S.C.U.A.D. | The Social, Cultural, Unity, and Diversity Committee

To build unity, understanding and love within the South Lake Church of Christ. To take what we learn and share it with our local community as well as our Nation at large. 

We will endeavor to encourage our brothers and sisters as disciples of Jesus Christ to acknowledge, accept and celebrate our cultural, ethnic and racial differences.  For far too long we have denied that these differences exist. While we are all united as Christians under the cross of Christ, it does not mean that we cannot rejoice in the uniqueness that our creator has blessed us all to have. Coming from different backgrounds means that we all bring special gifts and talents to the Kingdom. Let’s begin to encourage and promote that diversity. Whether it’s
linguistics, cultural or artistic we need to embrace the varied backgrounds of others.

The SCUAD seeks to begin the conversation in answering the questions that have faced our Churches as well as our Nation. One of our former Attorney Generals has noted “When it comes to discussions on race our people are cowards.”* We seek to break that trend. One of the key questions we will address is; “How do we express the love of Christ to our brothers and sisters who are ignorant and insensitive to the racial discrimination that people of African descent have suffered.” We have to admit that it’s a challenge. The answer lies in the example
of Jesus and our Guiding Scripture; with humility, prayer, patience, perseverance and of course love.

While there are many other painful issues that face our Nation as well as the rest of the world, such as the plight of indigenous peoples and undocumented immigrants, we will tackle the curse of racial discrimination and systematic disenfranchisement first. In doing so we hope to gain the tools necessary to deal with other issues that affect our society.

We will meet as a committee a minimum of once a month. With the approval of our evangelist we seek to have a Town Hall meeting with the entire congregation at least once each quarter. Again, one of our primary goals is to begin the conversation on building racial unity and understanding. Let’s contemplate as we proceed the future that we want our children to inherent. One where they are free of discrimination, segregation and racism. We don’t want the next generation to be excluded from opportunities because of the color of their skin. It is worth
the effort and the sacrifices we are making now to secure a brighter future for our children. As hard and painful as it is we need to confront the brutality, rape and wholesale slaughters of the past propagated by the slave trade and perpetuated by the belief that one person is better than another because of the color of their skin.

We know that the task before us is formidable. Our enemy, the evil one, seeks to divide and conquer; but the love of Jesus unites us. From generation to generation and from one administration after another these issues have been swept under the rug, rarely confronted or kicked down the road for someone else to handle. The time has come for us as the people of God to have the courage to boldly confront these issues and begin the conversation. By the power and love of Jesus Christ we will have the victory. His sacrifice on the cross makes us more
than conquerors.

Respectfully submitted,

The SCUAD Committee