(S3:E3) Embracing GRACE relations in the body of Christ
Manage episode 334268847 series 2083782
Show Notes:
Jesus follower, wife, mother, military veteran, USAFA ’97 graduate, counselor, nutritional healing-foods lover, author. These phrases all describe today’s guest, Aurelia Smith. Aurelia served as an active-duty Air Force officer both in the United States and abroad and separated from the military in 2002 as a Captain, and she’s been involved with OCF in many capacities since her cadet years.
GRACE: God’s Reconciliation At Christ’s Expense.
To say race relations is a complex issue is an understatement, and every facet of this topic cannot be covered in this one episode. Aurelia and I simply sat down to start the conversation, talk through Aurelia’s experiences in the military community, and her passion for helping other believers answer the question: How do I minister to the person in front of me who’s hurting from an ethnic or cultural incident?
Aurelia and I are both members of OCF’s R7:9 Project (Revelation 7:9) committee, which examines the critical subject of race relations and explores how believers should engage in this topic in a biblical manner.
Throughout this episode, Aurelia mentions a few books and resources linked below:
- One Race One Blood: The Biblical Answer to Racism by Ken Ham and Charles Ware
- Weep with Me: How Lament Opens a Door for Racial Reconciliation by Mark Vroegop
- Ministering to Military Women: Biblical Help & Hope by Aurelia Smith
- Truth in Love podcast, episode 358
- Truth in Love podcast, episode 369
- Programs at Spring Canyon
- Programs at White Sulphur Springs
- Caleb Challenge Career Transitions Strategies
If you have an idea for a guest, topic, or story that I should consider for a future episode of the show, send an email to podcast@ocfusa.org or visit OCF’s new “Be a Guest” webpage.
As you listen to this conversation with Aurelia, here are a few questions to ponder in your personal time, with a small group, or with a mentor:
- What does it look like to engage with race relations in a biblical manner as Christ followers?
- How should the passages Aurelia read from John chapters 13 and 17 shape our understanding of the love and unity to which we’re called?
- How can you align your heart with God’s heart for the nations expressed in Revelation 7:9?
- In what ways does your local church engage with today’s topic?
- How would you respond to the first situation Aurelia described in which an interracial couple faces backlash within the church body?
- What Scripture would you share with Adam in the second scenario?
- What counsel would you give Tanya in the third scenario?
- How can OCF as a ministry to the military community continue to engage with the topic of GRACE relations? Contact R7:9 Project Coordinator Larry Simpson to continue the conversation: pacificnorthwest@ocfusa.org.
100 episodes