Now That You’ve Been Reconciled: Pray for Racial Reconciliation and Unity in the Body of Christ

I am Adrianna Anderson, and I am African American. Racial reconciliation is important to me not only because of my ethnicity but also because I am a Christian who has been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, His Son. I want to share with you why praying for racial reconciliation is central to the gospel.

We Are Reconciled through Forgiveness and the Message of Reconciliation

Reconciliation was God’s idea accomplished through the finished work of Christ on the Cross. Scripture says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth” (Acts 17:26 NIV) and, “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Rom. 5:10).

God has called us to be reconciled to Him and one another because our greatest need is forgiveness. Second Corinthians 5:18–21 says, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (emphasis added).

The ministry and message of reconciliation are the work of God, reconciling His people to Himself through the sacrifice of His Son on the Cross. When we accept that reconciliation and live a life under God’s great grace, we become ministers of reconciliation by announcing God’s good news: Jesus has provided a way for sinners to be reconciled with God!

This ministry of reconciliation should overflow into all of life. So how can we engage in the ministry of reconciliation, particularly racial reconciliation?

• Share the gospel with every man, woman, boy, and girl, no matter their ethnicity or social standing.
• Work to reconcile believers to each other where a strain or breach in the relationship exists due to differences across racial lines.
• Choose to forgive each other, to no longer show partiality or oppose one another because of racial or ethnic differences.

We Are Reconciled to Pray and Unite

Jesus’ final and longest prayer in John 17:22–23 is a petition for all believers. He prayed “that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

What is our role as the church to a watching world?

• Pray for love, healing, and reconciliation between believers.
• Pray for unity among all believers despite our racial differences.

We Are Reconciled to Be Living Examples

Christ prayed earnestly to God for His church. His ministry, message of love, prayer for unity, and charge to believers are clear: we are to be reconciled as one.

As the body of Christ, we are to be living examples of the gospel message that represent His work on the Cross through the ministry of reconciliation.

Racial unity is a lifelong mission for my husband and me. We currently lead this charge at our church, in other churches, and throughout the community.

Will you join me in praying for racial reconciliation and unity in the body of Christ?