A Message From Northpoint|GR
Students, Faculty, Alumni, Staff, and Friends of Northpoint,
We are experiencing heartbreaking times.
Through the senseless deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, black Americans have once again been forced to bear a disproportionate share of human grief because of their skin color. Other people of color in America are also participating in their suffering and anxiety in a unique way. And a growing number of white Americans have, at last, realized the critical nature of this painful and ongoing season of tension in our Country.
Together, we sorrow for the families of the victims. Together, we lament the slackness of pace in seeing real, lasting change. Together, we cry out to Jehovah Rapha, the God who Heals. Together, we pray He would bring wholeness to the countless others who have been chronically rejected, marginalized, injured, overlooked, and in other ways not celebrated fully as worthy and welcomed members of God’s family, based on the color of their skin. Together, we ask the Spirit of God to search our hearts, to try us, and see what wicked ways are in each of us. We say both to the disenfranchised and to God, “We are listening.”
As an institution, the Grand Rapids Campus of Northpoint Bible College is reaffirming its commitment to embody a racially prophetic, witnessing community to the world. It is our divine mandate.
In the beginning, God called Adam and Eve blessed. All the people who would fill the earth through them share in that blessing. It is our call then, as the Church of God, to work for the blessing of all the children of Adam and Eve. This includes every person, every tribe, and every nation. And we do this not “regardless” of a person’s skin color or ethnicity. We do it as a celebration of each other’s unique beauty and God-likeness.
At Northpoint, we will continue to listen, to learn, to amend, and to repent until we love, educate, and equip all God’s people with the appropriate care. We recognize the need for continued growth and for an ongoing resolve in this respect. We will continue to take strategic, intentional, meaningful steps forward.
Please allow me to be as clear as possible: Racism, whether of the kind explicitly expressed through violence, symbols, and epithets, enculturated through bias and ignorance, made light of through ridicule or jest, or perpetuated through systems and structures of power, has absolutely no place in the Church, the people of God, or the Grand Rapids Campus of Northpoint Bible College. When it appears, we will address it with honesty and transparency and respond with true and immediate repentance.
To our students, faculty, and staff who are persons of color, I want you to know that I take personal responsibility for the forward movement of this Institution in these matters. If you have been harmed, if we need change, if you have concerns or ideas, I want to hear from you. I know it is a risk to speak, but I am asking you to do it if you can. I promise that you will be heard and you will be taken seriously.
When we look back at this critical moment, I hope it can be said of us all that our ears were open to hear the truth, our hearts were open to learning new ways to love, and our mouths were open to speak unhesitatingly of the love of God in Christ for all people.
Yours in the Gospel of Jesus,
J. P. Dorsey Campus President | Grand Rapids Campus of Northpoint Bible College
