While the most visible issues of race separation no longer command majority support in our society, the more subtle issues of discrimination and prejudice still reflect the racial alienation within our society. The call to be ambassadors of reconciliation continues to emerge in the life of Highland.
When the Presbyterian Church US and the United Presbyterian Church USA merged in 1983, it was not considered a controversial decision to invite L.V. Lassiter, an African-American pastor in a “northern” church in Winston-Salem, to preach at a reunion celebration at Highland. Nor was it a significant issue to invite Dellabrook Presbyterian Church in 1991 to use our Activity Building to celebrate their 35th anniversary as a church. Yet many Black churches in the newly reunited denomination continued to have experiences which left them feeling alienated in the same manner that citizens of Winston-Salem continued to experience division according to race.
In November of 1992, Highland was instrumental in creating a Presbyterian interracial dialogue with Dellabrook and Grace Presbyterian churches. Twenty people from Highland and ten from each of the African-American churches were chosen to spend a year together in studying the effects of racism and the witness Presbyterians could make in overcoming the barriers of race. This would eventually include Trinity, Lloyd, and Parkway Presbyterian churches in a variety of activities and experiences which sought to overcome the divisions of race in our city.
The dialogue continues seventeen years after its beginning. A variety of activities, from Habitat Builds to joint community choirs continue to give expression to the desire to be ambassadors of reconciliation.
