The PC(USA)’s Racial Equity Advocacy Committee outlines four items of business for General Assembly consideration

LOUISVILLE — REAC, the Racial Equity Advocacy Committee, took its turn Tuesday during a series of informational sessions on significant business coming before commissioners and advisory delegates to the 227^th General Assembly.

The Rev. Noha Khoury-Bailey, REAC chair, and Ruling Elder Shani McElwain, a REAC member who represents the National Black Presbyterian Caucus, were among those who spoke during an hour-long webinar attended by more than 45 people. Members of REAC serve alongside the Advocacy Committee on Women and Gender Justice and the Advocacy Committee for LGBTQIA+ Equity.

REAC’s is “a prophetic voice that serves to hold the PC(USA) to the commitments it has made to inclusiveness with equity in all areas in the life and work of the church in society,” according to its website. The committee monitors “the implementation of policies adopted by the church that impact the quality of life of racial ethnic people in the church and the world.”

REAC includes representatives from the National Asian Presbyterian Council, the National Black Presbyterian Caucus, the National Hispanic/Latino Presbyterian Caucus, the National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus and the Native American Consulting Committee.

Khoury-Bailey and McElwain highlighted four items that will be discussed and voted upon during online committee sessions next week followed by plenary sessions in Milwaukee:

• RAC-01 is on formation of a Special Committee on African American Ecclesial Repair. REAC recommends the Special Committee study historic and ongoing harms experienced by African American Presbyterians; collaborate with and receive theological consultation from the Center for the Repair of Historic Harms; and gather, coordinate and recommend methods for repairing historic harms, among other tasks. The Special Committee is to report its findings and recommendations to the 228^th General Assembly (2028).
• RAC-02 is a resolution to review implementation of the Black Women and Girls Task Force report from 2022. The resolution requires written reports from various agencies and entities detailing how they’ve implemented the 2022 report. The resolution requires each entity to “identify the governing body, executive leadership and staff offices responsible for oversight of the directive.”
• RAC-03 is REAC’s resolution, in collaboration with several partners, on Liberia Project 180. It directs Presbyterian Life & Witness, in collaboration with Princeton Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian Church of Liberia, to “undertake an exploratory study toward establishing a permanent transatlantic Reformed partnership for mutual theological learning and repair” including “identifying practical forms of sustained dialogue that support healing and renewed communion.” It also calls for developing “a culturally, theologically and historically appropriate acknowledgment of and apology for the legacy of Presbyterian involvement in and support of the American Colonization Society, to the extent that this legacy contributed to patterns of hierarchy, exclusion and coercion whose long-term consequences were borne by the Liberian people,” including in the civil wars of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries.
• RIW-09 is on advocacy for religious minorities in Syria. It commends past General Assembly actions, including this one by the 223^rd General Assembly (2018). It directs the Stated Clerk/Executive Director and PL&W to “continue to advocate boldly for Syrian Christians and all minorities in Syria who face persecution” and encourages the GA and “the whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to lift in prayer our siblings in Syria, and all those around the world who suffer persecution for their faith.”

Khoury-Bailey noted that Syria “hasn’t been in the news lately, but we’re still very much aware of disparities taking place there and nearby.”

Learn more about and register for upcoming 227^th General Assembly informational sessions here.