A Public Witness from the Members of Riverfront Family Church (Hartford, CT)

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Members, please indicate your support of this letter here.

We are asking our Membership to affirm this letter of public witness, written by our Board.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere… Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963).

“The church… must not simply bandage the victims under the wheel, but jam a spoke into the wheel itself.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “The Church and the Jewish Question” (1933).

Throughout its history, the Christian Church has recognized its sin in social and political affairs and sought a more faithful future. In light of rising authoritarianism and political violence in America, the perversion of the Christian faith by Christian Nationalism, and the temptation for Christians to align themselves with worldly power, we are compelled to raise our voices as one.

We, the members of Riverfront Family Church, speak as followers of Jesus and as American Baptists. We confess that the church has often failed in public life. We also claim our own tradition of confessing and resisting when the gospel is bent to serve unjust power. In 1934, confessing Christians gathered at Barmen to declare that the church belongs to Christ alone: “Jesus Christ … is the one Word of God which we have to hear … trust and obey.” They also drew a bright line against state idolatry: “We reject the false doctrine … [that] the state … should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life.”

In 1985, South African Christians issued the Kairos Document and began with a summons we feel again today: “The time has come. The moment of truth has arrived.” They insisted that peace cannot bypass justice: “No reconciliation is possible … without justice.” These witnesses teach us to test politics by the gospel—not bend the gospel to politics.

Our biblical grounding:

• Scripture sets the plumb line.

• God announces good news to the poor and freedom to the oppressed (Luke 4:18–19).

• The Lord requires justice, mercy, and humble walking (Micah 6:8).

• Let justice roll down like waters (Amos 5:24).

• We wrestle “not against flesh and blood” but against “the powers and principalities” (Ephesians 6:12).

• We honor the image of God in every person (Genesis 1:26–27; James 3:9–10)

• We confess that in Christ we belong to one another (Galatians 3:28).

Our Baptist convictions:

As American Baptists, we cherish religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and the separation of church and state. A free church in a free state protects faith from state control and protects the public square from religious coercion. Any movement—left or right—that seeks state privilege for religion, suppresses dissent, or coerces conscience contradicts our faith and Baptist history.

We affirm human dignity as a basic right and reject prejudice in all its forms—including racism, antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, sexism, and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Our Baptist policy statements commit us to human rights and denominational inclusiveness that “devalue no person.” We apply those commitments today to defend our transgender siblings’ safety, dignity, and full participation in civic life.

The present challenge:

Our struggle is not with individuals. We resist the powers and patterns that deform public life:

• Christian nationalism that seeks to merge state power with religious identity.

• Contempt for truth through disinformation and grievance politics.

• Authoritarian tactics that excuse political violence and undermine free elections.

• Policies that target immigrants and religious or racial minorities, restrict voting, or punish critics.

• Rhetoric and beliefs that perpetuate white supremacy and racism.

• Laws and practices that erase or endanger LGBTQ+ neighbors—especially transgender people— through discrimination, denial of healthcare, and public harassment.

Our commitments

Because Jesus is Lord—and because love is the measure of public faith—we commit to:

• Tell the truth. We reject conspiracy and dehumanizing speech; we practice truth-telling that builds trust. (Ephesians 4:25)

• Protect conscience and religious liberty for all. We oppose any fusion of church and state and any state use of religion to harm minorities.

• Defend democracy (“people-power”). We reject political violence and support the peaceful transfer of power, free and fair elections, and equal access to the vote. (Romans 13 read with Acts 5:29)

• Pursue racial justice. We dismantle white supremacist racist systems that perpetuate inequality in law, economy, education, and public safety.

• Welcome the stranger. We advocate humane immigration policy and the safety of immigrant families and houses of worship. (Leviticus 19:33–34; Matthew 25:35–40)

• Honor the image of God in LGBTQ+ neighbors. We stand against discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and public services. We speak and act for the dignity and safety of transgender people in particular. (Genesis 1:26–27; Galatians 3:28)

• Practice courageous love. We confront harmful powers while refusing to hate people. We seek justice with mercy, strength with humility. (Romans 12:9–21; Mark 10:42–45)

Our appeal to the church and to neighbors

We call Christians—and all people of good will—to reject politics built on resentment and fear, and to choose a public life shaped by the life and teaching of Jesus. We call congregations to pray, preach, disciple, and act in ways that align with core Christian commitments to religious liberty, human rights, and the refusal of prejudice. This is not a campaign against persons. This is a witness against the powers that harm our neighbors and our common life. We pledge to live this out here in Hartford: showing up for our neighbors, telling the truth, protecting conscience, sheltering the vulnerable, and doing justice with joy. By God’s grace, we will be known more for what we build than what we oppose—and we will oppose only what crushes people God loves.

