Following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, in 2014, a new conversation to engage Disciples in advocacy surfaced a need for connection. The efforts to network for Standing Rock protests and other crisis led to the creation of Disciples Public Presence. Disciples Public Presence is a movement. After its beginnings in March […]
Read more2 Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. 3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will […]
Read moreOne year ago by Rev. Dr. Timothy James, administrative secretary of the National Convocation One year ago Ferguson, Missouri was a little obscure suburban city outside of St. Louis. It was suddenly snatched out of seclusion to national prominence when Michael Brown, an 18 year old unarmed African American male was shot and killed by Darren […]
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Pastoral letter to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) from the College of Regional Ministers concerning excessive force against unarmed African American men April 9, 2015 To our Sisters and Brothers in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ. The College of Regional Ministers […]
Read moreLent 2015 In the six months following the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teenager, by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, many of us have struggled to understand what we see on television, in newspapers, and through social media and the internet. Not reported or highlighted, is the involvement of churches and […]
Read moreBoy, do I need Advent this year! I need a respite from the commercial “Christmas season” where the sacred and the secular collide and stay awkwardly entangled for weeks – where good will and generosity struggle with crass consumerism – where the birth of love into the world is reduced to “Jingle Bells”… My soul […]
Read moreEmotions are raw in the wake of the Ferguson grand jury decision involving the death of Michael Brown. People feel unheard, threatened and confused. As we seek to be a movement for wholeness in a broken and fragmented world, our call is to open our churches as places of dialogue and action. Our challenge is […]
Read moreWhat did you expect? by the Rev. Dr. Timothy James, administrative secretary of the National Convocation The grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed the unarmed Black teenager, Michael Brown on August 9, 2014. This decision brought to mind the death of Trayvon Martin afresh. As an African American […]
Read moreMaya Angelou once said, “Prejudice is a burden which confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.” As I pray, write and think about Ferguson, I, like many of you, am searching for words and thoughts that name our sin, and also serve to enter on the way toward wholeness in a […]
Read moreFor the better part of a week, the streets of Ferguson, Missouri have echoed with hopelessness, despair, grief and anger in reaction to the shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year old black man by white police officers. A fairly unknown suburb of St. Louis, Ferguson will now take its place in the ever lengthening […]
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