About the Circle
Through this 12-week program participants will:
- Become better informed about the ways “race” and racism impact our efforts to become a multicultural body of Christ, given our country’s racial legacy and the ways that legacy continues to affect all our lives
- Learn how to create the context required for meaningful conversations about “race” and racism, and the tone of interactions that will allow true community formation and change to occur
- Examine what it means to be a Euro-American (white) church, understanding how whiteness as a worldview and knowledge system influences the way we do church
- Develop practical action plans based on our understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and resources for becoming a multicultural, antiracist church
- Be moved by the Spirit as it calls us to and engages us in “beloved community.”
To have church leaders who have enhanced their capacity to listen, to empathize, to understand the historical and cultural context from which others speak, to feel comfortable in discussing the ways “race” enters their daily lives and presuppositions, to have the sense that cross-racial relationship is possible because it has already been experienced—all this—will truly be a benefit to our church. This circle will be open to all people in the Saint Paul Area Synod.
Facilitators
These conversations will be led by Herbert Perkins, PhD, MDiv, and Margery Otto, JD, from ASDIC Metamorphosis, an Antiracism Study-Dialogue Circle program. In a caring and invitational way, Herb and Margery guided our “Conversations on Race” at the 2011 Synod Assembly.
Details
The current 12-week series began September 13, 2012. See the flyer (PDF) for information on the Fall 2012 Community ASDIC Circle series.
Resources
- Conversations on Race, Two-Day Outline (DOCX)
- Workshop curriculum (DOC)
- Call to Action (DOC)
Sponsored by
These workshops are sponsored by the Multicultural Task Force of the Saint Paul Area Synod and supported by a grant from Minnesota Philanthropy Partners (formerly The Saint Paul Foundation). Certificates of attendance will be provided. CEUs can be applied for. Contact Paul Erickson if you have questions.
Testimonials
Watch testimonials from church folks in Duluth who participated in anti-racism dialogue there.
Anti-Racism Dialogue Circle from Saint Paul Area Synod on Vimeo.
