Conversation on Race

Over the past few years, McGregor engaged in a series of thoughtful small group book studies and discussions to consider issues related to systemic racism. Out of those studies and conversations came a call to offer a Christian response to racism in our communities. This has been a time of heartfelt searching for and questioning of what it truly means to be members of the Kingdom, here and now. As members of the body of Christ, we are called to both:

  • repent, acknowledging the sin of our country’s enslavement and continued oppression of black people, and
  • repair, working to find tangible ways to eliminate the inequalities that exist between black and white communities

It is only after we work to repent and repair that we will find true reconciliation.


McGregor currently has three areas of focus in regards to this work: 

  • A continued educational effort with resources and local events shared monthly in the e-messenger
  • A budgeted line-item dedicated to a scholarship for an underserved student at Irmo High School each year (additional generous donations have made multiple scholarships possible)
  • A partnered project with Pine Grove AME Church creating the Irmo Oral History Project


The Irmo Oral History Project

Members of McGregor Presbyterian Church and Pine Grove Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, working together for nearly 3 years, have conducted 22 oral histories focused on gathering the Irmo area’s community history with an emphasis on African American history.

The group received a grant from the South Carolina Humanities Council to make it possible to have the interviews transcribed. The University of South Carolina’s Oral History Department provided the group with oral history training, loaned us recording machines, and then developing a website so others could hear about  Irmo’s history while also preserving this history for those in the future.

If you’d like to hear, or read, the interviews visit the Irmo Oral History Project online by clicking this link. https://digital.library.sc.edu/exhibits/irmoareaoralhistory/ OR by searching online for Irmo Oral History Project.