Musings on Diversity and Justice

New Mutiracial Blogs

Tue, 02 Jul 2013 14:45:00 GMT

Earl is now blogging at rcamultiracial1.blogspot.com/. Check out his musings there!

A Powerful Statement from General Synod 1957

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:24:10 GMT

The following statement was adopted by the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, not in recent years, but 54 years ago, in 1957. Its adoption followed the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, near the end of the second "Red Scare" (1947-1957). The Red Scare or McCarthy era was a period of time during the Cold War when certain Americans were aggressively persecuted and charged with being communist sympathizers if their actions were suspected of being subversive or oppositional to U.S. policy or life as it stood then. That this credo was adopted at all reflects that members of the Christian Action Commission and delegates to the 1957 General Synod possessed profound levels of focus, courage, and faithfulness in the face of profound societal, systemic, institutional, and ecclesiological sin and sanctions. Such focus, courage, and faithfulness are needed in every era, including ours.

Read more.

Benjamin Rivera Ordained and Installed as Chaplain

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:27:41 GMT

(from Earl James)

On January 30, my new ministry associate, Benjamin Rivera, was ordained as an RCA minister of Word and sacrament and was installed as chaplain at a local hospital. It was a great service of ordination and installation. Congratulations, Ben.

Resource Article: "Black? White? Asian? More Young Americans Are Choosing All of the Above"

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:06:27 GMT

From Earl James

The New York Times is running a series of articles entitled "Race Remixed." The articles explore the new sense of identity among the growing numbers of mixed-race Americans. For those of us in the RCA and other denominations, the series might strongly speak into our sense of who we are and what we bring when we seek to:

Bring fresh life to existing churches.
Plant new churches.
Engage in transformative community outreach.
Work together on justice matters.

Read more.

First Panel Conversation on Belhar's Principles Completed

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:48:37 GMT

(from Earl James)

The Reformed Church in America's Office of Multiracial Initiatives and Social Justice and the New Brunswick Theological Seminary's Anti-Racism Transformation Team taped the first of three panel conversations about the Belhar Confession's principles of unity, reconciliation, and justice. This first conversation was entitled "The Belhar Confession and Anti-Racism."

Read more.

CCT Crafts Response to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham City Jail"

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:28:45 GMT

(From Earl James)

Christian Churches Together (CCT) met in Birmingham, Alabama, from January 11 to 14, 2011. Its focus this year was looking at domestic poverty through the lens of racial justice. One crucial outcome of the gathering was the writing of a one-page response to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." A CCT member of the writing team reported that Wyatt Tee Walker, one of Dr. King's leadership partners, stated that this might be the first time a response to Dr. King's letter has been written and published. CCT's response has historic implications.

The letter features three "Rs": remembering, repenting, and renewing. We encourage you to spend time with the letter and allow its three Rs to help you reflect on yourself, your history, your context, and your decisions going forward.

Read more.

Rivera Nominated to NCC's Racial Justice Working Group

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:49:41 GMT

(from Earl James)
Wes Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the RCA, has nominated Benjamin Rivera to represent the RCA on the National Council of Church's (NCC) Racial Justice Working Group (RJWG).

The RJWG historically:
1. Supported local and national community-based grassroots racial justice work.
2. Facilitated joint efforts by NCC member denominations in programmatic areas such as combating racial violence and countering the prison industrial complex.
3. Offered tools to empower self-determination among people of color.

Read more.

A Theological Challenge to the Persistence of Racism, Caste-Based Discrimination, and other Exclusionary Practices

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:34:00 GMT

(from Earl James)

In August, I noted about a World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation I attended. Thirty people from 15 countries participated. Our shared goal was to develop a theological statement to encourage the global church to, as part of making peace everywhere, continue combating racism, casteism, and the exclusion of communities of people.

As I wrote in August, I gained much from the experience. Racism takes many forms around the world, as does the array of efforts to combat it. As the RCA's representative, I shared some key things about the RCA's approaches to matters relevant to the consultation's goal.

Read more.

Racism Today and the Rationale for Continued Ecumenical Engagement

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:49:04 GMT

(from Earl James)

The three-day WCC consultation began Thursday afternoon. The 27 consultation participants are from all over the world: Bolivia (now living and ministering in New Zealand), Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, England, Fiji Islands, Germany, India, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Peru, Romania, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. Only the participant from Palestine could not make it due to difficulty getting a visa. Some of the participants knew each other well before the meeting began; others, like me, knew no one else and are newcomers to the global ecumenical scene. English is our conference language, but it is clear that a few of us struggle with it. For a number of the participants, English is the second (or third or fourth) language, although some are exceptionally fluent.

