The Grand River Confession of 2025
On Sunday, April 27th, 2025 a group of faithful people, both clergy and laity, met at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids. It was a spectacular, idyllic, Michigan afternoon. The sky was blue, the spring flowers were blooming, the birds were singing and there was even a joyful birthday party being celebrated in the Island Pavilion with balloons. But as the group gathered, there was a heaviness in our hearts that no lovely spring day could cure. Our hearts were broken because there are people in our world, in our state, in our city and in our neighborhoods who are hurting. These are the victims of all kinds of injustice. They are pleading and crying out for help but ever increasingly, they are finding out that some churches have now altered Jesus’ gospel from one of social justice and good news for the poor to become a retrofitted gospel of self-serving salvation that rejoices in posting pictures of their personal piety while ignoring or even blaming their victim neighbors.
As the folks from many church denominations sang and took communion together, they stepped up and signed The Grand River Confession of 2025:
As Christian clergy in West Michigan, we confess that justice is at the heart of God’s kingdom.
We believe that the gospel calls us to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). We affirm that Christ’s ministry was one of liberation, reconciliation, and radical love, and we commit ourselves to following Jesus’ example.
We confess that injustice persists in our communities and that the church has been complicit in systems of oppression. As followers of Jesus, we affirm a theology that calls us to combine our historic faith with the work of justice. We hear and believe that to love God is to love our neighbor, and we repent of the ways we have failed to act for the benefit and in covenant with the marginalized, oppressed, and vulnerable. We will follow the call from Jesus to:
• Love the Lord our God
• Love our neighbor
• Love ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-39)
Rooted in the hope of the resurrection and the promise of God’s kingdom, we will work for justice in our congregations and our communities (Romans 8:18-25). We will stand with the poor, the immigrant, and the oppressed, advocating for policies and practices that align with the values of God’s reign (Psalm 82:3-4).
We find strength in Christ, who came to proclaim good news to the poor and freedom for the oppressed (Luke 4:18). We stand together as communities of faith, believing that justice work is not optional to the gospel but central to the call of discipleship.
This event on Sunday marked the first public meeting of a new organization: West Michigan Clergy Action. This new 501c4 organization is a voice in our West Michigan wilderness, calling on all who name themselves as followers of Christ to give a damn and to do something for the least of these among us. It is the beginning of a movement to resuscitate Christianity by actually actively loving ALL of our neighbors: people of all colors, nationalities, political parties, immigration status, genders and sexual orientations and using our buildings and volunteers and money to meet the actual justice needs in our own communities. We want to be the change that we want to see in the world.