RPM-Landing
Repair-Prepare Ministries
We are a church-focused organization, aiming to repair divides caused by racism in order to prepare us for greater unity in Christ.
Where We Are Headed
We seek to bring greater unity to the church in Milwaukee by understanding and addressing the residual effects of racism on African Americans.
Why We Are Headed There
How We Will Get There
By surrendering ourselves to Jesus in a way that directly works against past and current racism and its residual effects on the church of Milwaukee so that the church in Milwaukee will be perfectly one in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
What We Will Do To Get There
Talk. Give. Live.
Talk - Have conversations that
Give - Sacrificially give to predominantly Black churches in Milwaukee to help offset the systemic inequalities that racism has caused:
Live - Structure our living so that we can live life on life with people of other races.
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The Problem
Explicit, legal racism existed in America for about 350 years in two primary forms: slavery and Jim Crow laws.
When racism was brought to America in the form of chattel slavery and institutionalized into our laws and social fabric, sadly, White Christians, as a whole, did not fight against these institutions. While there were some individual White Christians and churches opposing racism, most White Christians and churches participated in and often even led the way in implementing racist laws and attitudes.
We don't know if the world will ever acknowledge, confess and repent from the sin of racism, and then bear fruit in keeping with that repentance, but we believe that White Christians should.
We don't know exactly why White Christians have rarely born fruit in keeping with their repentance on this matter, but we do know that it's not right that we haven't done so. To God and our Black brothers and sisters, we are sorry for this too, for not bearing fruit in keeping with repentance is sin too, and we ask for your forgiveness again.
We think one of the reasons that White Christians have rarely born fruit in keeping with their repentance on this matter is that we just don't know how to do it. We believe that the power of God manifested by the Church together is the answer to this dilemma, so we are asking the church in Milwaukee to address this problem together. Will you join us in bearing fruit in keeping with repentance?
RPM exists to assist the church in Milwaukee to do what The Gospel implores us to do as Christians: acknowledge our sin, confess our sin, repent from our sin, and then repair the effects of our sin and move forward together in a restored relationship with those we hurt.
The church in Milwaukee should unite, being one church where there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, Black nor White, for we will all be one in Christ Jesus.
- When slavery was abolished, White people should have worked to make Black people whole, but we didn't.
- When Jim Crow laws were overturned, White people should have worked to make Black people whole, but we didn't.
When racism was brought to America in the form of chattel slavery and institutionalized into our laws and social fabric, sadly, White Christians, as a whole, did not fight against these institutions. While there were some individual White Christians and churches opposing racism, most White Christians and churches participated in and often even led the way in implementing racist laws and attitudes.
- When Europeans arrived in America, both for initial exploration and eventual settlement, they were predominantly White people, most of them being professing Christians fleeing religious persecution.
- White people, most of them being professing Christians, began the slave trade in America.
- White people, most of them being professing Christians, implemented Jim Crow laws.
- During both of these forms of explicit, legal racism, White Christians were much more vocal in their defense of slavery and Jim Crow than in their condemnation of them.
- It is abhorrent that America endorsed slavery and Jim Crow laws as a nation, but it is even more grievous to God that the majority of White Christians endorsed slavery and Jim Crow laws instead of being opposed to them.
- Due to the legally enforced forms of past racism, residual effects from racism still exist today.
We don't know if the world will ever acknowledge, confess and repent from the sin of racism, and then bear fruit in keeping with that repentance, but we believe that White Christians should.
- We recognize that many, if not most, White Christians, churches, and Christian organizations acknowledge the above history and have expressed sorrow and asked God and Black people for forgiveness from their sin of racism and that of their spiritual ancestors. Amazingly, most Black Christians and churches are eager and ready to forgive. We are grateful for this and give praise to God for it!
- However, the damage from the above history still exists and has never been addressed in a way by White Christians, on the whole, that seeks to repair the effects of the sin of racism and then move forward together in a restored relationship.
We don't know exactly why White Christians have rarely born fruit in keeping with their repentance on this matter, but we do know that it's not right that we haven't done so. To God and our Black brothers and sisters, we are sorry for this too, for not bearing fruit in keeping with repentance is sin too, and we ask for your forgiveness again.
We think one of the reasons that White Christians have rarely born fruit in keeping with their repentance on this matter is that we just don't know how to do it. We believe that the power of God manifested by the Church together is the answer to this dilemma, so we are asking the church in Milwaukee to address this problem together. Will you join us in bearing fruit in keeping with repentance?
RPM exists to assist the church in Milwaukee to do what The Gospel implores us to do as Christians: acknowledge our sin, confess our sin, repent from our sin, and then repair the effects of our sin and move forward together in a restored relationship with those we hurt.
The church in Milwaukee should unite, being one church where there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, Black nor White, for we will all be one in Christ Jesus.
- It is our desire to see the church in Milwaukee put The Gospel on full display by acknowledging, confessing, repenting, and then bearing fruit in keeping with repentance from what a majority of the White American church did to their Black brothers and sisters by using our current resources, advantages, and lives to work directly against racism and the residual effects that resulted from it.
- In light of this problem, this is where we are headed.
PLEASE NOTE: When talking about these issues, we have given much thought on what language to use, and based our usage on broad feedback from the African American community. We recognize that not everyone will "like" the choices we've made, so we ask that you please extend us grace and hear our heart: our desire is for healing and unity in the Gospel, even if we don't say it perfectly all the time.