HOW WOULD YOUR CHURCH RESPOND?
Let me offer you a sample of how you might make use of your congregational email list to engage your congregation in a church wide conversation exploring the way your church might engage in a ministry that addresses the issue of racism in our society.
In preparation for this process, you need to assemble a couple of volunteers who will assist you in summarizing the responses in a form that can be sent back out to your members. What you are doing is building an image of your congregation as expressed by this church-wide email conversation.
Each Tuesday, (or maybe every-other Tuesday, to allow time to summarize the responses and return the results to the congregation) all members will be sent these emails in sequence.
After every email question, build a composite summary and send it back to the congregation for reflection.
POSSIBLE CHAIN QUESTIONS FOR CHURCH EMAILS
Begin with a simple, non-threatening questions about what drew us together as a congregation. (Place a deadline on when responses will be received and then have your task force put them together as a picture of the church’s overall response.)
1. What were the ordinary life experiences that attracted you to be part of this congregation?
2. Looking at the composite picture based on responses from the first question, assume for a moment that God has some intentions for us as a church. What are two or three possibilities of how God, given our diversity and gifts, might invite us to special ministries that speak to the racial tensions in our society?
3. Make two or three brief statements describing how a church’s developing anti-racist ministry might have some parallels with the wilderness experience of Israel. What are the challenges and what does the Promised Land of success look like? Try to list one or two positive and one or two negative possibilities.
4. The Israelites engaged in several practices that kept them in communion with God during their often uncomfortable journey. Considering that engaging in anti-racist ministry might cause us special stresses and discomforts on our journey, what spiritual practices should we emphasize to stay in touch with God who calls us.
5. If we are going to live together as a family of faith while we face the wilderness of racism, what are two or three commandments that might protect our relationships. Use the model of the original ten commandments, “Thou shalt Not . . .” What shall we agree “not to do” in relating to the other members of the congregation as we proceed.
6. The letter to the Hebrews suggest that one of the reasons God wanted the people to journey through the wilderness was to learn that in both good times and bad times they could TRUST God. Facing the issue of racism, and the discomforts it causes in our society as our personal church’s wilderness, what are some examples of how our experience might teach us how to trust God in these uncertain times.
7. Since people who live in our neighborhood or hear about us in the media are going to draw conclusions from what they see, what are some conclusions you would like them to draw?
As you and your church leadership consider this, what do you think might be the impact on the spiritual growth of the congregation and its membership?
You might want to look at this link for further suggestions: Racism and God’s Grace: Truth and Reconciliation for American churches. http://bit.ly/RacismandGrace