With all of that said, the conference planners were very wise in making the agenda of our first afternoon and evening together "us." Through various methods--small group, large group, worship, a walking tour, and sharing meals--we got to know wonderful things about each other as persons, about our various national and racial experiences, and about current situations. In addition to sharing some of my story, I asked questions and learned much.

Read more.

Belhar in Our Future--Voices in the RCA

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:40:48 GMT

(from Earl James)
On June 14, 2010, as part of a panel on the topic "Belhar in Our Future--Voices in the RCA," I gave this address to RCA General Synod delegates at the ecumenical breakfast.

In February 2009, I traveled to South Africa as part of Rev. Dr. Carol Bechtel's presidential delegation. Dr. Bechtel served then as the president of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America (RCA). The delegation traveled to South Africa to meet with leaders and members of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA), the originators of the Belhar Confession. We held discussions with them, worshipped with them, and visited many URCSA-sponsored ministries like food pantries, HIV/AIDS outreaches, senior centers, child care homes, and education centers. At the bottom of several URCSA ministry brochures I noticed phrases like, "We minister in this way in response to the Belhar Confession."

Our first meeting with URCSA leaders, chaired by Rev. Selaelo Thias Kgatla, moderator of URCSA, occurred in Cape Town. URCSA and RCA leaders shared many stories about our respective denominations and the Belhar, as well as current situations many South Africans face. At one point, I asked the URCSA leaders, "Is the Belhar Confession primarily an ethical document?" They emphatically stated, "No!" They told me that the Belhar asserts that the principles of unity, reconciliation, and justice are deeply embedded in God's own character and that, as the people of God, those same principles must be deeply embedded in ours. That, they said, is the ultimate, enduring truth that the Belhar puts forth.

Read more and leave a comment.

Fusion of Worship with Justice: An Aspect of the Belhar Confession

Tue, 18 May 2010 14:45:21 GMT

(from Earl James)
A meditation given during chapel services at Hope and Northwestern Colleges

Isaiah 58:6-7

The Reformed Church in America recently adopted the Belhar Confession as its fourth Standard of Unity. Among other things, the Belhar teaches us two critically important things:

Deeply embedded in God's own character are the principles of unity, reconciliation, and justice.
As people of God, those same principles must become deeply embedded in us. Our sermon this morning focuses on the Belhar's third principle--justice. We will look deeply at Isaiah 58:6-7 to uncover some important things about justice.

Is not this the fast that I choose:
To loose the bonds of injustice,
To undo the thongs of the yoke,
To let the oppressed go free,
And to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry;
And bring the homeless poor into your house;
When you see the naked, to cover them,
And not to hide yourself from your own kin?"

This Scripture comes in the form of two sets of questions. The first set focuses on outcomes of our living. It points to results that must occur because people do something. The second set of questions puts "skin" on those outcomes, citing specific, real-life examples about how to achieve those outcomes.

Read more and leave a comment.

The Beloved Community: A Commemoration of Dr. King

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:27:00 GMT

(from Earl James)
Sermon preached on January 17, 2010
Six Mile Run Reformed Church, Franklin Park, New Jersey

We have three seemingly unrelated yet deeply connected Scriptures this morning!

Our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 58:5-7 describes how the very heart of God does not want the worship of the his devout people if their worship is not fused solidly with living lives bent on justice. Isaiah wrote that God expects vulnerable people to be treated in such high regard that the issues that keep them in poverty are overcome and eliminated by his devout people. Isaiah said:

Is not this the fast [or spiritual discipline or worship] that I choose:
To loose the bonds of injustice,
To undo the thongs of the yoke,
To let the oppressed go free,
And to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And bring the homeless poor into your house;
When you see the naked, to cover them,
And not to hide yourself from your own kin?

The prophet is saying that worship and justice must be like two sides of the same coin. God, Isaiah wrote, wants his devout people to relate to vulnerable people, people struggling in poverty, with the same enthusiasm and energy that they bring when they worship him.

Read more.

Phelps Scholars: An Innovative Multiracial Learning Community

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:57:19 GMT

I recently visited students, faculty, and staff at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Our main topics focused on multiracial living and fusing worship with justice (the theme of my chapel sermon). High points for me included four meetings with Hope's 80 Phelps Scholars.

The Phelps Scholars program is an innovative opportunity for first-year Hope students of various races, ethnic groups, and nationalities. They build relationships with each other and together learn about cultural similarities and differences. Some Phelps Scholars reside in the same dorm. All share a specialized multicultural curriculum.

When I visited, these students were studying Beverly Daniel Tatum's book Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity. That topic--formation of racial identity--framed my discussions with them. Together, we unpacked stories surrounding the formation of racial identity, explored values and challenges (personal, cultural, and spiritual) embedded in racial identity, and discussed ways to grow everyday multiracial lives. This exchange was valuable and stimulating for me--hopefully it was for them as well.

