other. We held a community forum at St. James on August 30, 2016, to discuss the racial history and current state of racial relations in Kansas City.

That forum was a first step, beginning the hard work of building bridges of understanding. As a follow-up, we formed the Allies for Racial Justice team. This team is comprised of members representing each congregation and is working toward implementing a vision of a city that will someday better reflect the kingdom of God.

Members from St. James United Methodist and The Church of the Resurrection plan events together like cookouts and football watch parties to break bread together and share fun times, build relationships, and talk about moving forward to reflect the Kingdom of God in the world.