In Memory of George Floyd

Good Morning and Welcome to this week’s Gospel and Culture update, by Alan Vink

Tuesday 2nd June 2020

Black Lives Matter………

………..yes they do, every bit as much as white lives, brown lives and every life. All of us are made in the image of God and on that basis racism is evil.

Christian leaders are crying foul after the United States witnessed yet another example of a person made in God’s image being treated inhumanely and consequently losing his life. A bystander filmed a video of a man, later identified as George Floyd, being pinned face down to the asphalt by a Minneapolis police officer. The police officer immobilized Floyd by placing his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck. In the first few minutes of the video, Floyd can be heard pleading for the officer to release him because he can’t breathe. “Please, please, I can’t breathe. Please, man, please,” Floyd is heard saying.

I find the image shocking, sad and terrifying. May justice be served swiftly. The Officer in question, Derek Chauvin, who was fired immediately after the incident, has now been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. It’s the fastest (4 days) after an incident that someone has been charged ever in Minnesota.

Is this a good opportunity to address the subject of Race and the Bible? Here are four helpful resources.

Article: Christianity Today, A Nation on Fire Needs the Flames of the Spirit by Esau McCaulley (10mins)

Article: Short Biblical Statement on Racism by Tim Keller (3mins)

Article: What is the Answer To Racism by Max Lucado (6mins)

Video: Racism and Corporate Evil by Tim Keller (26mins)

Mark Holmen, founder of Faith @ Home, who has visited NZ twice back in 2012 and 2013 and who lives and pastors in Minnesota wrote a powerful post a few days ago.

Mark Holmen

May 30 at 3:10 AM · Public

“My heart hurts today over all the violence and unrest that is taking place in the Twin Cities and all across the country as a result of the wrongful actions of the police against George Floyd that led to his tragic and unnecessary death. My heart grieves for his family and friends as well as for my brothers and sisters of the African American community. This was simply wrong and there needs to be justice served which I pray will happen as soon as possible.

Sadly, what is also wrong are the actions of the people who are choosing to do harm to property, businesses and other people as a result of this. Just as we cannot condone the behaviour of the police who killed George Floyd we cannot condone the behaviour of the people who are burning buildings, looting, and committing other crimes in the so called name of justice.

I would love to see the pastors of the Christian churches in the Twin Cities unite, and with their people, literally overwhelm with God's peace and love the areas where demonstrations are seeking to take place The people of Jesus need to be there with those who are hurting but we also need to be there to protect further pain, harm and suffering. As I watched last night I saw maybe a couple of thousand people rioting and I thought to myself, where are the tens of thousands of Christians who live in Minneapolis?

With marginal effort the Christian churches of the Twin Cities could easily turn out 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 peaceful, godly demonstrators to those same areas and if we did... the violent behaviour would be overwhelmed by prayer, the looting would be replaced with protection and care, and angry chants would be replaced with songs of worship. We wouldn't need the National Guard because the people of God's church have the armour of God and have what it takes to bring healing to the hurting, hope to the hopeless and peace into the midst of unrest.

Come on people of God's church, it's time to...ARMOR UP, SHOW UP, AND LOVE UP THE PEOPLE so that God's peace can prevail”.

There are NO copyright restrictions on this email update. Got some feedback about this Update, or anything in the news? Would you like us to cover a story then drop me a note at alan.vink@leadershipworx.org.nz Alan is Executive Director of LeadershipWorx and blogs here.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.