Seldom have I experienced a learning community that is so blended--racially, ethnically, and nationally. I shared with these students that it is likely that no other generation in America could live, think, work, and worship in such close proximity--personally and through social media networks--with people of other races, ethnic groups, and nationalities. They may have the unique opportunity of developing "freed from racism" chapters in the race-based American story.

Aspects of the Phelps Scholars experience might be replicable in other settings in the RCA. Teams of congregations could foster multiracial learning communities for their high school and college students. Perhaps local ministerial alliances or interfaith networks could do the same--while interfaith networks focus on religious perspectives, many of their members also most likely face racial stresses as they adjust to life in the U.S. and Canada. Just an idea …

Charles Green, the director of the Phelps Scholars program at Hope College, would enjoy sharing about the Phelps Scholars program if you have questions. You can contact him at green@hope.edu. You can also read more about the program at www.hope.edu/phelps/about/welcome.htm.

Please feel free to contact me at ejames@rca.org if you would like to explore the idea of replicating aspects of this program in your congregation or community.

Stories, Principles, and Strategies for Launching Effective Church-Based Community Ministries

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:28:24 GMT

Many church leaders want to help their congregations find fresh, transformational ways to have an impact in their communities. A number of them asked me for information to help inspire their congregations in that direction, and about six of them asked me to share specific stories I've experienced.

We recently posted a booklet on the RCA website of stories, principles, and strategies for launching church-based community ministries. These ministries can make a difference both in the church and in the community. The booklet is accessible in two forms:

A free download in PDF format
An online version that allows you to navigate directly to areas of interest

Please pray that this booklet will inspire people, provide fruitful guidance, and help bring fresh and transforming life and hope to congregations and the communities they serve.

Some Additional Perspectives for Our Belhar Discussions

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:55:23 GMT

As you may know, I serve on the RCA's Belhar Implementation Team. Our mandate is to assist the church in its discussions on the Belhar. We speak with many leaders from all classes. They describe for us how ready they believe members of their classis are for discussion on the Belhar, and we try to provide them with resources to equip members of their classis for upcoming Belhar discussions.

Below are five topics around which we commonly receive questions. With this blog post, I am not trying to persuade readers to vote for or against the Belhar--I want to provide additional information and perspectives that might enrich the upcoming discussions.

Historical Context

Members of the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa (URCSA) wrote the Belhar Confession in the last half of the 20th century. They did so partly because of their struggle against apartheid. Some RCA members wonder whether this fact disqualifies the Belhar for a legitimate status of "confession." A confession, they reason, must speak to the ages and not be historically bound by social issue, time, or place.

First, let's explore what the Belhar itself says about these historical matters. To do this, go to www.rca.org/belhar, click on "The Confession of Belhar," then on "PDF file of the Belhar Confession." In the toolbar just above the text, you should see a box that says "Find." Type in the words "South Africa" and conduct a search. Repeat the process with the word "apartheid." Follow that, in turn, with the words like "racism" and "racist." When I did that, the search came up with no results. None of these words appear in the Belhar Confession. Even the word "race" and the word "color" each appear only once, and they occur together. There appears to be nothing in the language of the Belhar that links it to South Africa, apartheid, racism, or a time period.

Second, the 2009 Commission on Christian Unity report to the General Synod answers the question "How does a confession come about?" as follows:

A confession begins its formation at a time when an extremely serious situation and a very important issue or issues arise that seem to go "right to the heart of the gospel," those occasions when the gospel is threatened, when the integrity of the gospel is at stake (status confessionis), such as in the sixteenth century when classical Reformed confessions were formed, written, and embraced.

The Heidelberg Catechism originally helped end a blood feud between Lutherans and Calvinists. Killings between those Christians occurred in a specific period of time in a particular part of the world. One man largely wrote the Belgic Confession to convince the King of Spain to stop persecuting the church. He and others asserted that the church's members were law-abiding citizens and not rebels against the king's authority. I first learned these facts this year at General Synod. I imagine many of us are not aware of them. The passage of time has buried the facts of these historical contexts. Perhaps time will do the same to the Belhar; we cannot yet say.

Like the Heidelberg and the Belgic, the Belhar is profoundly rooted in and dependent on Scripture. That rootedness might have helped the first two confessions survive for centuries and speak "to the ages." We cannot yet know if the roots in Scripture will do the same for the Belhar.

Theological Framing

I am not a theologian, though I value thinking theologically about life. Some have asked whether the Belhar is as theologically valid or valuable as our three other confessions. A pastor recently told me that, as he saw it, people used to identify themselves by their beliefs and belief systems. What you said you believed spoke volumes about who you were and with whom you allied. In recent years, he said, people have become much more concerned with what you do. The pastor was quick to point out that he values our three confessions. He also pointed out that statements that guide what we do might be very compelling in a later Boomer/Generation X/Generation Y world.

