Multiracial Ministries: Assessment ToolsSelf-Discovery ExerciseOnce you have broached the subject of embracing a multiracial future with your consistory or leadership team, you may find that you need a visual tool in order to touch their hearts and open up a new dialogue. Several churches and organizations have found that this self-discovery exercise works well. The exercise works best in a multicultural group setting, and should be conducted with sensitivity and care. The exercise itself is simple: 1. Have your group line up shoulder to shoulder in a large room.
2. Ask a few questions like the ones Peggy McIntosh mentions in "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Read a review on McIntosh's article.
3. For each question, have participants take one step back if they answer "no" and one step forward if they answer "yes." Depending on the size of the room, give participants an idea of what size steps they should take.
This exercise will expose how ethnicity and white privilege affect our lives in both conscious and unconscious ways. If you choose to lead your group through this type of discovery, read a book such as Joseph Barndt's Understanding and Dismantling Racism (read a review) for suggestions on how to pastorally guide your team through the emotions and truth that this exercise will reveal. You can also email Beryl Banks at beryl_banks@yahoo.com for assistance. A Continuum of Multiracial/Multiethnic/Multicultural Congregational Living in the RCA (PDF). This continuum is intended to help congregations think clearly about where they are and identify some next steps to take as they move towards their multiracial future. Contact Earl James, coordinator of multiracial initiatives and social justice, at (616) 698-7071 or ejames@rca.org for vision casting, suggestions, planning, implementation coaching, or evaluation. Institutional Racism Power Point Presentation: Defining the Term for Use in the RCA. This tool provides you with an opportunity to: - Review rationale and process for developing the definition for "institutional racism"
- Review the definition
- Test your understanding of the definition against two cases
- Provide feedback on your assessments of the definition
 Crossroads Anti-Racism Training. The Multiracial Congregation Team wants to help prepare the church for God's Revelation 7 vision of a great multitude from every nation and tribe and people and language. Crossroads anti-racism training can be a tool for change. Crossroads provides the following information about their training: "A new way of thinking and acting is required if racism is to be dismantled. Crossroads provides a process to assist institutions in the development of specific action plans that help dismantle personal, cultural and institutional racism. Crossroads facilitates an intensive process to develop a new anti-racism training model aimed toward institutional transformation. The model was developed through an action and reflection process that included development of experimental projects in seven settings in Chicago and throughout the United States. Now, along with a variety of other approaches, programs and resources, this model is being implemented locally and nationally to help institutions recognize their enormous potential to dismantle systemic racism and to build a new racial justice agenda in the United States." Contact an MRCT member for more information on how to bring Crossroads anti-racism training to your church or organization. "The U.S. Congregational Life Survey is the largest and most representative profile of worshipers and their congregations ever developed in the United States," says the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), one of the RCA's ecumenical partners. Although this study is about the PCUSA, you may well find their analysis and conclusions helpful in your ministry setting. Many conclusions are drawn about multiracial ministry, too. Check it out at www.uscongregations.org. This survey: - Examines congregational vitality to help congregations renew and enrich their mission
- Describes the American religious landscape in the new millennium based on input from over 300,000 worshipers in more than 2,000 congregations across the United States
- Provides your congregation with the opportunity to learn about your unique strengths
Project Implicit"Most of us would like to think that we are not racist. But could we harbor prejudices that we may not even be aware of? NBC's Sara James began a show recently with this question. For most of us this assumption (not being racist) is based upon the lack of overt or explicit behavior. There is a tool to give leaders a safe environment to come face to face with their blind spots, such as racism, and then begin working on the same. A consortium of universities (e.g., Harvard) came up with the test, which is called "Project Implicit." If you take this test and it reveals hidden racial bias, consider it a gift from God. "Warn an understanding person and he will gain more knowledge" (Proverbs 19:25). But whatever you do, do not sit on the knowledge; let the MRCT help you turn it into a blessing!
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