FIRST STEP FOR A PASTOR OF A CHURCH
- 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.
a. 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.
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 antiracism strategy. Assure them that they aren’t making a commitment
beyond having a meal together until the idea is fully explored.
c. Tell them you will send them a small piece of homework that you would
like them to complete before they arrive
d. Make clear that you will meet for a couple of hours to eat and discuss the
idea.- The homework is this:
a. Ask them to come with a list of 5-10 Scriptures or faith ideas that are
central to the Christian community—the church.
b. Those who bring at least eight will receive a special dessert
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 the 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. - 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. ( Sample of process in a later blog or in booklet) - 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 step would be to talk with each of your church’s lay leaders and gain
their support. (An outline of how to do that will be in a later blog.)