As classes and others continue discussing the Belhar Confession, this pastor's way of framing the theological focuses might prove helpful.

Use of Belhar in Efforts to Change the RCA's Perspective on Homosexuality

A number of people expressed to the Belhar Team concern, worry, and fear that adoption of the Belhar Confession might result in altering the RCA's stand on homosexuality. The information below might assist discussion of this issue. (I address the issue of fear in the next section.)

General Synod stated that the Belhar is not linked to homosexuality.
While Allan Boesak (a leader of URCSA and a principle writer of the Belhar Confession) proposed to URCSA that the Belhar required it to accept and approve homosexuality, URCSA rejected his claim. The denomination's view of Scripture superseded the man's interpretation of a confession. Boesak subsequently left his denomination.
The Belhar Confession itself contains no language that will resolve debates surrounding homosexuality.
While other denominations have changed their positions on homosexuality, the Belhar Confession did not figure in their decisions.

Fear

Members of the Belhar Implementation Team have heard people use the word "fear" with regard to adopting the Belhar. In some cases, you can hear people's voices heighten and tighten when they say the word in discussions about Belhar. Vigorous discussion, critique of positions, and clarifying exchanges where differing values and Scriptural interpretations are concerned are very important. Such events can provide opportunities for increased understanding and strengthening. However, fear should have no place in such matters. For Christians, perfect love casts out fear and striving towards perfect love should make us strive to extinguish the power of fear over our lives.

Fear itself is a normal human emotion. When used rightly, it can warn us of danger. However, we cannot allow fear to become an end in itself or allow fear to hold us hostage. And we cannot allow fear to shut down the expression of contrary opinions.

Instead, fear should help us discern how to handle ourselves in the situations we face. We in the RCA have a description of the process of discipleship--becoming more like Jesus in all we think, say, and do. I have no doubt that the human side of Jesus felt fear on occasion. Perhaps it had its sway in Gethsemane. But it could not hold him hostage. He found a way to handle the challenge that was creative, powerful, and permanently effective. Jesus faced fear and transformed its energy and power into something of eternal service. As we engage our deeply held values regarding the Belhar, may we do so without allowing fear to dictate what we think, say, and do.

Finding Our Way as Individuals into the Belhar

Many classis leaders indicated to the members of the Belhar Implementation Team that they thought many people did not know the Belhar well. Some said they thought their classis was not well prepared yet to discuss the Belhar. Our team is working with them to equip their classes. An idea recently was suggested to me that might also be helpful for individuals to find their ways into what the Belhar says.

A person told me she thinks of the Belhar as a set of lenses, as in eyeglasses. When she takes her eyeglasses off, she can see things, but her near-sightedness does not allow her to distinguish shapes or persons or distances well. But when she puts on her glasses, all she sees becomes sharp and clear. Belhar, she says, gives her three lenses--unity, reconciliation, and justice. She says the Bible is sufficient for her, but the confession allows her to see more clearly that unity, reconciliation, and justice are important parts of God's character. It also allows her to see that they must be part of our characters because we are God's people. Her view of the Belhar as lenses might be helpful for finding our individual ways into what the Belhar might have to say.

An earlier note on the Belhar, "Finding Your Place with the Belhar Confession" appears on my Facebook page. In it, I described how the Belhar unexpectedly became personal for me. Over the course of several days, I read and discussed it with my wife. Reading the Belhar with someone with whom you are close can take it out of the whirlwind discussions going on in the larger church and bring it closer to home, closer to your heart. Reading Belhar from that perspective might yield some ideas and insights that might not otherwise come.

Conclusion

My hope and prayer is that we experience open discussions about Belhar. May each person feel free to share fully from head and heart about the decision to adopt the Belhar as a fourth confession for the Reformed Church in America.

Please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings by posting on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/earl.james1. Share especially with others whom you know, minister with, and love.

Open Letter on a Domestic Poverty Initiative

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:13:31 GMT

General Synod 2009 adopted the following resolution:

R-53
To direct the General Synod Council to make the Christian Churches Together's poverty objectives a priority; and further,
to widely share the Christian Churches Together Statement on Poverty and subsequent principles and ideas with congregations and encourage congregations to take active steps in confronting poverty in the community.

In today's uncertain times, this resolution has special value. In North America and in the world, the last few years have seen a nearly unprecedented failure of both our financial and economic systems. Millions of jobs and homes have been lost. Financial institutions have collapsed. Both large and small businesses have filed for bankruptcy protection or have closed. Millions have lost their health care coverage and options. Increasing numbers of families are "food insecure"--that is, they lack daily access to adequate, nutritious food necessary for a healthy life. Millions of newly poor people have been added to the millions who have been poor long-term or generationally. Although North America and the world are making vigorous efforts to offer settled, secure lives for as many people as possible, the future is still uncertain.

