Churches Teach Each Other About Their Strengths
March 15, 2008
Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church at Camp Springs, MD, has done pretty well at creating a church home that is welcoming to people of color. It hasn’t been as good, says its minister, the Rev. John Crestwell, at welcoming folks who are bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender (BGLT).Down the road a half hour, the UU Church of Silver Spring, MD, has the opposite situation. It has what its minister, the Rev. Elizabeth Lerner, calls “a healthy proportion” of people who are BGLT. And while it has some members and friends of color, it would like to do better.
Lerner, whose church has 375 members, says, “I have felt challenged in terms of how our multiculturalism has gone at church. But BGLT is our big success story. We’ve been a Welcoming Congregation for ten years. We have lots of BGLT folks in leadership. We’re really at that place where someone is not thought of as gay, but just as that great voice in the choir.”
Davies has a congregation of 150, of which about a third are people of color. But there are few BGLT people. “We’re working on it, but we’re not there yet,” says Crestwell.
Crestwell and Lerner decided their congregations could learn from each other. And that’s why on Saturday, October 20, people from both congregations gathered at the Silver Spring church for worship, discussion, lunch, and small group conversation. And then on Saturday, November 10, members of both congregations gathered at Davies. Crestwell and Lerner had prepared their congregations for these sessions, called “Letting the Springs Flow,” with a worship service in advance.
The Silver Spring gathering had a panel discussion on how important the Welcoming Congregation program has been for that congregation. At Davies there was a PowerPoint presentation on racial diversity. And more conversation.
“This was all very free flowing,” says Crestwell. “The synergy between our congregations was great.” He says they hope that both churches have been inspired by each other’s work to “continue down the path to be welcoming to all people.”
Lerner adds, “This was a totally different model than anyone had seen before. It wasn’t experts talking to us. It was us talking to and learning from each other. These sessions could have been considered burdensome, but the opportunity to come and share something that we do well helped people to be motivated.”
Before the sessions took place Davies had begun the process of becoming a Welcoming Congregation. Crestwell says those conversations are continuing.
Lerner says, “We gained a group of lay people who feel newly equipped with knowledge and newly fired up to engage on this issue. A few people came away saying ‘I think we’re going to do it this time.’ We’re talking about doing different workshops and about holding conversations with our members who are part of multicultural families about why they’re here.” Silver Spring is also starting an ADORE group. Davies has a similar group. ADORE, A Dialogue On Race and Ethnicity, was organized at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, DC, as a monthly discussion of race and ethnicity and ways to dismantle racism.
Lerner adds, “I hear from our members of color that they’re more fired up about welcoming other folks of color now. This process has made them feel more certain that other people like themselves can be welcomed and find a place here.”
Resources
Welcoming Congregation is a Unitarian Universalist Association program through the Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns, designed to help congregations become intentionally welcoming to BGLT people. More information >
For more information contact interconnections @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
