August 2020 — pg. 19
“If I’m made in the image of God, it means I am
fundamentally made for community, for relationship,
and what defines that relationship is love.”
— Bishop Keith Cowart
“The church has been called to change the nation,” said
Fraser Venter, a superintendent of the Free Methodist
Church in Southern California and the lead pastor of
Cucamonga Christian Fellowship, who quoted Harriet
Tubman’s statement that “I couldn’t justify being free while
others were enslaved.” He added, “The church should be in
a position — and with the anointing and authority — to
step into the culture and say, ‘I can’t justify being free in
Christ while others are being enslaved.’”
Marshall, the African Heritage Network director, also
discussed U.S. history. He said political parties gather
around division and fear, but God’s people are “called to be
a city set on a hill, and a people who are salt, and if the salt
loses its flavor, what good is it?”
The Image of God
Marshall said a misconception is that Christian theology
originated with White people, but early church leaders
Athanasius and Augustine hailed from Africa. “They
contributed mightily to shape the theology that we have
in every Christian seminary,” he said. “It’s really important
to know that these people came from all over the world
because the story of God is that He made us in His own
image and in His own language.” He asked the panel,
“Can you explain to our audience how important is the
theological construct of the image and likeness of God?”
Venter said the correct kind of discipleship is vital
because racism also “is discipled. Racism is actually the
antithesis of the imago Dei; isn’t it? It is the counterfeit of
what God has called us to be from the very beginning of
creation.”
Cleveland-Traylor said that centuries of slavery and
racism have drilled concepts into our minds that can’t
instantly be turned off. “I really feel that those years of
slavery where Black and Brown people were always less
than, it didn’t matter when you changed their condition in
society so that they were no longer slaves. They remained
‘less than’ in minds of everyone around.”
Michael Traylor said “we have to recognize that in issues
of racism, there is always a theological underpinning” and
to understand “the idea that we’re created in the image of
God, and we honor God by honoring one another and
seeing that dignity in one another.” He said the image of
God is “a core principle in our creation narratives and in
our salvation narratives even, but it’s fascinating to me that
when you think about it ... racism is really the distortion
or the denial or the dehumanization of the image of God.”
Latchison said the tone for discipleship may be set by
people who “have a mindset or a value set that there’s a
certain kind of people who cannot be converted or that
image cannot fully appear in a certain kind of people.”
He said he’s asking himself and others, “What is this
season challenging in you? Do I need to look at again
what I understand about the image of God and the whole
kingdom concept of that being restored in every person?”
Whitehead said that we sometimes project our stories
and journeys onto others without listening to their
experiences, but if we believe that humans are created
in the image of God, “it means that we will listen to one
another who have perspectives that are different than ours.”
Adams noted that Genesis 1:27 states that both “male
and female” are created in God’s image, and she cited
Free Methodist founder B.T. Roberts’ emphasis of “one-bloodism”
based on Galatians 3:28. She said, “That is life
together, corporate oneness that benefits from the variety
that’s there of the different races and the genders.”
Cowart connected being made in God’s image to the
theology of the Trinity. “If God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
that means God’s nature is relational. It’s community,”
he said. “If I’m made in the image of God, it means I am
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