Matthew 25 Bible Study - The Gospel and Inclusivity

This study focuses on the fundamental connection between the vitality of our congregations and the work of dismantling racism. This Bible Study can be done alone but could have greater impact when done in a group.

The Matthew 25 Vision calls the Presbyterian Church (USA) to engage our world, so our faith comes alive and we are awakened to new possibilities. The 222nd and 223rd General Assemblies (2016 and 2018) exhorted the PC(USA) to act boldly and confront systems and principalities that oppress and prey on the vulnerable: the hungry, oppressed, imprisoned or poor.

We live into the Matthew 25 vision by engaging together in the three works of vitalizing our congregations, dismantling structural racism and eradicating poverty.

These three works, of course, are inseparable. This study focuses on the fundamental connection between the vitality of our congregations and the work of dismantling racism. A congregation cannot be vital without confronting racism; for what is at stake —when racism directs our congregational and community life — is our faithfulness to the gospel.

I (Samuel Son) start this study by sharing my journey of this discovery — that the gospel is about how we do church life that is inclusive. Then I will invite you to study some of the scriptures that made the scales of discrimination begin to fall off my eyes.