As co-national directors of Cru® in the Inner City, our mission and values embrace a Christ-centered, gospel-saturated, comprehensive biblical justice mission. The recent decision of Intervarsity to embrace the biblical justice issues of The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement resonated with us, and we want to thank Intervarsity for taking that godly stand for justice! We wholeheartedly agree that racial reconciliation must be “an expression of the gospel (e.g., Ephesians 2:14-18)...” And like Intervarsity, we do not agree with everything attributed to the BLM movement, but we share their desire to see justice and reconciliation in our land.
Inner City serves in nearly 25 major cities in America in a partnership with over 2,000 urban churches. Eighty percent of our partners are men and women of color who serve in and through the urban church. They are our friends; they are heroes in the urban core who have been working on behalf of black lives for decades, even though they are often unrecognized. The work of Christ has been going on through these faithful men and women long before the Inner City ministry of Cru began 32 years ago. We dare not let them down...we stand shoulder-to-shoulder to declare His glory and the sacred worth of every human life for which Christ died!
In an essay last spring, Christian hip hop artist Propaganda addressed this issue. His label describes him as a poet, political activist, academic, and emcee. As an African American and an artist, his words were spot-on and in sync with our heartbeat:
“We are all image-bearers. We’re all made on purpose. Race was God’s idea. He made us different on purpose, and our differences are part of the story of redemption. So a race issue is a gospel issue, just like abortion is a gospel issue, just like poverty is a gospel issue.”
At Cru in the Inner City, we care about the value, dignity and well-being of every life because the gospel compels us to do so! As it relates specifically to the spread of the gospel and standing for issues of comprehensive biblical justice among the marginalized in the African American community in particular, Cru embraces our friends at Intervarsity and their tenacity to stand on the Word of God and fight for ALL made in the image of God. It is our aim to do the same.
Black Lives DO Matter! Because they bear God’s image, they always have mattered and they always will!
Your Brothers in Christ,
Milton Massie and John Sather
Co-National Directors of Cru's inner-city ministry
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