Sojourn Midtown,
As we begin the Gospel, Race and Justice sermon series (starting
Aug. 9), your pastors are expecting three things to happen.
First, by faith, we expect the Lord to do a mighty
work of unification and healing within our congregation.
Second, we fully expect the Enemy to use every age-old
tactic at his disposal to distort, discourage, twist, and tempt our
people into moving away from rather than towards one another. And
third, our CGs will be ground zero. We expect beautiful
stories of Gospel-fueled humility, love, and unity to bloom in our CGs.
We also anticipate discouraging stories of hard hearts and disagreements
to occur as well.
In light of this, we wanted to provide as many helpful resources in
such a crucial chapter of our church as possible. This is why we’ve
compiled these 4 weeks of videos and journal/discussion prompts.
The goal of this guide is to help you reflect on your own
culture and ethnicity and become more aware of the beautiful differences
in our church. We want you to view your culture and ethnicity
with humility (acknowledging every culture has blind spots and sinful
predispositions) but also to have confidence that Jesus is redeeming
every part of us and desires to use every part of us to glorify Himself
and love others.
You are free to go through this on your own but it will be more
helpful if done in community (with people in yoru CG, D-Group, etc).
We’re not prescribing this for everyone; we’re simply making it
available to you.
Lastly, this guide was adapted from a more robust version that our CG
Leaders and Apprentices have been working through in the 4 weeks leading
up to this sermon series. If you want to view that version, you can find
it here.
We’re praying for you, we’re grateful for you, we love you,
The Full Council of Elders
Sojourn Church Midtown
Week 1: The Beauty in Your
Ethnicity
Videos to Watch
Questions to Journal and
Discuss:
- What is the Biblical basis for cross-cultural unity? Where does this
theme pop up in the grand redemptive arc of the Bible?
- What are some of the things said in the videos that resonated with
you? What are some of the things that did not connect with you?
- As you consider your own ethnicity, what do you feel? Pride? Shame?
Have you thought deeply about it or not much at all? Why do you think
you’ve grown to feel or think this way?
- What are the good, true, and beautiful aspects of your ethnicity and
culture?
- How do you embrace your ethnic background while also pursuing unity
in the church?
Week 2: The Brokenness
in Your Ethnicity
Videos to Watch
Questions to Journal and
Discuss:
- As you take a step back and consider your ethnicity, culture, and
upbringing, where do you see brokenness? Where have you been sinned
against and where have you sinned against God and man?
- As you watched this week’s videos, what were the emotions you were
feeling? Do you feel angry? Guilty? Ambivalent? Take these emotions to
God in prayer.
- Are you more prone to see the brokenness in your ethnicity or the
ethnicity of others? Why do you think you’ve developed to think this
way?
- As the Book of Common Prayer reads, “we confess that we have sinned
against [God] in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by
what we have left undone.” As we think and pray this week, is the Spirit
revealing ways you have sinned against God and your neighbor in what you
have left undone i.e. sins of omission?
Week 3: Jesus Redeeming
Your Ethnicity
Videos to Watch
Questions to Journal and
Discuss:
- Where do you see our culture trying to redeem ethnic/cultural
brokenness apart from the Gospel? What happens when Jesus is not the
redemptive center of your White/Black/Asian/Latino/etc. identity?
- What part of your ethnic identity and cultural heritage is Jesus
redeeming? Where is He bringing healing? Where is He bringing conviction
and correction?
- Prior to redemption, there is always an acknowledgment of the
brokenness, sin, and/or pain we are being redeemed from. What do you
lose if these tensions/pain/sins go uncovered, undiscussed, and
unacknowledged? And what do you foresee (and maybe fear!) happening in
your CG (both good and hard!) as we’ve been going through our Gospel,
Race, and Justice sermon series?
- The path our church is on leads to a beautiful place of
multicultural expression and representation that puts a giant spotlight
on our King and His redeeming power. But the path leading there has been
bumpy and will continue to be difficult. Why is the place we are headed
to better than the place we are coming from? In other words, this cannot
be your pastors’ conviction, it needs to be yours – so why is this
difficult journey worth it to you?
Week 4: Jesus Restoring
Your Ethnicity
Videos to Watch
Questions to Journal and
Discuss:
- After having watched all the “Beyond Colorblind” videos, how has
your perspective on your own ethnicity changed? How about other people’s
ethnicities you come in contact with?
- As we’re past the midpoint of the GR&J sermon series, how have
you been challenged and encouraged? How are you praying for the Spirit
to work in and through Sojourn Midtown?
- After learning about the 4 cultural spectrums in the Cultural
Intelligence Videos, where does your culture fall in each of these
categories?
- How might unrecognized cultural differences (particularly the 4
described here) cause conflict/tension in a Community Group setting? And
how might these impact a CGs discussion of topics of ethnicity and
justice?