One People: Race, the Gospel & the Church

thank you for attending the One people conference. Click here for audio of all conference sessions.

Scripture is clear that through the reconciling work of Christ on the cross, the church is called to be one people gathered from every tongue, tribe and nation. But our churches often struggle to reflect this great Kingdom diversity. Should we be satisfied with this, or should we long to see the church more fully live out the call to oneness? What are the historical factors that make the unity we long for hard to achieve? What personal and cultural blind spots keep us apart?

Join us as we examine these and other questions relevant in our culture and the church at Redeemer’s 2020 Christianity and Contemporary Culture Conference, “One People: Race, the Gospel & the Church.”

Our speakers will lead us in examining the history of racial injustice and tension in America and the American church, the Gospel call to racial reconciliation, and the power and necessity of cultivating relationships across cultural and racial lines with Christ at the center.  Redeemer invites the congregation as well as leaders and members of other churches to join us with humble hearts and open ears for this important time of conversation, learning and reflection.

Speakers

Reverend Elbert McGowan, is the Senior Pastor of Redeemer Church in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from Alabama A&M University in Hunstville, Alabama with a mechanical engineering degree Elbert took an engineering job in Cincinnati Ohio. But God had other plans for Elbert’s life. As a young man in Jackson, Elbert watched drugs ravage his family’s life, but while he was in Cincinnati he observed from a distance the radical change that took place in his parents’ lives when they came into contact with the Gospel of Jesus through the witness of a PCA Church in Jackson. Shortly thereafter, Elbert himself was converted, and after an eventful few years that included marrying his wife, Karen, and moving to Kentucky to launch a prison ministry, he moved back to Jackson to attend Reformed Theological Seminary. Elbert launched Reformed University Fellowship at Jackson State University, the first chapter of RUF on the campus of a Historically Black College or University, and in 2015, was called to be senior pastor Redeemer Church, a multi-ethnic PCA church in the Broadmoor neighborhood of Jackson.

Dr. Otis Pickett is a historian, professor, PCA Ruling Elder and resident of Jackson, Mississippi. Pickett is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Mississippi College teaching U.S. History, Southern Religious History and many others. His areas of expertise include African American History, Religion, and the civil rights era. Dr. Pickett also teaches at the Parchman Penitentiary and Central Mississippi Correctional Facility through the Prison-to-College Pipeline Program, which he and a colleague founded in 2014.

Pastor Victor Martinez is Redeemer’s Associate Pastor of Mission & Cultural Engagement. Victor was born and raised in Puerto Rico and will share with us his own story of coming to faith in Christ through unlikely cross-cultural relationships formed when he was studying English as a college student in Mississippi. Victor and his wife, Jeannie have served together as missionaries and before coming to Redeemer planted churches in Dallas, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. Victor serves as president of the Hispanic Leadership Initiative, which seeks to raise up Hispanic pastors and ministry leaders in the PCA.

Conference Schedule

Friday, February 21^st

7 p.m. - 9:15 p.m.

Saturday, February 22^nd

8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Sunday, February 23^rd

Reverend McGowan preaches in RPC’s worship services at 9 and 10:45 a.m.

Additional conference session with Dr. Pickett during the 10:45 a.m. Christian Education hour.

Resources

This conference is a continuation of past discussions we have walked through with the congregation at RPC. If you would like to revisit some of those in preparation for our time together in February, use the links below.

• Seeking Racial Reconciliation
• Audio from our 2018 Summer Dialogues in Theology: Gospel Vision & Racial Reconciliation
• Racial Reconciliation: What Can I Do?
• Join Redeemer At San Antonio's MLK March

Reading list

If you would like to prepare for our time together, we recommend these resources, which can be purchased online or from the Redeemer book table.

• People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States, by Michael O. Emerson
• One Blood: Parting Words to the Church on Race by John M. Perkins
• Let Justice Roll Down, by John M. Perkins
• The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century, by Francis Schaeffer
• Heal Us, Emmanuel: A Call for Racial Reconciliation, Representation and Unity in the Church, edited by Doug Serven
• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
• Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith