Crossing the Bridge

Emmanuel Gospel Center

Crossing the Bridge

Lessons l’m learning on the road to civic engagement.

by Megan Lietz, Founding Director, The Race & Christian Community Initiative

Joanne Bland spoke with wisdom and authority as she recounted her experiences as one of the youngest participants in the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. She recalled the events of Bloody Sunday and spoke of her community’s tireless efforts to help preserve this history and the voting rights so many had fought and bled to secure. As she concluded, a participant asked, “So, what should we be fighting for today?”

With clarity and conviction, Ms. Bland said, “The same thing we fought for back then.” 

She said this in 2024. I couldn’t have imagined how true her words would ring today. We must keep fighting. 

Many of the deeply rooted problems we see in our country won’t go away through personal transformation alone. The enduring issues that plague our nation are rooted in policies and social systems beyond our immediate control. 

One way we can contribute to changing these systems is through civic engagement and political action. I believe these are tools Christians can use to continue Christ’s redemptive work and seek the kingdom of God.

As someone who cares deeply about addressing racial injustice, I’ve long had civic engagement on my radar as a way to make change. But as someone who was also raised as a white evangelical, I encountered obstacles to living out my faith by pursuing systemic change. 

As someone still new to civic engagement, I wanted to reach back and share both the obstacles I encountered—and what helped me navigate them. By sharing some of the obstacles that I encountered, it’s my hope that my story might help others overcome their own barriers to civic engagement and encourage Christians to be more active participants in contributing to the change they want to see.

“I don’t know how to get started!”

This is something I often hear as I talk to white evangelicals; and trust me, I can relate. We didn’t talk about politics in my family growing up. At church, we were encouraged to make a difference for Jesus, but it was assumed that this would happen in our personal spheres. So when I desired to learn more about how to make social change and contribute to the dismantling of systemic racism, I felt like neither my family nor my church had equipped me to enter the civic sphere. 

As I sought to learn, I realized I didn’t even know how to get started. I wasn’t sure how change happens or how to get involved. What’s more, I didn’t see others from my evangelical background working to address systemic racism. I didn’t have examples from my own tradition to follow or a pathway from within my community to help me learn. 

I lamented that the community I had come to love didn’t speak into matters so close to God’s heart. I lamented the narrow view of God’s redemptive work that had come to inform our practice. I lamented how I felt I needed to leave my people and my homeland in order to more faithfully follow Jesus in a multiracial world. 

Sometimes, as Christians, we can feel deeply about something, but let practical barriers keep us from responding to our convictions. I wanted to get involved, but felt I didn’t know how. It was hard enough for me to carve out time to take action. So, finding time to learn about civic engagement felt like a learning curve I just didn’t have the capacity to climb. 

But herein lies my first faulty assumption: That in order to get involved, I have to know before I go.

Especially as white people, we’re often used to being informed. To being the knowledge-holders. To having the privilege, before starting an endeavor, to get all our ducks in a row. 

But with something as vast and complicated as contributing to systemic change, that’s an unrealistic expectation. While we should do our homework and do our best to be informed, we cannot let this be a barrier to engagement.

Instead of feeling that we need to know everything—or be embarrassed for not knowing—we simply need to get started and learn as we go. 

“I don’t need all the answers to get started. I can learn as I go. ”

So that’s what I did. I jumped in. I joined the meeting. Attended the rally. Helped people register to vote. I didn’t always know what I was doing. I often felt like the awkward new kid. I had to ask questions to figure things out. But I was there. And in being in the room, I’m learning lessons I can share, noticing gaps that need to be bridged, and beginning to discover pathways that, as imperfect as they may be, might provide next steps for those who come behind me. 

Just start somewhere…

So if you want to get involved in civic engagement, I encourage you to just start somewhere. No, you don’t know everything. Yes, it will be awkward and clunky. And that’s OK. 

Start at a place that feels accessible. Reach for the low-hanging fruit. It doesn’t have to be ideal; it just has to get you moving. 

More specifically, I’d encourage you to start local. There are ample opportunities to participate in civic engagement in Greater Boston, many of which may connect with issues you’re experiencing in your own community. Action that feels proximate and contextualized can be easier to enter into, sustain, and understand.  

Emmanuel Gospel Center

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Practical next step

Learn more about the following local organizations and join the newsletters of an org that interests you! Joining their newsletter will help you stay informed about upcoming learning and action opportunities.

