The presidential election does not change the church’s assignment. David Bailey, the executive director of Arrabon, talks with Amy Julia about the practices of reconciling communities, the divisions that result from misplaced hope in political power, and the foretaste of God’s kingdom that comes through loving our enemies.
SHOW NOTES:
David Bailey is the executive director of Arrabon, a ministry that helps churches become reconciling communities. Arrabon also includes Urban Doxology, which is a ministry that writes the soundtrack of reconciliation in the racially diverse and gentrifying neighborhood of Church Hill, Richmond, VA. Connect online:
- Websites: arrabon.com; urbandoxology.com
- Instagram: @davidmbailey; @wearearrabon; @urbandoxology
- Facebook: @thedavidmbailey; @wearearrabon; @urbandoxology
- Twitter: @davidmbailey; @wearearrabon; @UrbanDoxology
On the Podcast:
“[In Acts] the church was birthed within a multiethnic, socioeconomically diverse space. The miracle of that day and time was the fact that they were experiencing unity and diversity instead of unity through assimilation.”
“We live in a day and time where we treat one another as enemies…We talk to each other violently. We listen to each other in ways to pounce on one another. And as Christians, we’re called to love God. We’re called to love our neighbor. We’re called to love our enemy. Not in a theoretical sense. Our invitation is to engage in sacrificial love for our enemy.”
“A reconciling community is a group of people linked by a common purpose and a rhythm of life together that acknowledges the depths of brokenness in the world in our world and actively receives the invitation from God to heal the brokenness of our world holistically from the inside out.”
“The world gets the church, and we are to be a foretaste of the kingdom that is to come.”
- Sign up for Arrabon’s newsletter
- Podcast’s 1st episode with David Bailey
- Urban Doxology: Rest for the Weary
- Scripture: Acts 2; Genesis 1:26; Micah 6:8; Ephesians 1:13-14
- Books by Robert P. Jones: The End of White Christian America and White Too Long
- Books by Carl Ellis Jr: Free at Last?: The Gospel in the African-American Experience and Going Global
- Frederick Douglass
Thank you to Breaking Ground, the co-host for this podcast.
White Picket Fences, Season 3 of Love is Stronger Than Fear, is based on my book White Picket Fences, and today we are talking about chapter 13. Check out free RESOURCES—action guide, discussion guides—that are designed to help you respond. Learn more about my writing and speaking at amyjuliabecker.com.
To learn more with Amy Julia in thinking about politics, power, and loving our enemies, here are some additional podcast episodes and reflections:
- Love is Stronger Than Fear | Season 3—White Picket Fences
- S3 E18 | American Politics, Power, and Human Flourishing with Andy Crouch
- Election Aftermath
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