by: Jeanne Ayivorh, Inece Bryant, Carl Reid, Will Rowe, Tony Zipfel

Starting the Journey

In the fall of 2019, a small group in a Northern Virginia church came together to confront one of America’s original national sins—chattel slavery—and its insidious legacy. Through listening, learning, and honest reflection on our racial history, we began a journey that reshaped our understanding of faith, responsibility, and reconciliation.

We watched Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Reconstruction PBS documentary, and engaged in the powerful, seven‑week devotional, An American Lament by the Repentance Project. We listened deeply and examined our racial history. This experience surfaced truths many of us had never been taught—and responsibilities some of us had never fully acknowledged or understood.

What began as a study became a community. Through difficult conversations and shared vulnerability with people outside our church, the Racial Reconciliation Group (RRG) was formed—rooted in relationship and compelled by God’s grace to move from learning into action. We agreed that staying together was meaningful if we continued to educate others about our nation’s African American racial past and its impact on all of us today; if white Christians would continue to engage other white people about racism; if we built authentic relationships across racial/ethnic as well as denominational lines; and if we committed to actionable items as a group.

The testimonial below reflects the experience of many who participated in the study:

“For twelve weeks, people who look like me listened to people who do not. What media pundits argue over became, before our eyes, powerful stories told by those have lived them. History moved from dusty books into our hearts, real and (if we do nothing) repeatable.

For twelve weeks, people who look like me sat with people who do not. We mourned strange fruit on southern trees, redlining, wealth imbalances, the prison crowding crisis, separate but equal and other efforts to prolong the abuses of slavery.

For twelve weeks, people who look like me prayed with people who do not. “How long, oh Lord, how long until justice rolls fast like a righteous river?” We need this never-failing flood of goodness, propelled by your healing Spirit, making life better for us all.

For twelve weeks, people who look like me and people who do not heard God’s still, small voice asking our question back to us:
“I want your help: “Remember what you have heard,
“Repent of complicity (if nothing else), and
“Repair as much harm as you can.”

Continuing to Learn and Act

Over six years later, we remain an active faith-based & grassroots community focused on building relationships with individuals, churches, and organizations for racial healing and justice.

Today and into the future, we are focused on reconciliation — the restoration of a previously broken relationship based on repentance and forgiveness. We have taken many baby steps to build understanding, relationships, trust, and over time, a family-like environment. We believe in “baby steps” – for us, it is leaning into the nudges for action, trusting the Father’s will.

We meet weekly to listen to each other in humility, lift each other, and act to make positive change through prayer, learning opportunities, and intentional actions. Various guest speakers come and share their stories and challenge us, new members join us, and we’ve held twelve new foundational studies engaging over 400 participants from across the country. All are welcome who come with an open mind and humble heart. Actions to repair, serve, and unite vary and we are blessed by the gifts each RRG study alum has in their heart to share. Concrete action emerged from this work done in relationship:

Relationship Building

• Committed to weekly evening Zoom meetings for sharing, learning, relationship building, and reporting on actions
• Formed a prayer team and prayed for each other, our community, the country, and future directions
  Visited each other’s churches to worship, create relationships, and build bridges
• Created bridge-building dinners with representatives of different churches and organizations to build relationships and foster discussions on ways to work together and partner on racial healing and unity
• Fostered partnerships with churches and leaders working on racial repair and unity in Virginia (e.g., Fairfax, Berryville, Richmond), DC, and other geographies
• Initiated Strategies to Elevate People DC (STEP DC), a partnership among inner city churches, suburban churches, and faith-based organizations focused on parenting and emotional health leadership
• Held an inaugural Releaven Conference to highlight domestic and international stories of hope and healing, benefitting local Virginia rural and urban faith communities

Education – Learning Spaces

• Held a racial reconciliation seminar with 18 speakers and 144 participants from 51 churches inside and outside the Washington, DC area.
• Started a weekly RRG newsletter
• Assisted, by the intentional action of two people offering to more broadly share the story of another, by the creation of a documentary called the Faith of the Dreamer, which is now an award-winning film at film festivals
• Continue to offer the Foundational Study anchored by An American Lament

Public Witness

• Held annual wreath-laying remembrances at historical African American cemeteries in Northern Virginia with families of descendants that led to legacy days,
• Supported publishing a book — an RRG member assisted descendants telling their stories which led to publishing a book, Black Communities of Fairfax: A History
• Engaged in justice and peacemaking events that support the rights and dignity of our neighbors
• Held art shows at different churches to foster curiosity, conversation, and learning

All this requires humility, a willingness to listen and learn, and commitment to lifting each other up, and a deep love for God and neighbor. Racial reconciliation is not a program we complete but a posture we practice—again and again—through prayer, repentance, relationship, and action. As followers of Christ, we believe this work is part of our discipleship: a response to God’s invitation to remember, repent, and repair. We continue this journey humbly, trusting that even small, faithful steps can participate in God’s work of healing what has been broken. All are welcome to walk with us.

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For more information on the RRG, please email racialreconciliationgroup@gmail.com.