In light of these sobering facts about poverty, Christian Churches Together (CCT) calls for all people, congregations, denominations, governments, and society as a whole to work together to cut the poverty rate in the United States in half over the next ten years.

CCT reflects its commitment to the drastic reduction of domestic poverty in the following statement from their website, reprinted here with permission:

We reaffirmed our unanimous conviction that our service to the poor and our work for justice are "at the center of Christian life and witness." And we agreed to renew our prayers to understand and live in faithfulness to our Lord's teaching that when we serve "the least of these," we truly minister to our Lord Himself.
As we reflected on our current economic crisis, we resolved that our economy and priorities must be reordered. The biblical teaching about God's special concern for the poor demands that any stimulus and economic recovery plan must make the pressing needs of vulnerable and low-income Americans a priority.

To actively respond to its call, CCT offers four principles to help reduce poverty:

Strengthen families
Strengthen communities
Make work work
Improve education

These principles, along with concrete ideas for implementing them, can be found on the CCT website.

Many congregations provide ministries that assist people trapped in poverty by:

Helping to avert near-term disasters.
Helping those in poverty obtain knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to climb out of poverty.
Advocating for changes in laws or policies that make it difficult for people to climb out of poverty.

You can find many stories of these ministries on the RCA website, www.rca.org. Many examples are listed in the RCA's online Church-Based Community Outreach Resource Guide. The office of social justice is currently updating the Church-Based Community Outreach Resource Guide to include even more ministries. Please take a few minutes to complete the user-friendly survey on the RCA website. The information gathered in this survey will be shared with anyone who is interested both inside and outside our denomination.

Do you want to join others in helping to reduce domestic poverty? There are many things you can do to make a difference:

Empower one or more small ministry teams in your congregation to identify and launch a ministry, perhaps aligned with one or more of CCT's principles.
Partner with a nearby congregation, nonprofit organization, or community group to address a challenge presented by poverty.
Form a church-based nonprofit organization that addresses poverty.
Get involved with an existing community anti-poverty collaboration.
Pick an area you are passionate about and call or write to government leaders regarding your concerns.

If you have questions or comments, please email me at ejames@rca.org or post your comment on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/earl.james1, under the note entitled "An Open Letter on a Domestic Poverty Initiative."

The Belhar Confession: What Specific Outcomes Should the RCA See if We Adopt It?

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:05:16 GMT

Some of you might be familiar with the Belhar Confession. It is a powerful statement of faith written by a South African denomination while under the oppression of apartheid. The confession focuses on three characteristics of God: unity, reconciliation, and justice.

The confession says that the people of God must reflect these characteristics of God in all they think, say, and do. They must be embedded in us as they are embedded in God.

The General Synod of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) has voted to adopt the Belhar as one of its confessions. If 67 percent of its constituent jurisdictions--classes--approve the confession by March 31, 2010, it will become a permanent part of the RCA's life.

I am a member of the RCA's Belhar Implementation Team, which is calling leaders of all RCA classes to learn how the team can assist them with upcoming discussions about the Belhar.

I'd like to share with you a discussion I had recently with a classis leader from the Midwest, and some of his crucial observations. I'd also like your thoughts on some of the questions that developed from our conversation.

The classis leader I was speaking with is from a small, rural county where more than 97 percent of the population is white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. He shared with me that a number of members of his church and classis recently returned from a mission trip to New York City. He thought that many of the young people on the trip had never seen a person of color before. The group went to New York to do some work at a Japanese American congregation, but something else struck him quite unexpectedly during the trip. Though he had been somewhat ambivalent about the Belhar, he came to see why it was important to people in the east.

He said his group experienced exceptional fellowship with members of several black congregations and had an incredible worship experience at the Japanese American church. Parts of the service, he said, were in both English and Japanese. The service had occurred on the anniversary of the end of World War II, and someone noted that on occasions such as that one, former enemies worship together before Christ. This classis leader had such a significant transformational experience that he reconsidered both his previous position on the Belhar and how the Belhar might benefit the RCA in the long run.

This leader shared some other observations with me, too. He noted that the New York City churches he was aware of seemed to be as monoracial as the ones he knows in the Midwest. He wondered if the Belhar has something to say about monoracial congregations.

If unity, reconciliation, and justice is about God and must be about us, then is the building of multiracial congregations a logical outcome of adopting the Belhar? What are some possible outcomes for classes? What specific changes urged by racial justice should we expect to see at the congregational and classis levels if the Belhar is adopted? This classis leader felt that having another confession just as a resource for sermons and liturgies might not be enough.

