In reply to Charlene Helmer.

Try reading your statement aloud and exchange "black" for "white." For those of us who are white, we may not have lived during legalized slavery, but we are part of an ethnic group that enslaved and oppressed another ethnic group (and more than one) for hundreds of years. Under this model, slave owners did not allow this group to marry and create a family system that could endure. This model of family life also broke up mothers and daughters, fathers and sons for PROFIT. Who is to blame?

The entire social structure cannot be changed overnight, nor can it be changed by pushing all the responsibility on others. We are Christians, which means that God did not push the responsibility of our salvation onto us, yet sent His one and only Son to rescue us from the terrible mess we created for ourselves. How can we do any less than follow Matthew 25:40 in loving response to our Redeemer?

Good job pastors, I encourage all Christians in your area to be like-minded and reach out as the priesthood of all believers.