Land Acknowledgment links:
Telling the truth about the lands we inhabit: https://www.livinglutheran.org/2021/11/48330/
Labor Acknowledgment link: https://www.diverseeducation.com/demographics/african-american/article/15108677/on-labor-acknowledgements-and-honoring-the-sacrifice-of-black-americans
Book recommendation: Call to Allyship: Preparing Your Congregation for Leaders of Color by Angela T !Khabeb
--- --- ---
For this gathering on the fifth Wednesday in July, we were joined by Rev. Sonja Ware, PCC, for the second of multiple learning opportunities on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
This learning opportunity is made possible by a grant awarded to ELCA's Coaching Ministry from the ELCA's Strategy for Authentic Diversity team. This second module is about using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) as a tool to grow intercultural competence.
Have you been wondering about how to stay committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives in the current political climate? Are you looking for tools to help congregational leaders bridge a polarized political spectrum? Are you seeking to understand minority and marginalized communities and address your own inner obstruction spots?
This session offers an introduction to the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and its Growth Continuum between a Monocultural and an Intercultural Mindset. It offers a nonjudgmental environment to learn more about the multidimensional spectrum of intercultural growth. In addition, the IDI offers a cross-culturally generalizable and reliable assessment in a 50-item questionnaire, which gives participants feedback about where they find themselves on the continuum according to their answers. An additional individualized Intercultural Development Plan shares opportunities for next steps to grow further in one’s own intercultural competence.
This introductory session offers an overview of the IDI and the continuum it uses. Participants will be offered detailed insight into the stages of the continuum, as well as the opportunities ELCA Coaching offers for taking the IDI Assessment.
(ELCA Coaching is collaborating with Jill Beverlin and Jason O'Neill to facilitate our gatherings on the fifth Wednesdays in 2025.)
"Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion." -- bell hooks, All About Love
--- --- ---
We began gathering online with faith leaders* in March of 2020 to wrestle together with Being Church in a global pandemic, which transitioned over the summer of 2021 to Courageous Leadership, as COVID revealed our perceptions and misconceptions about most things in life. We continue to discern where Spirit might be collectively leading us as people of faith. Jesus is our primary model as we move toward Creating Beloved Community: Healing Together to learn together and experiment in community with a variety of spiritual practices and focus areas.
We believe this is in attunement with our call as Christians from:
- Scripture and our expanding understanding and expression of love for ALL of our neighbors
- MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail and Vision of the Beloved Community
- What Is the Beloved Community and Why Is It Important?
- The Idea of the Beloved Community: The creative friendship of Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh
- ELCA Teaching, and especially our "connection to all of life"
- ELCA Living Our Baptismal Covenant
- ELCA Truth and Healing Movement (facilitated by ELCA's Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations)
- ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations
- Dr. Shawn Ginwright's The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves
- And so many other diverse voices and sacred ways we engage with each other and with the world.
* An important definition: The coaching ministry defines "faith leaders" as all members of the Body | "priesthood of all believers"| Beloved Community, so even if you do not feel like you are a leader, you are welcome in this space.
--- --- ---
To answer some commonly asked questions about these regular gatherings:
"Why are you still meeting?" "Don't become too familiar with loneliness. Community is a risk, but liberation depends on the collective. Who can you trust to hold you?" -- Cole Arthur Riley, author of Black Liturgies
"How can I prepare?" Beloved Community members pay attention and listen actively. We invite you to bring a spirit of curiosity and openness to these gatherings and to all aspects of your life. What are you noticing? Where is Spirit moving? How are you being invited to participate in the work God is already doing, especially outside the walls of the building where the church often gathers?
"What if I'm not a group person?" Beloved Community members take calculated risks. We invite you to take a small step outside your comfort zone and allow yourself to be seen and witnessed. We can almost guarantee that you will be pleasantly surprised by the loving, caring, and nurturing nature of community in this time together.