After we hung up, another question occurred to me. Does an undecided person need to have a significant transformational experience to lead him or her to support the Belhar, or is head knowledge sufficient? This particular leader appeared to need a transformational experience to help him see the Belhar in a new light.

It is crucial for the RCA to hear your thoughts on the questions raised in this post. Would you share them with me? Please feel free to leave comments on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/earl.james1, or email them to me at ejames@rca.org. I will share your thoughts with the Belhar Implementation Team.

Thanks very much.

Church-Based Ministry: Moms in Unity

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:16:07 GMT

In an earlier note, I shared the story of my friend Mae, who became a leader in a church-based ministry called Moms in Unity. This is the story of how that ministry developed.

Moms in Unity had a non-spectacular beginning.

Seven people discerned that God was calling us to develop creative ministry ideas, guide them through their start-up phase, and help them mature. We would develop leaders from among those whom the ministries served, and gradually pull away so that the indigenous leaders assumed responsibility for the life of the new ministry. We incorporated our shared ministry under the name Vinedresser Ministries, Inc.

We also discerned that we must be ruthlessly accountable to one another to ensure that we did develop indigenous leaders. We could too easily undermine our calling if we retained control by getting in the way or even suppressing the development of those we groomed for leadership.

Once we had conceived of this model, we weren't sure how to implement it. As my church's director of ministries and communications, a leader of the organizational life of the church, it fell to me to actually test the model. I began by asking questions of members of our congregation, residents in the neighborhood, staff I knew from local non-profits, and so on. "What need in this community is not currently being addressed?"

For about ten days, person after person told me about single moms they knew. They shared about little else. Then suddenly those stories stopped. It was as if a window opened, the wind of God blew through, and then the window closed. We concluded that the Lord wanted us to start a ministry for single moms. We didn't know what that would look like yet, but we knew we needed to gather people together to figure it out.

We planned for two or three large gatherings of single moms. We invited some single moms that we knew and asked people we barely knew to invite the single moms they knew. We cast a wide net to ensure that we attracted moms with diverse experiences and thoughts, including those who lived in under-resourced areas of the city.

As we planned those gatherings, we agreed upon several key features of the ministry:

The ministry engagement team consisted of three people: Diane, a female deacon from my church; Yvette, a highly talented people- and process-skilled Christian woman of another congregation referred to us named Yvette, and myself. The three of us would serve as the primary Christian asset to the moms receiving ministry (the program would not involve church curriculum, Vinedresser-lead structured prayers, a reliance on Bible reading, etc.)
The ministry had two focuses: it would help the moms understand that they were image-bearers of God while also helping them gain confidence, knowledge, and skills to meet the everyday challenges of life as a single parent.
We would understand and respect that it was likely that some of the moms we would be ministering to had been hurt by church experiences and/or did not trust churches or Christians.
Over time, as the ministry became established, we would look for one or two participants who best adhered to the values embedded in the ministry to serve and grow as the ministry's leader or leaders.

Twenty-five single moms came to the first meeting; some were black, some were white, some were Hispanic, and one was Asian. We shared a meal while I explained what Vinedresser Ministries was and why we wanted to work with single moms. Our key question for the moms was, "What would a group need to offer that would lead you, as a single mom, to participate?" Since I was leading the meeting, their first questions had to do with what I wanted to offer as part of the ministry. I responded, "I am not single and I am not a mom, so I am not qualified to answer that question. However, I will listen, ask questions, and keep track of your ideas."

That was enough. Over the course of three meetings, they discussed the big and little pictures of their lives as single moms. They laughed at things and cried at other things. Sometimes, during a particularly emotional moment, they hugged one another. At the end of the third meeting, they had designed a program called Moms in Unity that looked like this:

The group would meet twice a month at the church for two hours at a time. Once a month, the entire meeting would be a time of sharing struggles and holding each other accountable. During the other monthly meeting, the time of sharing would take place during the first hour, and a speaker would be invited to share during the second hour. The guest speaker would present on a topic that would increase the moms' knowledge of the community, their rights, and how to be a better parent to their children. Invited guests included a representative from the tenants' union, a therapist, a school board member, a police officer, a substance abuse worker, and a group prayer leader.
Child care would be provided at the meetings.
Three times per year, members of the group would go on an outing together, such as bowling or a picnic.

Throughout the process of forming the group, we continued to encourage the moms by pointing out that they were image bearers of God. None of them had heard that term before, so we had to explore with them what it meant. Nearly all denied that God's image was in them, given the things that they had thought, said, and done. We simply told them that we would hold on to that belief for them until they were ready to own it for themselves. As the group formed, we found ways to speak about being image bearers in ways that intersected with everyday life situations.