• Greater Boston Interfaith Organization

• Mass Community Action Network

  • Boston-based: Prophetic Resistance Boston

  • North Shore: Essex County Community Organizing

• Episcopal City Mission

• Boston People’s Reparation Commission

• Massachusetts Poor People’s Campaign

In my experience, as someone who jumped in with far less preparation than I would have liked, I found local groups to be welcoming and happy to answer questions. They even offer trainings to help people learn and grow. 

This comes with two caveats, though: I came humbly, and I came to help. I didn’t come to lead—I came to learn. And I learned through action. I wasn’t just bringing my questions, but giving of my time and energy to support the cause at hand.

Recap: When I let my lack of knowledge be a barrier to entry, I didn’t contribute to systemic change. But when I jumped in and took a learning posture, I realized you can learn while making a difference. I don’t need all the answers to get started; I can learn as I go. 

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“But I need to do something ‘big’!”

I care deeply about issues related to race. My passion is both a motivating force and an expression of God’s heart. But it can also be an obstacle when I feel my action needs to be commensurate with my passion. Just because I care deeply about something doesn’t mean I need to get involved in a big way—at least not to begin!

But this isn’t just about my passion or my experiences as a leader in various spheres. It gets at something deeper within the human psyche, as well as a common obstacle I’ve seen in white folks desiring to contribute to the dismantling of racism.

Often, white people want to do something that feels big or significant. Something they can feel good about or proud to share with a friend. While I could muse on why I think this is, what I know is that this inclination is often a barrier to effective action. In an effort to do something that feels big, we often take on a task outside our capacity. And despite our best intentions, we aren’t able to actually do that “big” thing. 

For me, this meant wanting to show up as a committed, ongoing volunteer. But as a ministry director, church leader, and mother of elementary-age children, I never had the capacity to dive in. 

Then I traveled down South and met with foot soldiers from the civil rights movement. I met ordinary people who contributed to real change, not because they had the capacity in their lives to do big shiny things, but because—even in the midst of life—they kept showing up. They kept doing what they could. Many of these people were children and teenagers at the time. They weren’t the leaders of society; they were people who could show up. They were bodies who could be counted. They were volunteers who could help with that one thing. 

And if they could do it, I could do it. I would no longer believe the lie that what I had to offer was not big enough. 

“Don’t let the desire to do something big prevent you from doing anything at all. ”

Commit to the little things.

So I committed to showing up whenever I could. A phone bank, an email to my senator, a community conversation, a service day. My action wasn’t consistent, but it was persistent. And over time, I ended up doing far more by committing to doing the little things I could, instead of waiting to do something that felt big or shiny. 

More importantly, this work had me in the role best suited for me as a white person and as someone not originally from my current community. I didn’t serve as a leader but as a follower of people of color and seasoned activists who best understand the needs of their community. 

I encourage you to worry less about doing something that feels big and get involved in ways that simply allow you to take action. The little things make a big difference when we all work together in community!

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Practical next step

The next time you see an opportunity to take civic action, do your best to take it. You may not be able to swing it, but try. When you see these opportunities, ask yourself, could I do that one thing? It may not be much on its own, but if you make an honest effort to participate, you’d be surprised by how, despite all the other responsibilities and distractions, you can get it done. And before you know it, that one thing becomes a longer list of small, but significant actions. 

Recap: Don’t let the desire to do something big prevent you from doing anything at all. Small actions over time can have a significant impact!

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Emmanuel Gospel Center

“Will my contributions even matter?”

Do the little things I do really matter? I mean, when I’m one body, one signature, one vote in a sea of thousands, does it really make a difference if I show up?

These are some of the questions that would go through my mind as I juggled different priorities and did the math on whether or not it was worth showing up. And to be honest, in any singular instant, no, it probably doesn’t matter that much. But collectively, little things make a difference.

I recently experienced collective power in a deeply encouraging way, reminding me of how little actions can make a big difference. I was one of about 50 marchers who, collectively, walked from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. While none of us could have done it alone, lots of people did little things to support this massive undertaking. There were people who coordinated, cooked for us, offered us a place to stay, or simply let us use their bathroom. Every day, we all worked together to load or unload our supplies. And little jobs, like driving shuttles that offered individuals a break when needed or making sure that everyone had a name tag, made a felt difference in building an inclusive and welcoming community. 

