The Power of Reconciliation: Dominique Gilliard on Uniting Faith and Justice 

Across our nation breaches of God's love, justice, mercy and compassion exist everywhere. We're divided into more factions than we can count, and as polarization rises we are growing further apart due to our inability to love our neighbors as ourselves. We see it in the political realm; in relationships between men and women; and in the Church, where we are divided by faith, race, class and values. 

In light of these trends, Dominique Gilliard, director of racial righteousness and reconciliation for the Evangelical Covenant Church, spoke at a Center for Faith and Inquiry (CFI) event on October 22 about repairing these breaches through the love of God as part of CFI’s theme, “Ready to Listen, Learning to Talk.” In his remarks he called on the Church to help reconcile these breaches, even if we didn’t directly cause them. 

“The Church really is called to be a prophetic witness to the world; we are supposed to be people who model something to the rest of the world about what's possible,” Gilliard said. “I believe too many of our congregations in the West are ‘either/or' churches that care desperately about evangelism and care little to nothing about justice. I believe it is only the Gospel of Jesus Christ when it is both: We are called to evangelize and to do justice.” 

Identifying the Source of the Breaches 

You don’t have to be a Christian to acknowledge that the world is broken, but Christians know that the breaches between us, God and our neighbors exist because of sin. Gilliard pointed the audience to Isaish 58:1-12, which chastises God’s people for doing as they please, quarreling and fighting with others. Instead, Scripture tells us to, “Loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.” If we do this, Scripture says, then "Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard...you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” 

“This is one of the clearest missional passages to the people of God,” Gilliard said. “When we see brokenness, we are called to the work of repair. In fact, the Bible tells us very clearly that justice isn't something God wants or likes, but something that is required of us, and not just some of us are called to it, but all of us, because when we repair we declare to the world who God is and how God loves." 

Engaging with the Truth: Examples of Inequities

Gilliard then gave an overview of some of the greatest breaches in America’s history, many of which were due to systemic discrimination in our governmental rulings. From the Chinese Exclusionary Act of 1882 to the Japanese internment camps created by Executive Order 9066 to the spectacle lynchings that were viewed by audiences of 20,000 people at a time, Gilliard explained that there is no shortage of tragic examples of inequities in our policies––and also within the American Church.  

“The most damning piece of this conversation for the body of Christ is that the spectacle lynchings most often took place on Sunday afternoons after church, and they were well attended by white Christians,” Gilliard said, referencing theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, who attested to the Christian witness at these lynchings. “Let me be clear—there's always been a remnant of white Christianity not complicit with the sins we're talking about right now, but to have an honest conversation, we have to talk about the totality.” 

Injustices are not confined to the past. Gilliard referenced the case of Brock Turner, a white man who sexually assaulted a woman, only to be given six months in jail and probation. Meanwhile, Khalif Browder, a black man, was imprisoned for three years in the Rikers Island jail for stealing a backpack—only to be found innocent of the crime years after his arrest. According to Gilliard we need to acknowledge the truth of these breaches, past and present, before we can begin to repair.  

“I believe in truth and reconciliation, but I know that there's a sequential order to that. Truth comes first, and it's the truth that makes space for reconciliation to emerge. And the truth is that in the Western Church, we have been enamored with a vision of reconciliation where truth doesn't have to come first,” he said. 

Repairing the Breaches 

There is no easy way to repair these painful breaches, but Gilliard offered up a few ideas in response to students’ questions at the end of his lecture. He suggested they do an audit of their lives: What books are they reading? Are they listening to music by people of color? Who is in their close circle? Is there diversity in food they eat? Do they have a diverse social group speaking into their lives? If not, start there. “Start where you are,” Gilliard said.  

He also recommended students at Gordon read the Bible alongside people of different backgrounds and listen to each other’s interpretations instead of being quick to correct, because it might help us see God in a unique way. If we walk in Scripture and with each other in love, Gilliard said, then the world will start to see the Church as it was meant to be and God as who he truly is. Ultimately, our hope is knowing that reconciliation is God’s work; we are called to be the ambassadors and instruments of his reconciliation. 

"We already know the end of the story; we're just invited to play a part in it,” he said, referring to Revelation 7:9. “We don't have to feel the pressure of being the Savior, because we're just the instruments. Reconciliation is the Savior Jesus’s work.”