1. BECOMING A MULTI-RACIAL, MULTI-CULTURAL CONGREGATION ANNETTE MARQUIS, DISTRICT EXECUTIVE THOMAS JEFFERSON DISTRICT UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION Reality or Fantasy?

2. If, recognizing the interdependence of all life, we strive to build community, the strength we gather will be our salvation. If you are black and I am white, IT WILL NOT MATTER. If you are female and I am male, IT WILL NOT MATTER If you are older and I am younger, IT WILL NOT MATTER. If you are liberal and I am conservative, IT WILL NOT MATTER. If you are straight and I am gay, IT WILL NOT MATTER. If you are Christian and I am Jewish, IT WILL NOT MATTER If we join spirits as brothers and sisters, The pain of our aloneness will be lessened… And that does matter. IN THIS SPIRIT, WE BUILD COMMUNITY and MOVE TOWARD RESTORATION A Litany of Restoration by Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley

3. What is a multi-racial, multi-cultural congregation? A congregation where no one racial group comprises more than 80% of the membership Michael Emerson, United by Faith

4. Common comments about a becoming MR/MC congregation We welcome everyone but People of Color just don’t come or if they come, they don’t come back. We aren’t Christian enough.There are no People of Color in our community.We don’t have anything here for them.

7. VISION STATEMENT of the MIDDLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH Adopted March 6, 2005 by the Middle Collegiate Church Consistory Middle Collegiate Church is a celebrating, culturally diverse, inclusive and growing community of faith where all persons are welcomed just as they are as they come through the door. Rooted in Christian tradition as the oldest continuous Protestant Church in America, Middle Church is called by God to boldly do a new thing on the earth. As a teaching congregation that celebrates the arts, our ministries include rich and meaningful worship, care and education that nurture the mind, body and spirit, social action which embraces the global community, and participation in interfaith dialogue for the purpose of justice and reconciliation.

8. Assessing Your Readiness DemographicsHistory/TraditionLeadershipCongregational CultureWorship ExperienceEducational ProgramsOutreach Efforts Developed by the Rev. Dr. Curtiss De Young, professor of Reconciliation at Bethel University

9. Demographics What races and/or cultures are represented in the membership of the congregation? The worship service attendance? The constituency? The surrounding neighborhood? The town or city? Estimate a percentage breakdown for each answer. How do the demographics of your setting enhance or inhibit developing and/or sustaining a multiracial congregation?

10. History/Tradition What races and/or cultures are represented in the membership of the congregation’s national denomination, historically and presently? How does your denominational tradition enhance or inhibit developing and/or sustaining a multiracial congregation?

11. Leadership What races and/or cultures are represented in the clergy of your congregation? the paid staff? the lay leadership?

12. Leadership In what ways are your clergy and lay leaders living lives that are interracial and multicultural? How do your clergy and lay leadership enhance or inhibit developing and/or sustaining a multiracial congregation?

13. Congregational Culture Does your congregation maintain aspects of the separate cultures represented in the membership? Note some ways this happens. When members join from cultures or races not previously represented in the congregation, how does this change the culture of the congregation? How would you describe the social interaction among members across race and culture (superficial, a few individual friendships, a few family to family connections, a congregation wide embrace of deep relationships, or use your own descriptor)?

14. Congregational Culture What are the ways racial and cultural prejudices is addressed among members of the congregation (cultural diversity awareness seminars, antiracism training, mediation, other)? How does your congregation respond to interracial dating and marriage? Has your congregation examined how the structures and practices of the congregation may contribute to ongoing racism? If so, what happened as a result of this process? Are prayer and spiritual disciplines a part of reconciliation initiatives in your congregation?

15. Worship Experience Describe the worship and music in your congregation? How does this reflect the races and cultures represented in your congregation? In your neighborhood? Do your worship leaders and musicians reflect the diversity in the congregation? In the neighborhood? Describe the artwork in your congregation? How does this reflect the races and cultures represented in your congregation? In your neighborhood? Describe the preaching in your congregation? How does this reflect the races and cultures represented in your congregation? In your neighborhood? Do the persons preaching and teaching reflect the diversity in the congregation? In the neighborhood?

16. Educational Programs Do the participants in these groups reflect the racial and cultural make up of the congregation? If not, why? What is the racial and cultural diversity of the teachers and facilitators of these groups? Does the curriculum (and guest speakers) used in Sunday School, youth group, adult forums, small groups, discipleship classes, and the like, employ stories, anecdotes, pictures, and worldviews associated with a wide range of cultural and racial perspectives?

17. Outreach Efforts Do the social justice and outreach programs of your congregation reflect the concerns of people from a diversity of races and cultures? Cite some examples. What is the racial, cultural, and economic make up of the persons who serve as staff and volunteers in your social programs? What is the racial, cultural, and economic make up of those persons served by your congregation’s social programs? How do your answers to these two questions reflect on your vision of a multiracial congregation? Describe the evangelism efforts of your congregation in terms of race and culture?

18. Resources UUA Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression, Multicultural (ARAOMC) Resources http://www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/arao mc/index.shtml DRUUMM, a UU People of Color org. http://druumm.org Allies for Racial Equity, a UU white allies org. www.uuallies.org

21. Church Websites Middle Collegiate Church http://www.middlechurch.org Davies Memorial UU Church http://www.dmuuc.org All Souls, Unitarian http://www.all-souls.org First Unitarian Church of San Jose http://sanjoseuu.org

22. Q uestions