— Members of Riverfront Family Church, Hartford, Connecticut

Members, please indicate your support of this letter here.

Belonging: From the Doorway to the Destination

For years my default map of faith ran like this: believe → behave → belong. Get the ideas right, get your act together, and then you’re in. Over time—through scripture, pastoring, and a lot of table-time with neighbors—I shifted to belong → believe: make room at the table first and let faith grow in the soil of relationship.

Lately, one more turn has become clear for me and, I think, for our church: belonging is both the road and the destination. We don’t just start with belonging; we travel by belonging. We practice it, fail at it, return to it, and discover that the end of the journey is the same as the means: being held in Love together.

Why belonging?

Theologically, belonging is not a soft on-ramp—it’s the heart of the gospel. From Eden’s “Where are you?” to Jesus’ “Come and eat,” God keeps moving toward people before they move toward God. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus forms community before he quizzes anyone on doctrine: he calls fishermen, eats with tax collectors, welcomes sinners, and tells stories where the party starts before people are “ready.” (Think of the Great Banquet in Luke 14 or Zacchaeus in Luke 19.)

Belonging is how grace feels when it lands in a room. It’s what justification sounds like at a dinner table.

Radical hospitality at Riverfront

This is why radical hospitality is one of our core practices at Riverfront Family Church. We don’t throw the word “radical” in for flair. We mean hospitality that goes to the root—radix—of the gospel: God makes room for us in Christ, so we make room for one another.

Hospitality here is not an event, a coffee station, or a friendly vibe. It’s a discipleship practice:

• We set a longer table and expect to be surprised by who sits down.

• We refuse to make agreement the price of admission.

• We protect belonging with clear boundaries for safety and dignity, not to gatekeep but to keep the gates open for the most vulnerable.

• We assume that the Spirit is already at work in every person who walks through our doors—and that we will meet Christ in them.

Loved first, always

Brennan Manning helped me put words to this. He wrote, “God loves you unconditionally—just as you are, not as you should be.” And again, “Define yourself as one radically beloved by God.” Those lines refuse the bargain we keep trying to strike with God. If love can be earned, it can be lost. If love is gift, then it’s secure.

So belonging isn’t a perk for the pious—it’s the evidence of grace. We belong because God’s love got to us first, and nothing we do—good or bad—alters God’s posture toward us. As Manning insisted, grace means we are already, truly, deeply held.

Not a transaction

Robert Farrar Capon pressed the same point from another angle: the gospel is not a transaction. One of his sharpest lines says, “Grace cannot prevail… until our lifelong certainty that someone is keeping score is brought to nothing.” If salvation is a deal, then the anxious math never ends and belonging is always provisional. But if salvation is a party thrown for the unworthy, then belonging is the whole point—and the whole method—of the Christian life.

Belief inside belonging

Someone always asks, “But doesn’t belief matter?” Absolutely. We preach Jesus crucified and risen; we confess the historic faith; we teach the Scriptures. The shift is sequencing and tone. Belief grows best inside a community that already treats you like family. Trust precedes understanding. Love opens the ears.

When Jesus reads Isaiah in Nazareth (Luke 4), he declares good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind. That wasn’t a doctrinal exam; it was a welcome announcement. Belief—real, deep belief—takes root in that environment.

Practices that make this real

1. Tables > stages. We prioritize shared meals, circles, and conversations over one-way performance. Transformation is relational.

2. Names > numbers. We track stories of care and connection more than attendance or “decisions.”

3. Access > agreement. You don’t need to think like us to serve alongside us, sing with us, or sit in leadership development spaces; we journey together and tell the truth as we go.

4. Confession & repair. Belonging is not pretending. We confess harm, seek repair, and keep learning how to hold one another well.

5. Open posture to the city. Our belonging spills outward—into hospitality, peacemaking, and healing—so that neighbors experience the welcome of God through us.

The road and the destination

“Belong before you believe” was a good start. But more and more I see that belonging is the Christian life: we practice it on Sunday and carry it into Monday; we receive it from God and extend it to our neighbors; we stumble and try again. And the promised future? It looks like a feast where everyone has a seat, where tears are wiped away, and where Love has the last word.

Or, to borrow Capon’s image, the scorecards are shredded and the music is loud. And Manning would remind us why: because we are loved—already, always, forever.

So come as you are. Pull up a chair. Bring a friend. Ask your questions. Offer your gifts. Let’s keep walking this road of belonging together—until, by grace, we discover we’ve arrived at the destination of belonging, too.

“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)