🌎 A Different World
A Primer on Race & Faith
“What people think about God, Jesus Christ, and the Church cannot be separated from their own social and political status in a given society.” —James Cone
Every February, our church engages in a formation-focused series around either race or relationships.
In 2026, our focus turns to race, which is especially significant given our theme for the year: Radical Warfare.
That pairing is not accidental.
If Radical Warfare, as we define it, is the tension between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this age, then few areas expose that tension more clearly than race and faith.
Consider this month’s article a primer for the weeks ahead as we learn how to live together in A Different World.
Stories are among the most powerful tools of formation. They don’t just shape what we believe, they shape who we become.
In our pursuit of meaning, we are constantly constructing what neurologists call mental maps, frameworks that help us make sense of reality, locate ourselves within it, and decide how to live.
Two such stories are especially relevant for this series.
There is the cultural story, the one we inherit through history, media, family narratives, and lived experience. This story tells us who we are, where we belong, and what we should expect from the world and from one another.
And then there is the Christian story, the story Scripture tells about a God who creates humanity in His image, who enters history in Jesus, who confronts sin and injustice, and who is forming a new kind of people marked by love for God and love for neighbor.
The challenge, though, is that when confronted with these two stories, we often feel forced to choose one and ignore the other.
But discipleship doesn’t work that way, especially for black folks.
Ignoring our cultural story often leads to a faith that feels detached, naïve, or even complicit.
Ignoring our Christian story allows culture to define identity, dignity, and justice on its own terms.
A Different World holds the conviction that formation requires holding space for both.
Each week during the series, we will unpack one of the three pillars that define race and faith: identity, dignity, and justice.
Here’s a week-by-week preview.
Week One (Sunday, February 1st) | Identity
We begin by examining how identity is shaped when power shifts and fear enters the story. Scripture reminds us that the stories we tell about who we are and who others are often emerge long before we are aware of them. This week invites us to consider how identity can be assigned, distorted, or resisted, and what it means to locate our truest identity within God’s larger story.
Week Two (Sunday, February 8th) | Dignity
Dignity is tested when obedience to God collides with systems that devalue human life. This week centers on the quiet courage it takes to preserve life under pressure and highlights how faithfulness often takes shape in ordinary, unseen acts. We are invited to reflect on how honoring the image of God sometimes requires costly resistance.
Week Three (Sunday, February 15th) | Justice
Justice emerges when God refuses to ignore suffering and chooses to act on behalf of those who have been harmed. This final week turns our attention to God’s response to oppression and the responsibility that follows divine compassion. We will consider what it means to be formed by a God who not only hears the cry of the afflicted but sends His people to participate in His work of deliverance.
A Different World officially kicks off on Sunday, February 1st.
Due to the threat of wintry weather, you can join us online this weekend for Pt. 1
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