Reconciliation Ministry

05/22/2026

“2-Eyed Seeing: Intersections of current Christian Theology and Traditional Knowledge” was the 2026 theme of Winter Talk. Hosted by Center for Indigenous Ministries (DOC), Winter Talk is dedicated to furthering the conversation on the Christian Doctrine of Discovery and its dismantling.

Winter Talk 2026 took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, February 1-3. The recorded sessions are now available. Speakers include Joshua Shawnee, Conrad M. Rocha, Lisa Barnett, Crow Eddy, Clayton Summers, and Laurie Pouind-Feille. Click below to experience 2026 Winter Talk.

Winter Talk honors the season of winter. The harvest is long past and spring soon to come. Winter is our time to think, tell stories, and eat. At Winter Talk...

05/09/2026

A Letter from the Reconciliation Ministry Commission and the General Minister and President Regarding the Supreme Court Decision in Louisiana v. Callais

Read the full letter at https://bit.ly/RMandGMPLetter

An excerpt:
17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
18Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:17-20, NRSVue)

Dear Disciples,

On Wednesday, April 29, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision that now makes it extremely difficult to challenge creation of voting maps without proving intentional discrimination. Redistricting decisions can be made without consideration of their impact on non-white voters and communities. The impact of race is negated as though the stain of more than 400 years of structural and institutional racism are no longer a factor in American society. In effect, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has suffered another blow. In 2013, the Shelby County v Holder decision removed part of Section IV of the Act, which mandated federal oversight of state voting laws. States previously needed federal approval to make changes to voting laws in order to ensure that there was no adverse impact based on race.

The Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana legislators broke the law in creating a majority-Black Congressional district according to the mechanisms permitted by the Voting Rights Act. This re-interpretation is harmful and erodes protections that are still needed to become a more just society. Our present commitment to being a movement for wholeness and our deeply rooted historic commitment to removing hidden and systemic barriers compels us to question and oppose the recent ruling, and recommit ourselves to work to remove barriers to voting in care for the participation of all and the flourishing of the United States of America.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good,    and what does the Lord require of youbut to do justice and to love kindness    and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8, NRSVue) […]

02/23/2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeZfCgiHOCM
Rev. Terri Hord Owens Returns from Sabbatical: Reflections, Renewal, and a Call to Justice

Rev. Terri Hord Owens, our General Minister and President, is back from sabbatical! In this special video, she reflects on her time away, speaks to the moment we’re living in, and shares her excitement for the 2026 General Assembly, the first under our new triennium structure, celebrating how God is calling us into faithful, collective action.

She also invites congregations to commemorate the Selma-to-Montgomery march by sharing Nolan Williams’ Just Like Selma in worship. Plan to play it on the 1st or 2nd Sunday in March to inspire civic engagement, commitment to justice, and the limitless love of God in action.

Learn more about the Just Like Selma project, register, and access worship materials at https://neworksproductions.com/just-like-selma-1 -50f2-456f-b010-30639246e64f

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

02/08/2026

Day 21 of "21 Days of Prayer" is led by Rev. Dr. Marcus Leathers, Regional Minister, Christian Church Capital Area, and Core Trainer, Reconciliation Ministry.

Prayer

God of truth and mercy, lead us in this Lenten season beyond mere discovery and into love in community, where our repentance is genuine and our lives reflect the compassion that you desire. God let your Holy Spirit cleanse us of empty rituals and awaken us to your call, that we labor together so that justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream in and through Your church.

02/07/2026

Day 20 of "21 Days of Prayer" is led by Rev. Dr. Joel Brown, President, Disciples of Christ Historical Society.

Prayer

God of justice and mercy, we gather here from many places united in reflection on the theme “Beyond Discovery: Love in Community,” acknowledging that discovery alone is not enough. We have learned much, named much, seen much—but we confess that in this moment love lived out in community
feels fragile.

We come to you carrying anxiety and uncertainty: uncertainty about our institutions, about our common life,
about whether the ideals we profess as Christians and as
a nation are truly shaping the way we live together.

As Dr. King reminded this church decades ago, we have grown rich in knowledge and influence, yet poor in spirit. We have mastered the mechanics of progress, but we
struggle with the moral art of living together as your children, as siblings to one another in your creation.

