Tom Turpin, Ruling Elder
“One of the big surprises to me has been how powerful it is to create a safe place for a deep Christ-centered discussion of the
In November of 2020, a sub-committee of the Session (the elected and ordained leadership) of Bel Air Church was formed around the issue of racial unity. Recognizing that a diversity of perspective was hindering us from truly hearing and knowing one another well, this group committed itself to wrestling, listening, and learning from one another and from a variety of members within our church family. The seven member task force was comprised of 50% of currently-seated ruling elders and 50% of the pastoral team.
This has been and will be a work in progress. There are no quick fixes or easy answers. There is only the work of a long obedience in the same direction (as Eugene Peterson would say).
To this end, we commit ourselves to the ongoing next steps of equipping our congregation, in word and deed, to love our neighbors as ourselves in ways that reflect the heart of God for all humanity as revealed in scripture.
“One of the big surprises to me has been how powerful it is to create a safe place for a deep Christ-centered discussion of the
“We must pursue life with people who are different than ourselves as we embrace Christ’s spirit in us on this journey. If we listen with
“While we talked about needing an action plan or what next steps might look like, I think the very important first step of listening well
“I learned never to underestimate what can happen when we listen to one another’s stories, enter into one another’s pain, lament our brokenness, and experience
“Serving with the Articulation Task Force is perhaps some of the most important work I’ve done as a pastor of Bel Air Church. It’s a
“My time on the Articulation Task Force is an example of what needs to take place in the larger Christian community — an intentional time
“The love of God brought us together to reach out to our brothers and sisters who have been marginalized, hurt, and ignored so we could