Letter from the National Leadership Team of P2C-Students

As protests emerge in response to the death of George Floyd while in police custody, sparking discussion and bringing to light racial injustice of a systemic nature, crucial conversations are happening within our P2C-Students community. We grieve over the loss of life with the Black and Indigenous communities, and we grieve over the systemic racism and injustices that are increasingly visible and now on display in our world. 

As we reflect and take time to grieve and feel the pain all around us, we (the leadership team of P2C-Students) would like to share a few reflections:

1. We acknowledge that we have much growth ahead for ourselves related to race and injustice. While we live in Canada, and our organization welcomes people from all backgrounds, we are aware in increasing measure that the practical outworkings of our ministry activities carry blind spots related to race and justice. We know that we have a lot of growth ahead as we lean in to listen and learn so that we may act and change. We are committed to pursuing growth and change.
2. We recognize that it is a privileged position to learn and to listen, but we know we must start there. We will take steps forward as we humbly evaluate our own hearts and every aspect of our practice that may indirectly or unintentionally contribute to systemic racism. We believe that all people are created in the image of God and have equal value and worth, but we recognize that across our organization there is not equal representation from people of all backgrounds involved within it. Our pursuit of the mission of helping students know Jesus and his relevance to all of life will be stronger with the inclusion and influence of a greater diversity of voices. 
3. We want to advocate for justice. We recognize and lament that this has not been a historic strength of our organization, but at this time, we believe we are called to pursue justice. The gospel speaks to and brings justice, and so it is critical that we pursue justice as we seek to help students discover the relevance of Jesus in all of life. We are called to help form diverse communities that focus on Jesus, and we have the hard work of leaning into conversations to seek to understand in order to plan and act in a way congruent with Jesus’ heart for justice.

We are working as an organization to come up with a long-term plan that we will release in the near future.

From,

the National Leadership Team of P2C-Students (Andy Smits, Heather Campbell, Esther Wong, Dan Sherman, Graham Watt, Bonnie Van de Mosselaer, and Carmen Man)

Read more about who we are and our leadership team.