Racial Audit Implementation Team Update - July 2025

We Have Not Finished Yet...

July 2025 | Patricia Stewart

Note: ​In June 2023, the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) Board of Directors established the Racial Audit Implementation Team to carry forward the recommendations from the comprehensive Racial Audit. This work represents our deep commitment to becoming an anti-racist organization. Patricia Stewart is a member of that team, and this reflection is part of our collective journey to name, confront, and transform the white dominant culture within MFSA. It emerges from ongoing conversations centered on six key themes/patterns of white supremacy identified within our organization. These are the entrenched patterns we are actively working to disrupt as we move toward the liberation and equity we seek. 

In the Methodist tradition, justifying grace is one of the ways God’s grace moves in our lives. It refers to the moment when a person accepts God’s offer of forgiveness, and through Christ, is reconciled with God. This is not the end of the spiritual journey, but rather a turning point, a reorientation toward new life, community, and justice. Justifying grace reminds us that while grace is freely given, it calls us into ongoing transformation.

As a member of the original Racial Audit Task Force, I learned a lot about the history of MFSA. I studied documents, read interviews with those involved in the past, and helped conduct a survey of current participants.

Throughout all of this, I learned MFSA was — and is — not perfect. As an organization, it has at times been a strong vehicle for justice, but at other times it has fallen short and has things to repent for. There were times when we did not do enough to stand up for all justice seekers. We also did not do enough to listen to voices outside the organization.

In the final report, several themes emerged. Theme Two states:
MFSA functions as an organization of and for white progressives, prioritizing white power and control, which results in a lack of investment in and abdication of responsibility to be accountable to People of Color communities.

The priorities set in the past have indeed made it comfortable to be white and in power. Even with good intentions and many positive outcomes, those choices limited opportunities to hear other voices and to open the organization to new leadership. Being accountable to communities beyond white progressives means working with, not for, people of color.

We are repentant. We are seeking to do better. And we will — because we now know the difference between simply pursuing an agenda created years ago and recognizing that people are multi-dimensional and intersectional. We are committed to moving forward in a way that reflects the richness of society: diverse in race, skin color, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, economic status, and belief.

It is God’s justifying grace that is at work in this moment — forgiving sin, calling us to repentance, and offering the chance to begin again. I believe God is working through MFSA in this way.

We have not finished yet. And the best is yet to come. I hope you will join us on our journey. There is work to be done.

Pat Stewart (she/her/her) lives in Austin TX and is lay member of St. John's United Methodist Church.  I feel like a native Austinite even though I am originally from Corpus Christi  since I have lived here for more than 30 years.  I have learned more about the Methodist Church in the last few years as an annual conference delegate.  This is also where I learned about MFSA and realized the importance of social justice inside and outside the church.  Through MFSA I have made connections with other like minded people who believe in valuing individual contributions, even though others may not be like yourself.   I feel privileged to be part of the Racial Audit Task Force because it gives me a voice to speak my truth and listen to others' experiences.  My hope for the Team comes from Galatians 6:9 - So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.