Teach us again, O God, that love is not a feeling but a practice; not easy but hard. Move us beyond discovery into the hard, holy work of beloved community—where
justice is practiced, where truth is spoken, where fear does not have power, and where love has the final word. Amen

02/07/2026

Day 19 of "21 Days of Prayer" is led by Rev. Dr. Laurie Pound Feille, Founder and Co-Facilitator of Disciples Public Presence.

She reflects: "I come to you today from Minneapolis, Minnesota where we are daily creating love and finding love in community in the midst of much adversity.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was no stranger to adversity. In his closing words in his address to the International Convention of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), that was meeting in Dallas, Texas, on September 25, 1966, he says that we need to make a choice. He challenged us by asking if we will choose to conform to this world and I will add that means conforming to the violence and the hatred. Or will we risk everything and in his words “march only to the soul saving music of eternity.” Those words ring as true today as they did in 1966.

We have had a lot of marches in Minneapolis lately and with every step we take we pray that we are choosing to transform instead of conform. Rev. Dr. King reminds us with his closing sentence that he is calling us to remember the scripture from Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, the scripture goes on…so that you may discern what is the will of God---what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Prayer
Holy Creator, How grateful we are that we find your love in community. You created us to live together with all of our beautiful differences. You call us to appreciate the goodness in each other and to live caring for each other. We thank you for creating a world filled with the gifts of diversity.

We are thankful and yet we acknowledge that we do not always live as if you are the Creator. We confess that many times we do conform to the power and greed of this world. We acknowledge the chaos and utter confusion that we have created through the sin of systemic white supremacy. We do not always form those loving communities. We ask for your forgiveness and your grace. For as such a time as this, we need your Spirit of strength and honesty as we face the realities of this world. Help us to continue to renew our minds that we may live, with every breath we take, with you at the center of our lives.

May we have the courage to work together, to speak the truth, work for justice, and seek wholeness in this fragmented world. We need your presence with us, for with you, we can help bring forth a new creation, a just world, a loving community. Amen

02/07/2026

Day 18 of "21 Days of Prayer" is led by Rev. Tracey Anderson-Tellado, convener of the Reconciliation Committee, Christian Church in the Southwest.

She echoes powerful words from Dr. King:
"A final challenge that faces the churches is to lead men along the path of true integration, something the law cannot do. Genuine integration will come when men are obedient to the unenforceable. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick has made an impressive distinction between enforceable law and unenforceable obligations.
The former are regulated by the codes of society and the vigorous
implementation of law enforcement agencies… But unenforceable obligations are beyond the reach of the laws of society. They concern inner attitudes, expressions of compassion which law books cannot regulate and jails cannot rectify. Such
obligations are met by one's commitment to an inner law, a law written on the heart. Man-made laws assure Justice, but a higher law produces love."

A Prayer for the Unenforceable Law

God of justice and mercy,
You have always written truth not just in stone, but on the tender flesh of our hearts. You have called us to live not by what can be enforced, but by what cannot be ignored—
the law of love, the law of dignity, the law of sacred worth.

We lift before you today the brave ones—
those who stood in Minneapolis and across this country,
refusing to bow to a system that detains, deports, and destroys
those you call beloved.

They did not move because the law told them to.
They moved because love compelled them.
They stood not in compliance but in conscience.

We remember the words of Jesus:
Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees…
Forgive us, O God, when we are content with legality and not
righteousness. When we obey the letter but forsake the Spirit.
When we look away because silence is easier than solidarity.
We remember Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick’s truth:
That some laws can be enforced by power,
but others must be enforced by conscience.
By community.
By compassion.
Let your Church rise up in that Spirit.
Not the one that polices borders and builds cages, but the one that breaks chains and builds the Beloved Community.
Write your law on our hearts again, O God—
the law that says we are one,
that no human is illegal,
That justice is love lived out loud.
May our righteousness rise like protest songs.
May our compassion be braver than our fear.
And may we choose always the law of Christ over the law of cruelty.
Amen and Ase

02/04/2026

Day 17 of "21 Days of Prayer" is led by Rev. Bill Rose-Heim, a member of the Reconciliation Ministry Commission

Prayer
Blessed are you God of all that is good, true, and beautiful.

