Engaging in Multicultural Ministry

Check out this collection of Unitarian Universalist resources to help increase your congregation’s intentional multicultural ministry and racial justice work!

Introductory Offerings

• Keep Talking, Start Doing: An online resource from Multicultural Ministries lifting up ten ways to deepen congregations’ multiculturalism journeys.
   
• Catalyst Newsletter: A monthly electronic newsletter on racial and ethnic concerns from Multicultural Ministries. Subscribe online!
   
• Mosaic Makers Facebook Group: A diverse learning community for congregations and Unitarian Universalists (UUs) engaged in intentional multiracial, multicultural ministry. Join the conversation!
   
• Standing on the Side of Love: A public advocacy campaign that offers a platform for UUs and other people of faith to challenge oppression and violence based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other identities. Use Standing on the Side of Love to expand your social justice commitment to racial justice and multicultural ministry.
   
• Congregational Stories & Best Practices: A collection of stories of transformative justice ministry including the action steps and resources each congregation used.
   
• Video Loan Library: A library of videos relating to anti-racism and multiculturalism that can be borrowed by UU congregations, districts, and individuals for congregational or private showings. Organize a film screening or a film series with discussions!
   
• Recommended Books: An online list of recommended books for engagement with anti-racism and multiculturalism. Great books for congregational discussion include Soul Work by Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley and Nancy Palmer Jones; Privilege, Power, and Difference (2nd ed.) by Allan G. Johnson; and Salsa, Soul, and Spirit by Juana Bordas.
   
• Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Common Read: A yearly association-wide common read program with companion study materials for individuals and groups.
   
• Multicultural Welcome: A Resource for Greeters: A free online training resource for greeters that builds awareness around full and true welcome and offers strategies for developing competencies of inclusion and practicing your welcome. A companion workshop is forthcoming.
   
• Weaving the Fabric of Diversity: A classic UU religious education curriculum (currently out of print but still available from many district offices). The eight sessions include workshops on racism, ableism, classism, heterosexism, and ageism and help UUs acquire skills to build relationships across cultural divisions.
   
• A Chorus of Faiths: A free, online Tapestry of Faith curriculum targeted to high-school-aged youth but appropriate for adults and/or multigenerational groups. Offers eight workshops that help UUs prepare for interfaith engagement.
   
• Standing on the Side of Love Webinars: Regular webinars from Standing on the Side of Love are held on topics relating to anti-oppression.
   
• Social Justice Calendar: A calendar of social justice days along with worship resources, action campaigns, and educational materials to help you tie your congregational year into multicultural social justice ministry.
   
• Inspired Faith, Effective Action: A social justice workbook for congregations, available for free online, designed to help congregations do faith-based, accountable, strategic, effective social justice work.
   
• Beyond Categorical Thinking: A 3-hour workshop led by experienced facilitators that promotes inclusivity and strives to help prevent bias in the ministerial search process.

Intermediate Offerings

• Building the World We Dream About: A self-administered, experiential program that empowers UUs to become more welcoming of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity, and to dismantle racism within and outside the congregation. A curriculum of twenty-four 2-hour workshops is available for free online, and a new young adult version has just been released (eight 2-hour sessions).
   
• Introductory Building the World We Dream About Workshop: Half-day introductory workshops offered by Multicultural Ministries to help congregations kick-start a powerful program.
   
• Welcoming Congregation Program and Refresher Programs: Self-administered and able to be custom designed by a congregation to best deepen its welcome of all, these programs can offer programming on welcome and inclusion of people of all races, ethnicities, and cultures, particularly in terms of how race, ethnicity, and culture intersect with gender identity and sexual orientation.
   
• “Immigration as a Moral Issue” Study Guide: Created to help UUs engage with the 2010–2014 Congregational Study/Action Issue, this free online study guide includes a six week introductory curriculum, as well listing additional organizations and resources to help with further study and action.
   
• Examining Whiteness: An Anti-Racism Curriculum: Authored by Rev. Dr. Bill Gardiner and available for free online, this self-administered 6-8 module curriculum is intended for white individuals and groups who want to further deepen their white anti-racist identities.
   
• Social Justice Empowerment: A one-day workshop led by an experienced facilitator that helps assess the quality and effectiveness of your social justice program and how you can best put your faith into practice. Available for congregations, clusters of congregations, or district/regional events.
   
• UU Conferences and Events: Annual anti-racism and/or racial justice gatherings are held in the Southeast District, the Joseph Priestley District, the Metro New York District, the Mountain Desert District, and the Clara Barton/Mass Bay Districts. Diverse & Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM) and UU Allies for Racial Equity also hold regular conferences and gatherings.
   
• Living Legacy Pilgrimage: A week-long journey through Mississippi and Alabama, where participants visit major sites of the Civil Rights Movement and meet with veterans of that Movement. It lays groundwork for deepening one’s commitment to work on the issues of race, oppression, and injustice that still bedevil Unitarian Universalism.

Advanced Offerings

• Jubilee Anti-Racism Training: Previously called Jubilee II, this two-and-a-half-day power analysis of racism led by two experienced trainers has been called “our most effective tool for transformation around racial justice and inclusion.” This workshop is designed for congregations, districts, regions, and other organizations looking for an intensive, advanced anti-racism training.
   
• Diversity of Ministry Initiative: A program that provides extensive support from UUA staff to specific congregations that commit to do intentional work around anti-racist multiculturalism in order to pave the way for successful, long-term settlements for ministers of color.
   
• JUUST Change: A custom-fit consultancy that meets congregations, districts, and other groups where they are. Leaders work with an experienced consultant to analyze the justice work already in process, identify next steps, and create a plan for transformation grounded in anti-oppression.