We psalm singers frequently remember that “the nations’ families all will come, to worship and before Him fall” (Psalm 22E, The Book of Psalms for Worship). We know that in heaven there will be “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9).

Reformed Presbyterians along with some other Christians recognize that Christ’s kingdom has begun, and so we expect nations, peoples, and individuals to act in that light.

Our denomination has always asserted that the U.S. founding documents, valuable though they are, were built on the shifting sand of “we the people” rather than Jesus the King. We have stood against the idea that the “self evident” and “inalienable rights” should exclude anyone (including an entire race) or would allow anyone to be treated as less than fully human. Reformed Presbyterians for generations stood against slavery at great cost, writing about it long before it was a popular cause, excommunicating those who refused to free their slaves, and in wartime fighting with the North for the abolitionist cause.

Afterward we looked at places like Selma, Ala., and found barriers to justice in education and healthcare; so we created a school and hospital that were the envy of those who went to public institutions. Similarly, missions to Jewish people and to Native Americans were formed to meet tangible needs of those people in certain areas and to reach them with the gospel.

Though a denomination small in size, we have reached many corners of the world through our mission programs. Recently we recognized that the needs for resources for Reformed believers in Mexico and Central and South America were not being met, and we began work to equip those believers. Also we have heard the call in Central Asia, and some people have responded with, “Here am I; send me.”

This fervor to hold tenaciously to biblical truth while going to great lengths to put faith into action is emphasized in the Covenant of 1871. As Tom Fisher notes in his article, Reformed Presbyterians committed in that covenant to doing what they could to end injustice toward black people and Native Americans. Along with that they pledged, “Believing the Church to be one, and that all the saints have communion with God and with one another in the same Covenant; believing, moreover, that schism and sectarianism are sinful in themselves; and inimical to true religion, and trusting that divisions shall cease, and the people of God become one Catholic church over all the earth, we will pray and labor for the visible oneness of the Church of God in our own land and throughout the world, on the basis of truth and of Scriptural order. Considering it a principal duty of our profession to cultivate a holy brotherhood, we will strive to maintain Christian friendship with pious men of every name, and to feel and act as one with all in every land who pursue this grand end. And, as a means of securing this great result, we will by dissemination and application of the principles of truth herein professed, and by cultivating and exercising Christian charity, labor to remove stumbling-blocks, and to gather into one the scattered and divided friends of truth and righteousness.”

As was stated by a committee of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, “A Christian culture is based not only on the continuation of an older culture but must always be based on the gospel itself. The heritage we received from our parents will die if separated from fresh obedience to the gospel. Preserving an older Christian culture at the expense of full obedience to the gospel is the best way to kill the very heritage one is seeking to preserve” (Committee on Problems of Race, 1974).

There is no shortage of convictions about how to solve the racial tension in our nations. As RPs we have rich wisdom to offer in the Scriptures. But we can offer something alongside that. The great and unmet need of our day is churches that adhere to scriptural truth and that look like the heavenly church, with the families of the earth enfolded. The great and unmet need of our day is Christian communities where divisions due to race, culture, and class are resolved at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. The great and unmet need of our day is places where words and walk come together as an example of Christian unity, an example to other believers and to the lost world. Are we not well equipped to meet this need?