A PLAN FOR A PASTOR

IDENTIFYING AND INVITING SOME CLERGY COLLEAGUES:

FIRST STEP FOR A PASTOR OF A CHURCH

1. Identify five or six other clergy that you think might also be interested in exploring an anti-racism strategy in their churches.  While it is not essential in this first step, it would be preferable if there were both Black and White pastors.
   1. Preferably arrange for either some members of your church to prepare the meal or find a private dining room in a convenient restaurant accessible by your guests.
   1. Alert them to the fact that you want to find a convenient date when all of you might come together to both discuss and experiment with an anti-racism strategy. Assure them that they aren’t making a commitment beyond having a meal together until the idea is fully explored.
   1. Tell them you will send them a small piece of homework that you would like them to complete before they arrive
   1. Make clear that you will meet for a couple of hours to eat and discuss the idea.

• The homework is this:
  • Ask them to come with a list of 5-10 Scriptures or faith ideas that are central to the Christian community—the church.
    • Those who bring at least eight will receive a special desert!!!
  • Preferably these are statements that a majority of their members would recognize as a part of the Christian faith.  (e.g., You shall love your neighbor)

• During your time together, each will share their list and then as a group you will try to identify a combined list of ten that together you feel are recognizable as central to basic Christian faith.

• Then discuss together how these beliefs are related to racism in our society.

Take each of the ten and discuss how, if people lived this faith, it would impact the tensions of and divisions caused by racism in our churches and society.

BUILDING A TEAM OF CLERGY

• Invite them to join in a multi-church anti-racism ministry. Like they have just experienced, it would begin by probing their membership via the internet to identify the basic belief structure which would be shared in graph form with each participating church. ( See sample of the  process below.)
• The end goal would be to build connections among several parts of the Body of Christ. This would lead to exploring ways to share anti-racism ministry.
• The first steps would be to talk with your leadership and gain their support.

MEETING WITH YOUR RESPECTIVE LEADERSHIP

Each pastor asks each of their leaders to come up with a list of 4 or 5 beliefs that they consider foundational for a Christian church.   

                Explain to your leadership how you have arrived at this area of interest.

• Have them share their respective list of Christian ideas without discussion.
  • Note Barna poll suggesting that two-thirds of active Christians and forty-three percent of all society think the church should help address the divisions of racism in our churches and society.
• As a next step, ask each of them to take a paper and write a couple of words or phrases about what they think Jesus might say about racial division and racism in our contemporary society.
  • Share the general consensus of your clergy gathering.

Now ask members of their leadership to write three sentences, each of which identify a concern that members of the church might have about becoming involved in addressing racism as a church.

INVOLVING THE MEMBERSHIP

• Share each person’s three statements and forming a cumulative list of the whole. (no discussion at this point, just form the shared list.)

Explain a brief outline of a plan to involve the membership through the process of email/surveys/ questionnaires that will be summarized and sent back to the congregation.

Explain that summaries will be sent to all participating churches (with the possibility of also involving some churches in other parts of the country and even possibly in other countries.)

• Now share the clergy list that was put together.

Next, show them this brief video that explains the process further.

• https://www.dropbox.com/s/7452pqh59c4rxvx/Church%20Instruction%20Video%202.mp4?dl=0

Ask the leadership to support the pastor in engaging the membership in developing this ministry.