Vintage Church has been on a journey of lament, growth, and action towards racial reconciliation and fighting systemic racism. There have been several key moments for us as a church: the multi-congregational prayer gathering after the shooting of Akiel Denkins in downtown Raleigh, Pastor Leonce Crump, Jr.’s multiple sessions, Pastor Chris Atwell spending time training our elder families, and the events across our nation after the murder of George Floyd by police officers. We are trying hard and praying harder. During this time, the pastors and staff have made mistakes, missed some important moments to speak up, and at times failed to act.

The Holy Spirit has not been silent and scripture has not been unclear on the issue of racism. The white evangelical church just hasn’t been listening and responding, and for many years has been complicit in our words and deeds. As we follow Jesus, we are led to lament, repent, and love our neighbor. As Jesus clearly defines neighbor in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), it’s not bound to a culture, skin color, or economic status. Each human on God’s earth is made in his image and likeness, and we are to love as Christ loved us. 

The past few months have shown us that while good steps have been taken, we have a long way to go as a church body. Therefore, what follows is the plan for next steps. Some are continued actions while others are new. We invite each person who calls Vintage Church home to join the leadership and staff in these actions to build the bridge between Vintage Church and the minority communities within the Triangle.

LAMENT

As we face the injustices and violence done to people of color, and to people who are poor, we must not then turn away. Truly hearing means followers of Christ must feel and sit in the grief with our fellow image-bearers.

EDUCATE

The listening and learning have been key for many of us at Vintage Church, and we want this to continue. We have provided a list of books and voices from people of color to learn from and will continue pressing into this commitment. 

PRAY

As we face our sins both personal and corporate, we are committed to asking the Holy Spirit to lead us in conviction, humility, and repentance.  

SERMON SERIES SHIFT

In light of the state of our nation and the conviction of Vintage Church leadership, we have decided to change our planned Fall series to address what Scripture teaches about God’s Kingdom of Justice and how we are called to establish that in the here and now. 

COMMUNITY GROUP 

As CG’s are encouraged to work from the Sunday sermon topics, we are asking all community groups to go through material during the updated Fall series to lament, pray, learn, and act in response. 

PRIORITIZE

Pastor Leonce Crump, Jr.’s primary point was that every Vintage member needed to make the topic of racial reconciliation a groundswell issue and take personal ownership. It’s not up to the Vintage Church staff or leaders to solve this issue, but we are committed to prioritizing this as a church with time, money, and prayer. Please do understand that we are also pressing hard, learning, engaging with, and trying to start justice movements on not only race issues but these too: homelessness, education inequalities, sexual abuse, the sex slave industry, slavery, gender issues, city poverty and world poverty, church planting, advocating for adoption as a means to end of abortion, and organizations like Compassion International/World Missions.

Still, we are committing to not be the generation looked upon by the next as staying silent and complicit in the area of systemic racism and injustice.

REPENT

The Holy Spirit is grieved by all racism, especially racism in his church of which most often the white evangelical church has been complicit. As followers of Jesus, we are committed to no longer staying silent or ignorant in racist thoughts, actions, or inaction. To repent means we do not simply say “we’re sorry,” but we turn and walk in the opposite direction towards God.  

TRAINING

We gained greatly from the teaching of Pastor Leonce Crump, Jr. over two separate occasions, and his charge to be historians, theologians, and relational has been life-changing for many Vintage folks. Where we have failed is in prioritizing in-depth training for our staff and leaders from organizations that walk with churches in the area of racial reconciliation. We are committed to making this happen in 6-9 months, depending on restrictions related to COVID-19. 

LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY

Over the past seven years, the staff of Vintage Church has grown in diversity, hiring three African-American pastors. And yet, we are committed to seeing more growth in this area. As the leadership gains new voices, we believe this will help enable the congregation to gain new perspectives.