Last year the Racial Equity & Justice Ministry (REJM), with the support and collaboration of our community partner, the Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement (CLNE), hosted over 100 Nativity members in taking the IDI Assessment and over 80 Nativity members for a dynamic presentation of our collective results with Joe Davis and Dave Scherer of Just Move. The Nativity congregation fell right in the middle of the spectrum, showing that we’re committed to racial equity and justice and that we have some collective room to grow.
Although CLNE has now ended their ministry as a formal organization, REJM continues to support our community in moving up the spectrum of increased intercultural competency and awareness and has contracted with Deacon Dan Bielenberg for those efforts. To welcome Deacon Dan, please feel encouraged to email him directly @ danbielenberg@gmail.com to let him know why Racial Equity & Justice matters to your faith life and to our shared values as a community.
Specifically, REJM continues to carry out the legacy of Dr. Kelly Sherman-Conroy at Nativity by managing and updating both the Little Social Justice Library for youth outside our building and our full sized, all ages Social Justice Library in the Commons. We are also working with Nativity Council on a holistic Land Acknowledgement while looking for related partnerships to take authentic action in supporting our indigenous siblings in our extended community.
We’re also planning to bring back REJM Movie Nights this August and are looking to update artwork in our building to more closely resemble our inclusive and affirming values of diversity. Additionally, our ministry members are discerning how REJM relates to and can support inclusive housing practices through our congregation’s work with Beacon Interfaith Housing and how REJM’s programming may dovetail with Anti-Christian Nationalism efforts. Following these initiatives over the next two to three years’ time, we will host another church-wide IDI Assessment with another dynamic share-out of the results to see how much we have grown.
To learn more about REJM or to support one of these initiatives directly, you can email REJM Chair Terri Warren at t-warren07@comcast.net.