For the next four months, the three members of the Vinedresser ministry engagement team attended all the meetings and quietly assessed participants for potential leaders. We identified two candidates and asked them to co-lead Moms in Unity. Both protested, but we persisted, telling them why we thought they were strong leaders and underscoring the fact that they were image bearers of God. Eventually they agreed, so we slowly stepped away from a leadership role. We also arranged for a professional group therapist to train them in leading small groups. After a couple of months, I stopped attending Moms in Unity meetings and provided only coordination and scheduling services.

One of the co-leaders dropped out for various reasons. The other--Marcia--grew stronger and more sure of herself. Other moms grew to such levels that they, too, became leaders. Moms in Unity groups were among the strongest I have ever seen with regard to holding each other accountable for promised progress. Marcia frequently invited a woman to share by asking her, "How are you living?" If the woman did not follow through on a commitment, Marcia and others would say, "But you told us at the last meeting you were going to do _____. What do you mean you didn't do it? You have to do it! How are you going to fix this?"

Though the everyday challenges of life did not change for the more than 75 Moms in Unity participants, many of them increased their confidence, knowledge, and skill to manage those challenges. Subsequent indigenous leaders took the group in other directions where they touched the lives of teen mothers, people freed from substance abuse, and people under court supervision. Moms in Unity strengthened the lives of many families, and its leaders discovered that they could lead in their congregations, area nonprofits, and their families.

If you'd like to comment on this blog post, please visit Earl's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/earl.james1, where this story was originally posted.

Mae and a Point in My Salvation

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:40:09 GMT

I met Mae when she joined a ministry I helped launch called Moms in Unity, a life development and support group for single moms. She began as just another single, third-generation welfare mom with lots of kids and a past marked by too much drinking and petty theft. She became a Christian a couple of years before we met. She stopped drinking and stealing and began living celibately. Within a year after meeting each other, we became friends; 18 months later, we were ministry partners. However, I never would have guessed, that she also held part of my salvation in her life.

As we came from very different worlds, Mae and I discovered we had lots to discuss; many fresh ideas about developing Moms in Unity emerged from those discussions. Both of us also have strong personalities and, shall we say, we tend to see our own points of view very clearly. We debated as well as discussed. Religion was one of those topics we sometimes debated. My background involved long years of thinking, reading, and living a life of faith largely framed within middle class perspectives. I also have a reformed accent to my theology. Mae had no such religious longevity or accent. She had lived a hard life that gave her early warning alarms when she detected crap in the air. Mae came to Christ when she was about 30. She had a clear, simple, no-nonsense, exuberant faith rooted in her keen awareness that she had been forgiven much.

There were those moments when we debated some aspect of life or religion when she felt free to express her wondering about where my faith really was. Sometimes she would bring out her Bible and say, “Earl, it says right here in his book…and it is his book, Earl, not yours!” For my part, there were moments when I just wished she would see the bigger theological picture! Those debates were open and honest largely, I think, because our friendship was. We learned we could trust each other. And we did so through a good amount of meaningful ministry together.

Now here’s why I write this story.

One afternoon, Mae called me at my job. She was very angry. Someone had stolen the tags off her garbage bags. Mae was raising her own toddler and her little grandchild, and she was poor, so she was making survival choices. For several weeks, she bought milk for her babies instead of purchasing garbage bags. The garbage piled up in one room of her home and pests had come to feed, so this week, she had bought the tags instead of milk. After putting the tagged bags out for the garbage men to pick up, someone stole the tags. Mae was hot and deeply offended.

After listening to her for a few minutes, we prayed together over the phone and said goodbye.

Two days later, she called me back. This time, Mae was happy and shouting praises to God. She told me what had happened.

“Remember what I told you about a couple days ago? Well, after we prayed, I started wondering what God wanted from me. I figured he wanted me to pray for that person. So I did. I asked God to bless him and, if he needed those tags more than I did, that they would bless him. And you know what?”

Now, I knew Mae. I knew what she would tell me. She would say something about how God blessed her.

“Today--just today--somebody came and just gave me a whole roll of stamped garbage bags! Isn’t God good?” She kept praising and thanking God.

The first thing I thought was, “That’s what I thought you would say.”

Then I sat down and dropped the phone. That is what she said. My mind raced. Something struggled to click into place. Then I got it. I realized I probably forgot more about God than Mae would ever know. But Mae knew God, perhaps better than I ever could. If I lost something, I could fall back on my set of knowledge, skills, and relationships and recover. If Mae lost something, she could only fall back on God--and God had her back.

When her exuberant praise quieted, I asked Mae if I could sit at her feet and learn some things from her. Though we have different approaches to God, I said, perhaps I would learn God better if I learned more about how he and she love each other. She laughed and told me my thinking was scrambled. After all, this was not about me learning anything, it was about garbage tags.

