和解的呼吁

New Center at SPU Draws Inspiration From the Life and Legacy of John Perkins

“去和你哥哥和好吧.”It is a strong, simply worded exhortation that comes from Christ in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus tells the crowds that it is wrong to present gifts to God while harboring hateful grudges toward the people who live next door. In 的消息, the translation of this passage is equally pointed: “Go to this friend and make things right.”

约翰·珀金斯是 the President’s Symposium on Reconciliation, held October 20. 这一天也标志着 official opening of the John Perkins Center for Reconciliation, 领导力培训, 和社区发展.

和好. 把事情做对. 今天, the same words come from the mouth of John Perkins, a man whom 网易彩票下载 President Philip Eaton calls “one of the important evangelical voices to come out of the civil rights movement.” Internationally known for his civil rights leadership and decades of groundbreaking work in Christian community development, Perkins is the author of nine books, including the autobiography 让正义滚下来 (君威的书). It is the story of his own reconciliation with God and neighbors, even the white 密西西比州 neighbors who beat and nearly killed him out of racial hatred only five years before the book was published in 1976.

快进近30年. 10月20日, 2004, Perkins visited SPU for the President’s Symposium on Reconciliation and the opening of the John Perkins Center for Reconciliation, 领导力培训, 及社区发展. 中心 is a first-of-its-kind partnership and what Perkins describes as “the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.“西雅图的中心 太平洋多样性倡议, it will coordinate the University’s work to become a place of reconciliation and embrace.

在研讨会上的发言, 戈登•墨菲, executive director of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA), characterized Perkins as a “national treasure” who has devoted his life to serving the poor. Bill的Tom Vander Ark & Melinda Gates Foundation recounted how Perkins, a longtime 家族的朋友, modeled compassion for the disenfranchised: “John taught us that to make a difference you need both anger and hope — anger that things are not right, 希望这些错误能得到纠正.“还有珀金斯最小的女儿, 伊丽莎白, told the audience that Seattle Pacific is now a partner in her father’s dream of racial reconciliation.

Following the Symposium and opening ceremony for the Perkins Center, SPU students, faculty, staff, and visitors participated in the Day of Common Learning, further exploring the topic of reconciliation in 16 seminars as varied as “The Challenge of Reconciling Leadership,“越南的教训。,” “Cultural Reconciliation at the Movies,” and “John Newton: Amazing Grace in the Pulpit.” The day closed with Perkins addressing a standing-room-only crowd from the pulpit of nearby First 自由卫理公会.

To John Perkins, reconciliation is “the centerpiece of the 福音.” He lets his listeners know that he was born to talk 网易彩票app主题. “It’s the all-inclusive message of the 福音,” 他热情地说. “But what’s happened to us is that we’ve made it secondary. We’ve so neglected it and played the race card wrong until reconciliation has become almost alien to us. Now we think all we’ve got to do is tack it on to the 福音, like it’s not so important.”

Reconciliation is so important to Perkins that it has permeated 他一生的工作. It fuels his ceaseless efforts to break down racial, 文化, and economic barriers so that opportunity is available to “all God’s people.这影响了他的创立 Mendenhall Ministries in Mendenhall, 密西西比州; the Harambee Christian Family Center in Pasadena, California; the CCDA in Chicago, Illinois; the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development in Jackson, 密西西比州; and Voice of Calvary Ministries in Jackson. And it is the subject of many of his books, including He’s My Brother: Former Racial Foes Offer Strategy for Reconciliation (精选图书，1994) 恢复希望 (Regal 书, 1995) 疗伤的时间 (贝克图书，1997).

Unfortunately, says Perkins, separatism still exists, even among Christians. “We’re seeking comfort within our ethnic groups,” he explains. “Sure, we get along with others, but we ought to really get to know them. 上帝通过爱进入网易彩票app的内心. Now we need to love those people out there. That’s why the Perkins Center at SPU is so exciting. 它会 成为一座桥梁.”

今天, 珀金斯和他结婚53年的妻子, 维拉·梅。, 住在杰克逊, 密西西比州, where they are working at one of their newest ventures: the Spencer Perkins Center for Reconciliation and Youth Development. “We’re sitting on eight acres of land with activities for young people like basketball, 棒球, 圣经, 领导力培训, 工作小组,他说. “We’re committed to raising a generation of young people all over the country who have a sense of justice and reconciliation.”

Amazingly, all of this is happening just a few miles from the jail where Perkins was beaten severely more than 30 years ago. 一些 折磨他的人还住在附近. “当时躺在医院的病床上, I thought I would die unless I could forgive those who had hurt me,他说. “我试图掩盖我的仇恨， 但每次我打开圣经, my eyes fell on that place that says unless you forgive others, 上帝不会原谅你的.”

For Perkins, the call to reconciliation is just as real today as it was then. “As Christians, we are commanded to love all people, he says. “在我的生活中，就是这样 was no question about it — I knew I had to be a reconciler.”

——玛格丽特·d. 史密斯
- - - - - -照片 格雷格·施耐德

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