“When everyone does their part, we can accomplish great things through the power of community.”

By themselves, the march wasn’t going to make or break based on whether or not Sister So-and-So brought her casserole to the potluck or that driver honked in support as we marched down the road. But it was the simple acts of kindness that nourished our bodies and souls. It was the little things that made a difference in the day-to-day and, collectively, helped everyday people walk over 160 miles. 

Put it in perspective.

When everyone does their part, we can accomplish great things through the power of community. So I encourage you to evaluate your action not by the size of the action itself, but by its impact when added to the collective efforts of a community. 

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Practical next step

Check out this two-minute video to learn about how the collective power of everyday people contributed to the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Recap: Individual actions may feel insignificant in isolation, but collective effort—made up of countless small contributions—is what makes big things possible. Showing up matters, even when it doesn't feel like it.

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It’s our turn.

Joanne Bland, who set an example through her activism, passed away earlier this year. She is no longer with us to fight for the voting rights she gave so much of her life for. Nor was she alive to hear the recent Supreme Court ruling, which limited the power of the Voting Rights Act—yet again. 

But now it’s our turn. At a time when our country is rolling back civil rights and threatening the very practices that make us a democracy, it’s time to take a stand. 

We would all like to think that, if we were alive during the civil rights movement, we would have stood on the right side of history. We would have marched like the young Joanne Bland. But the fact of the matter is that what we’re doing now is what we would have done back then.

If you want to take action and contribute to change, you can. Even if you don’t know how to get started, even if you feel you can’t do anything big, and even if you question whether the little you might contribute makes a difference.

It’s not too late. You don’t have to let those obstacles stop you. They stopped me for a while, but I pray that you, too, can overcome. 

Want to learn more about how Christian faith calls us to build shalom in our communities? Check out RCCI’s Toward Shalom Workshop Series to explore the biblical and theological foundations for addressing racism today. 

Why isn’t my church talking about race?

Photo credit: Shaun Menary via Lightstock

Many white Christians in evangelical churches feel alone in their desire to talk about race

by Megan Lietz, Founding Director, Race & Christian Community Initiative

It came from the look in the pastor’s eyes, the awkward pauses in the conversation, the tone that, while appropriate to the passing ear, couldn’t help but feel patronizing. Here I was again, having my faith held suspect because I believe Jesus calls Christians to engage in issues related to race.

At that moment, I knew I had about 30 seconds to establish I was “one of them.” To assert my faith and prove I really am a Bible-believing Christian. There was no time to share that I was born and raised in white evangelicalism, with my teenage years defined by youth conferences and summer missions trips, WWJD bracelets and promise rings. There was no time to mention I believe the Bible is the Word of God and that I learned to study it at evangelical colleges and seminaries. No time to talk about how much my faith means to me, what it has brought me through, or my deep love for Jesus.

It was as if none of that mattered. Certainly, none of it was seen. All it took was the word “race,” and I was written off as a “liberal.” 

It was all right. It was a brief interaction with a pastor I had never met before and would probably never see again. Yet it represented a painful reality I often hear about from white brothers and sisters in theologically conservative churches. 

“It was as if none of that mattered. Certainly, none of it was seen. All it took was the word ‘race,’ and I was written off as a ‘liberal.’”

One brother shared he feels the discipleship he received did not prepare him to engage our multiracial reality. Another sister said she had to leave her beloved church community after many years because she no longer feels at home in an environment that regards race as a side issue.  

The challenges white folks encounter when exploring issues related to race don’t compare to the pain and oppression experienced by people of color. Yet, it is essential for white people to learn how to navigate the obstacles we encounter so we can be better positioned to experience and contribute to racial healing.

Many white brothers and sisters who participate in the Race & Christian Community Initiative (RCCI) often express how refreshing it is to be able to talk about race in the context of Christian community. Sadly, even though these issues are coming up in conversations around the water cooler and blowing up their news feeds, they’re not able to discuss race in their congregations. It’s not mentioned from the pulpit, explored in Bible studies, and certainly not a topic for casual conversation. 

Even if it is explored at those lamentable moments when racial violence captures our collective attention, the conversation’s life cycle often mirrors that of the news cycle: a one-off here, a one-off there — reactive events choked out by donor pushback and competing priorities. 

