Black History Month at Christ Central Church

Each February, as a church, we celebrate Black History Month. We do this because being cross-cultural is one of our church's core values; we believe all people are created in the image of God and crowned with glory and honor. Racism and racial division have been barriers to affirming the dignity of all people in our country's history, our city's history, and the church's history. We believe the gospel of Jesus Christ leads us to repentance, which causes us to take action, breaking down barriers we have been complicit in creating. The gospel holds the power to recreate us into a unified community.

This year, Black History Month overlaps with Lent. Lent is a season for us to lament and grieve our sins as we long for healing and redemption, which comes in Jesus's death and resurrection, which we will celebrate during Holy Week. We will be offering a Lenten devotional that spans Black History Month as a resource for formation during this season.

We will also honor Black History Month throughout the four Sundays of February by highlighting various African American Christians–men and women who have been influential in the church. As Mark Sidwell says in his book Free Indeed: Heroes of the Black Christian History, "In addition to challenges that normally confront heralds of the gospel, African American Christians also faced slavery and racial discrimination. Their deep love for Christ and fellow believers and their passion for lost souls made them dauntless soldiers for the Lord, proclaiming the way of salvation and the equality of all in God's sight." On the final Sunday in February, we will dig into the history of and hear the song "Lift Every Voice," often called the "Black National Anthem." We hope and pray that our church community will be unified, celebrating one another in our beautiful differences while being rooted in Jesus' grace. We hope and pray in this one way, we can honor the black men and women who, through their faith and action, shaped the church in America.