'What is the future of repair?'
The final episode of 'Zero to One: A Congregation’s Journey to Repair' explores how one church’s commitment to reparations is inspiring a broader movement for justice in the PC(USA)
“You make an offering, and you hope that it in some way makes some level of amends for what happened,” Bob Heise, ruling elder at Oak Grove Presbyterian Church, told his son when he asked Heise how does one compensate somebody “for stealing what they have, including their history and ancestry?” Heise’s reflection opened the fifth and final episode of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s video series, “Zero to One: A Congregation’s Journey to Repair.”
The final episode, “What is the Future of Repair?” featured members of Oak Grove in Bloomington, Minnesota, as they reflected on listening to the next generation, many of whom have left not just the congregation but organized religion. In this and previous episodes, church members reckoned with the historic harms and systemic injustices in and from which denominations like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have participated and benefited.
“I believe in churches,” says Ruling Elder Jim Koon. “My theology might be squishy, but I believe in churches. But my adult kids don’t.”
The “Zero to One” series, which began with a car ride conversation between Koon and the Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam, has traced Oak Grove’s evolution from initial reflection to courageous action. “I could see that my adult kids saw me as you saw me, as someone with the establishment, seeing only what I want to see, not seeing what I don’t want to see,” Koon tells Ross-Allam, director of the Center for the Repair of Historic Harms.
“I just had a need that still exists in me to do what I can,” said Koon. He expressed a hope grounded in both personal conviction and a belief in the church’s potential to lead systemic change. “Do I believe our efforts are going to lead to reparation on a scale that’s going to make a difference? That’s hard to believe,” he said, “but I do believe that movements start locally.”
Ruling Elder Mark Pridgeon emphasized the power of local action in building momentum for justice: “I think we can move the process along with these local actions, even if we’re not seeing anything done at the national political level.”
Oak Grove Presbyterian Church committed to a future shaped by reparations, justice and faith beginning with the decision to establish two investment trusts — one for Indigenous communities and one for Afro-American communities.
Inspired by Acts 4:32–35, the final episode frames the reflections of Oak Grove’s members in the context of the early church’s radical sharing of resources and invites today’s congregations to consider what it means to surrender wealth for beloved community.
“It’s the everyday miracles of someone having courage to stand up and protect another person … to say, ‘Yes, we should surrender this wealth,’ said Milissa Carter, a ruling elder and member of Oak Grove’s Anti-Racism Advocacy Team. “That is God’s will being done. That is God working in our everyday lives.”
Ruling Elder Elona Street-Stewart, Co-Moderator of the 224th General Assembly and a voice for Indigenous justice, consults with congregations like Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in her work as executive for the Synod of Lakes and Prairies and as a team member for Restorative Actions, an “economic equity initiative born from the intersection of theology, justice, and economics.” Street-Stewart said justice is always possible, but it has to be reciprocal. “We cannot talk about justice as a fix-it. We have to talk about justice as what people value together to restore, regenerate and rebuild.”
Street-Stewart sees reparations as the work of recognizing the sacrifices of others who have come before and of creating a greater balance. “As an Indigenous person, I know that this land that I am on holds those stories and has that future hope already contained within it,” she said.
This final episode is not a conclusion, but a commissioning inviting other congregations to ask: What comes next for us? How will we respond to the call to repair?
Explore the full video series here.
Read other articles in the series or share them with your session or Christian education classes. The article introducing the series is here. The article on the second video in the series is here, while articles on the third and fourth installments are here and here.
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