Black History/Black Futures Month: Reflections from the EDM
Risky love. Contradictory possibilities within Christianity. Revolutionary ends. Prayer, praise, and play. Truth telling. Freedom to desire everyone’s freedom.
I began a 5-week course with Wrencher Collaborative and those thoughts are among the many lingering from the group’s first conversation. I get a lot of newsletters and I’m glad I opened the January email from New Church Ministry that highlighted this opportunity. The course is closed for registration but future opportunities will be offered.
For those of us who are “looking for a fresh, decentralized, and decolonized approach to mission and discipleship” and who “want to be inspired by stories of ordinary disciples growing in decolonized faith that informs their social action,” the course aims to provide “tools and language to share with your church or organization to get started with developing leaders and communities of decolonized practice.”
Tools and language: sounds like our Building an Inclusive Church Toolkit Trainings.
What is decolonization?
Provided with a range of definitions, we were invited to shape our own meanings.
From Decolonization & Indigenization:
“Decolonization is the process of deconstructing colonial ideologies of the superiority and privilege of Western thought and approaches. On the one hand, decolonization involves dismantling structures that perpetuate the status quo and addressing unbalanced power dynamics.”
From William & Mary’s Decolonizing Humanities Project:
“[To] re-learn the knowledge that has been pushed aside, forgotten, buried or discredited by the forces of modernity, settler-colonialism, and racial capitalism…Therefore, as a method, it aspires to restore, elevate, renew, rediscover, and acknowledge and validate the the multiplicity of lives, lived-experiences, culture and knowledge of indigenous people, [Black people], people of color, and colonized people as well as to decenter hetero/cis-normativity, gender hierarchies and racial privilege.”
From participants:
“Decolonization means to deconstruct or unpack the toxic ideologies, behaviors, and systems of white supremacy, followed by a lifestyle of integrity and repentance towards the marginalized groups through reparations and restoration.”
“To return to who our Creator meant us to be.”
“Free of. Free from. Free for. Free for fullness of life.”
Facilitators Brandon and Erica Wrencher emphasized that we are not to be consumers of knowledge. The invitation is to practice. Embody. I’m learning AND UNLEARNING and I’m practicing. AllianceQ is learning AND UNLEARNING and practicing.
What will you practice and embody this month? This Black History and Black Futures Month and each month.
In our learning, unlearning, and practicing, the Council has identified values and priorities for our work. The Alliance vision and mission statements have been adapted. Read about the small, BIG changes here.