VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/13/15)—On March 13, 2015, the Executive Committee of the Board of General Ministries of American Baptist Churches USA approved a statement celebrating the role of American Baptists in the Civil Rights Movement, recognizing the 50th anniversary of the march in Selma, and affirming that all lives matter.

The statement reads:

We celebrate the role of American Baptists in the Civil Rights Movement.  The recent commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL, reminds us that this moral movement for justice and equality was birthed in the church from a faith that believes that all are created in the image of God and are worthy of love, justice and respect.  Ferguson and other incidents are vivid reminders that our journey as a nation to a society free of racism has not yet ended.

We affirm today that Black lives matter.  Every life matters.  And we call again upon our churches to bring forth from the wells of our faith a renewed moral movement to end the scourge of racism.

Justice is never abstract; it is the concrete steps we take to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”  (I John 3:18 NRSV)

American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.