Pearl via Lightstock

When churches don’t talk about race, white folks who care about the issue can often feel isolated at best. Well-meaning comments about “slippery slopes” and how “race is a distraction to the gospel” can make us feel frustrated, suspect, or unwelcome. It can even lead to a crisis of faith as we start to believe the lie that the Living Word does not speak into the realities of racial injustice. 

Engaging issues related to race from a biblical perspective does not cause us to lose our faith. It helps us follow Jesus more faithfully. 

White evangelicals’ disengagement from race has little to do with Scripture. On the contrary, the Scriptures we highly esteem speak abundantly into the issues of unity, diversity, ethnicity, culture, power, oppression, healing, and justice. Our disengagement can be explained — not by God’s heart — but by the result of social and historical realities. 

For example, as members of the dominant culture in the U.S., we often don’t have to think about race. Our social location can make us oblivious to the realities of racism. 

“The Scriptures we highly esteem speak abundantly into the issues of unity, diversity, ethnicity, culture, power, oppression, healing, and justice.”

Closely related to this, white folks tend not to explore race in our theology. This dynamic is especially problematic when most Christian educational institutions center Euro-American theology as normative and comprehensive. It has left many Christians less aware of God's heart for justice and how the interconnected body has experienced the God of justice in their lives.

The fundamentalist-modernist controversy of the 1920s and ’30s led theologically conservative Christians to largely disengage from social issues so they might distinguish themselves from more theologically liberal expressions of the faith. The impact of valuing orthodoxy over faithfully living into Jesus’ heart for justice continues today.

Because of realities like these, white evangelicals lack the experience, theological frameworks, thought leadership, and examples from within our traditions to build shalom across racial lines. While this can make starting the conversation even more intimidating, we cannot afford to stay silent. When we don’t address issues of race, we do damage to the kingdom of God.

Photo credit: Brimstone Creative via Lightstock

Whether white evangelicals acknowledge the problem or not, we are complicit in the ways racism harms our brothers and sisters of color, diminishes ourselves, and dishonors the image of God. When white congregations don't talk about race, there are significant consequences: 

1. Disunity: Christian communities remain segregated. While being in a racially homogenous congregation is not bad within itself, it becomes a problem if white congregations are homogenous because people of color do not feel welcome, included, or cared for. This can often be the case if congregations are not talking about race, culture, or power dynamics that many people of color experience as a regular part of life.

2. Church hurt: We lack the discipleship needed to build shalom across racial lines, allowing the perpetuation of racial brokenness in and through Christian communities. 

3. Diminished witness: The harm done and the deeply-seated division in the Church diminish Christian witness. When we know the Great Physician but aren’t working toward racial healing, we miss out on opportunities to demonstrate God’s power and presence.

4. Waning influence: When the Church isn’t even speaking into a sorely felt need in our society, we shouldn’t be surprised when people stop listening. Instead of proclaiming that Jesus is good news in the midst of racial brokenness, too many white Christians have remained silent and are allowing secular organizations to lead the way.

“We cannot afford to stay silent. When we don’t address issues of race, we do damage to the kingdom of God.”

It doesn’t have to be this way. The Bible offers principles, parallels, and language white Christians can use to talk about race. We can also learn from the traditions of Black, Indigenous and people of color, who have rich legacies of addressing racism. There are also numerous resources by evangelical publishers and denominations on how our faith connects to race. 

There are paths ahead. But too often, fear, competing priorities, and well-trodden pathways get in the way. 

RCCI creates spaces where white Christians can talk about race. Be it learning communities for white evangelicals, conversations over coffee, or opportunities to reflect on and learn from serving across racial lines, we desire to create a place where white folks can learn and grow in Christian community. We also come alongside predominantly white congregations, meet them where they are, and help them take the next step in exploring issues related to race from a biblical perspective.

Photo credit: R9 Foto for The Emmanuel Gospel Center

The richness of RCCI comes not because we get it all right, but because we create spaces for people to have conversations the Lord is already stirring within them. With love and grace, we create opportunities for the Lord to continue the work he desires to do. And as we invite him in, we see healing, we see hope, we see perspective transformation. What excites us most is seeing people move from talk to action, bearing witness to the person and power of Jesus by continuing his redemptive work across racial lines.

Will you join us in talking about race? Will you learn with us as we explore the conversation? We don’t always say the right thing, but we long to know the Lord more fully, serve him more faithfully, and usher in his kingdom by how we engage across racial lines.