That may be, but I knew in my soul that it was also about my salvation.

Image-Bearers of God: A Fundamental Identity for Personal and Community Transformation

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:39:11 GMT

Many of us participate in personal or group ministries through which we hope to honor God and make a difference in people's lives. But what kind of difference do we actually make? If we are seeking change in people, what changes do we intentionally and consistently strive to reach? The church has a helpful word--"transformation." But what is transformation really all about? What picture do we have of transformation at its best? To what are people transformed?

Scripture has a picture of this transformation--we are all image-bearers of God. Perhaps that picture can add value as we seek transformation through our relationships and social or ministry processes.

A basic and fresh framework that can guide any transformational ministry focuses on helping people come alive to be image-bearers of God and to use the power of that identity to develop and grow in their everyday lives.

We are not merely reflections of our parents, our socioeconomic level, our education, or our fortune. We are not defined by the substances we took, the emotions we have, the thoughts we think, or the decisions we've made. We are far more than that. Fundamentally, we are all image-bearers of God. If we do not understand that, then we serve people from a perspective that tragically limits both them and us.

Let's look at a Bible passage that shows aspects of God's character to see if humans reflect those characteristics.

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it..." God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good (Genesis 1:26-28a, 31a).

What does it mean to be an image-bearer of God? Do humans reflect particular characteristics of God? To increase our understanding, let's use the following set of questions. God's characteristics (in bold) are drawn from the passage. Respond to each question with "yes" or "no." As you answer the questions, you may want to refer back to the passage to enrich your thoughts or discussion.

Characteristic #1: God imagines.
Can humans imagine?

Characteristic #2: God thinks in details about things he imagines.
Can humans think in details about things they imagine?

Characteristic #3: God intends to do things he imagines.
Can humans intend to do things they imagine?

Characteristic #4: God calls imagined things into being.
Can humans call imagined things into being?

Characteristic #5: God blesses what he creates.
Can humans bless what they create?

Characteristic #6: God relates one thing he creates with other things he creates.
Can humans relate things they create with other things they create?

Characteristic #7: God celebrates his creations.
Can humans celebrate their creations?

Many of us would say "yes," humans can display each characteristic, except maybe "calls things into being." Some say we as humans cannot do that. Others, though, say that we do reflect that characteristic of God. We can develop plans, work them, and bring into being things that previously only existed in our imagination.

Are these seven characteristics simple? Yes. Are they simplistic? No. They are profound and stand behind existence, both the little things and the unimaginably immense things. We believe that all humans reflect these seven characteristics of God!

How might these seven characteristics of God, reflected in humans, help you think about the rights and potentials of everyone God created? How does this Scripture help you think about how you and your congregation can "side" with God through both in-church and outreach ministries?

Our role is not to make image-bearers. God already did that when he created us. We do, however, play a vital role in helping people--through relationships and social processes--realize, discover, and become alive to the fact that they are image-bearers of God. We also help them live into that image-bearer identity so that they take increasing charge of being an image-bearer in their everyday lives. That is what Jesus was about. That is what membership in the kingdom of God is about. We are Jesus' agents of change in the world. As we help others transform into living image-bearers, we also discover how our own identity as an image-bearer of God continuously transforms us.

The people of God are engaged in many types and numbers of ministries. Some ministries provide temporary help, assisting people through rough times in their lives. Other ministries are designed to improve knowledge, skills, abilities, or conditions of life. Still others help people find their way to a life-giving relationship with God. When we deeply value our Scriptural identity as image-bearers of God, every ministry we are involved with can help people become who God created them to be.

A Dream of Community: Thoughts about a Sermon

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:41:29 GMT

Recently, I read a sermon that the Rev. Dr. James Earl Massey, dean emeritus of Anderson University School of Theology, preached in the 1980s. He spoke compellingly about the need to remember not only the story of Martin Luther King, Jr., but also Dr. King's stance.

All of King's words and actions, Massey said, pointed toward a profound respect for persons—that persons are image-bearers of God and that all our relationships and social systems ought to be focused on the development and destiny of persons. Written as an equation, it would look something like this: community is equal to relationships plus social systems, which shape development and the destiny of persons.

King pursued the dream of the beloved community among races, in the everyday lives of poor people, and inclusive of people groups everywhere by emphasizing the ideals of America rather than its history. To varying extents, many people, groups, and denominations value similar concepts and pursue similar ends as King did:

Community
Relationships
Social systems
Development of persons
Destiny of persons

Sometimes we might wonder if these dreams of the beloved community are just that: dreams. Are they largely theoretical? If not, what are the key pieces that convert the largely theoretical to the primarily practical? Or are these dreams of the beloved community evidence that God embedded them in us because he dreams that his image-bearers shall awaken and make the beloved community a fact?