Local faith leaders discuss racial reconciliation and healing
As Campus Outreach Coordinator, Sister Sarah Crotty is always seeking to form and strengthen relationships with our dear neighbors in the wider Beaver County community. Earlier this summer, she joined an interdenominational panel of church leaders who gathered at the Community College of Beaver County for a courageous conversation on “Pursuing Unity in the Church.”
Hosted by the Inclusion, Diversity, and Awareness Council and Beaver County Community and Law Enforcement Coalition, the conversation drew about 50 people from across the county who share a desire to identify and break down barriers to racial unity within our faith communities and promote togetherness.
Together, panelists, which included Rev. Dr. Bryan Crawl, Pastor of Second Baptist Church in Rochester, Rev. Nahun Martinez, Pastor of Hispanic Christian Community Church in Beaver Falls, and Marc de Jeu, D.Min., Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Beaver, talked through questions like “can there be unity in the church without diversity in the pew?” and shared how each is working to bring about racial reconciliation and healing within their congregations.
In her closing remarks, Sister Sarah encouraged those gathered to realize “that no denomination is more correct than another,” and to continue the work of lamenting, acknowledging – and most importantly – “making amends” for injustices carried out through both individual and systemic actions. “Community,” she added, “is not all of us standing in a circle looking in at each other. It’s all of us, standing together, reaching out.”