Dear Compassion Connect family,
Our founding desire has always been to foster unity amongst Jesus followers so they might embody Jesus’ prayer in John 17: “I in them and you in me–so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
We come alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ in decrying the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others. Their suffering and deaths were a painful atrocity that reveal the deep division of racism, which eats away at humanity and aims to destroy the very essence of God’s creation: love and oneness. As a team of people filled with passion for unity in the body of Christ, the injustice exposed in our country is not consistent with our values.
We believe it is the pursuit of oneness in the Kingdom of God that sheds light in the darkness. We will stand with our brothers and sisters of color by listening to their stories, lamenting with them, and committing to learning even when it is challenging. By bearing each others’ burdens, we take a step towards true unity which reflects the heart of God.
Internally, the staff at Compassion Connect is taking time to press into racial justice and reconciliation as a team. Within the next several weeks we’ll be putting together some followup blogs about how the church can step up for racial equity in this time. We value our connections to diverse churches in all our ministry models and are pushing ourselves to reassess how we can intentionally pursue relationships with black leaders and other people of color. We know this is critical if we want to embody Jesus’ heart for unity.
We have much work to do and we have much to learn in pursuit of justice. As a start we commit to naming injustice, pursuing unity, and compassionately recognizing the image of God in others. We will continue to grow as people of compassion and honor. We humble ourselves before the Living God, asking for mercy, strength and the unity of the Church in this moment.
In Jesus,
Milan Homola & The Compassion Connect Team
Co-Founder & Executive Director