We come before you humbly and we have to. Over the past 60 years since Dr. King addressed this church, we are still deeply segregated if not by conduct or policy then by our collective failure to challenge and deconstruct the narrative of white supremacy that still shapes the stories we tell and the actions we take. We can no longer claim ignorance about the absurdity and the evil of racism. Our forebearers did not have social media or instant access to information about the historic harms done in the name of God. Nor did they have access to reports about local, national, or global crimes against humanity as we do today. Even now, there are efforts to erase from our national histories the blatant evils of racism and the unfathomable harm done to ten of millions of Black, Red, Yellow, and Brown skin people over the last 500 years in this land but we know better God.

We ask your forgiveness for our failures to exercise the capacities we have for leadership, to dismantle racism, and to cleanse the church from this sin. We pray that you will give us the wisdom, the compassion, and the courage to do what you call us to do: to make justice happen, to love faithfully, and to walk humbly in the same direction in which you are moving. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.

02/03/2026

Day 16 of 21 Days of Prayer is led by Rev. Alexis Vaughan, Managing Director of Domestic Operations, Week of Compassion.

She reflects: “King offers some powerful words on Love for us to reflect on as Immigration and Customs Enforcement attempt to tear apart our communities in the name of fear, mistrust, and hate.

King says:
“The church is also challenged to instill within its worshippers the
spirit of love, penitence and forgiveness as we move through this period of transition.

In speaking of love at this point, I am not referring to some affectionate emotion.

It would be nonsense to urge men to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense. Love is not emotional bosh. It is not spineless sentimentality which refuses to take courageous action against evil for fear someone might be offended. Love is treating fellow men as persons, understanding them with all their good and bad qualities, treating them with all their good and bad qualities, and treating them as potential saints. It is a willingness to go the second mile and to forgive seventy times seven, in order to restore the broken community. It is facing evil with an infinite capacity to take it without flinching.”

On the night Alex Pretti was killed in Minneapolis, I texted a friend there to check on her and her family. Here is what she wrote to me:
“We are such good people. The world needs to see this. No violence tonight. All candlelight vigils. Every block in the city. In the face of so much violence, we are constantly choosing love.”

Facing evil with an infinite capacity to keep showing up without giving in to the temptation to respond with the same violence and evil is proving to be just as hard in 1966 as it is now in 2026.

It is Holy work to choose Love time and time again.
It takes patience, persistence, and prayer. But it is our work.

So let us pray:

Holy God,
Author of Justice,
The One who hears the prayers of the Oppressed,
Protect those who protest and resist this terror we have unleashed upon our own communities.
Hold accountable those entrusted with power, and transform that power from domination into service.
Make us instruments of your justice and partners in your liberation.
May our courage be stronger than our fear.
May the love within our communities continue to inspire us, and
May your peace surround us all. Now and forever. Amen.

02/02/2026

Day 15 of 21 Days of Prayer is led by Rev. Jessica Braxton, Co-Chair, Anti-racism/Pro-Reconciliation team, Arizona Region, and Pastor, Saguaro Christian Church, Tucson, Arizona.

Prayer
God of action, God of healing, God of presence, we find ourselves in another period of time, another moment that rings of history being repeated. We hear words from activists and powerful leaders of justice from years ago and we are convinced that they could’ve been penned in the world we live in today.

Holy one, help us to cry out not only to you but straight into the face of injustice, powerfully into the abyss of oppression, pulling out our siblings from under the heavy feet of evil, of profiling, of killing. Empower us, God, to be the church of this moment, for it is for this very moment that we have been created, for this very moment to hate what is evil and to love what is good, to speak truth, and to move our bodies in prayer and in action.

We call upon you in this moment to empower us to live as siblings, to love as siblings, that justice may roll down like water flooding out the ink like stains of right now, so we may find ourselves in a world more akin to the one that you dreamed for us. Amen.

02/02/2026

Day 14 of 21 Days of Prayer is led by Rev. Al Walker, Community Regional Minister for Reconciliation & Anti-Racism, Christian Church in the Southwest

Prayer

Dear God, thank you for this time. Hear us, O God, as we experience from day to day the fracturing of a nation, where lives and communities are being fractured. We ask that you help us as a community of faith, as your church, to really stand up now and be counted as willing to stand up and help lead our churches, our families, and communities to the place of oneness, and our nation, divided as it has been and is, to the place of oneness, where there is authentic community, the beloved community. Only we, O God, who believe in the power of love and reconciliation can facilitate that.

Thank you for trusting us. Give us now your spirit, your power, your love, and your determination that we will go on anyhow and see what this end will be. We ask this in the name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen, amen, and amen.