A Letter to Christian Reformed and Reformed Communities

Dear Pastors and Leaders in the Christian Reformed and Reformed Communities,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Elder Robert Bennett — an elder at Roseland Reformed Church and a board member of Roseland Christian Ministries — was born in 1945 and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama. He was ten years old during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He remembers his mother, Rose, walking miles each day to the homes where she cleaned — homes belonging to people who supported segregation, yet whose houses she cleaned because it was the work available to her. He remembers sitting at night and rubbing her feet because she was so tired from walking.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott sought to end segregation in public transportation.

Beneath this goal was a deeper longing for equality. This history is not distant or abstract. It lives close to us. It is the story of your African American brothers and sisters within our Reformed and Christian Reformed communities.

We write as African American religious leaders and allies, compelled by conscience and faith to address a matter that touches the heart of our shared Christian witness. Our Reformed tradition teaches that every human being is created in the imago Dei and therefore worthy of honor and respect. In a time when public discourse continues to reveal deep wounds around race and dignity, the Church must not be silent. We are witnessing what appears to be an intentional diminishing — and in some cases erasing — of Black history in our national story.

In recent months, federal leadership has threatened funding for institutions such as the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and has directed reviews of how slavery and the civil rights movement are presented. On January 23, 2026, an exhibit at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia that named nine individuals enslaved by George and Martha Washington was ordered removed. Those individuals — Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Hercules Posey, Joe, Moll, Oney Judge, Paris, and Richmond — were human beings whose names deserve to be remembered. We do not learn from history by covering it up. We learn by telling the truth.

We are especially troubled by statements from the President of the United States and individuals he has given a platform to suggesting that the civil rights movement produced significant harm diminishing the leadership and moral witness of African American churches. The civil rights movement was deeply rooted in the Black church and in the conviction of human dignity. To characterize it primarily in terms of harm risks distorting its meaning and minimizing the courage and sacrifice that expanded freedom in this nation.

This troubling pattern extends to how we remember those who served our country. Medgar Evers — a World War II veteran and civil rights leader buried at Arlington National Cemetery — was removed from a prominently featured section honoring African American veterans on the cemetery’s website. At the National Park Service site honoring Evers, materials that described his assassin using the phrase “a member of the racist and segregationist White Citizens’ Council” were slated to be softened or removed. These facts matter because they tell the truth about the forces opposed to civil rights and the cost borne by those who stood for dignity.

Imagery and rhetoric that dehumanize any people — especially portrayals that echo the historic humiliation of African-descended communities — contradict the Gospel we preach. Such portrayals are theological failures that deny the fullness of God’s creative work. We are therefore troubled by racist imagery circulated through the sitting President of the United States that draws from a long history of dehumanization.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we must ask what it means to proclaim fellowship in the body of Christ if we remain silent when dignity and truth are diminished. This is not a partisan concern. It is a church concern. To be Reformed is to be committed to truth, repentance, and renewal. We call upon pastors and leaders in our fellowships to speak clearly against racial dehumanization and to teach a theology of human dignity that shapes our congregations.

Let our pulpits proclaim the equality of all God’s children. Let our churches become places of repentance, healing, and active reconciliation. May we stand together in solidarity with those whose dignity has been denied and work toward a Church and a world that more fully reflect the kingdom of God.

In Christ’s service,

Rev. Gary Foster — Pullman Church
Rev. Emmett Harrison — Eastside Christian Reformed Church
Pastor Joe Huizenga — Roseland Reformed Church
Pastor James Jones — Oakdale Park Church
Rev. Kelsi Jones — Grace Church
Rev. Roger Nelson — Hope Church
Rev. Denise L. Posie — Discipleship in Redemptive Diversity Coach; Part-Time Professor, Calvin Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Bob Price — Former Ethnic Ministry Leader for Black and Urban Ministry Christian Reformed Church in North America 
Rev. Dr. Reginald Smith — Diversity Ministry Consultant, Thrive Christian Reformed Church in North America 
Rev. Richard Williams — Pastor Emeritus, Pullman Church
Rev. Jeff Munroe — Reformed Journal
Rev. Dr. Steve Mathonnet-VanderWell — Reformed Journal
Dr. Colin P. Watson, Sr. — Executive Director Emeritus, Christian Reformed Church in North America
Pastor Eric Crawford — Lawndale Lighthouse Christian Reformed Church

Pastor Him Wolff — Lawndale Lighthouse Christian Reformed Church

Please feel free to sign and share this letter with your congregations through bulletins and newsletters, and sign and share on social media.