Engaging in Multicultural Ministry

Check out this collection of Unitarian Universalist (UU) 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 & Welcoming Congregation Bulletin: Electronic newsletters on racial and ethnic concerns and deppening Welcoming Congregation work, respectively, from Multicultural Ministries.
  • Just Acts and other social justice newsletters from the UUA: Electronic newsletters on social justice topics.
  • 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.
  • Congregational Stories & Best Practices: A collection of stories of transformative justice ministry including the action steps and resources each congregation used.
  • Recommended Books: Great books for congregational discussion include Soul Work by Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley and Nancy Palmer Jones; Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan G. Johnson; and Salsa, Soul, and Spirit by Juana Bordas.
  • Black Lives Matter and the New Jim Crow: A collection of resources to support engagement with the struggle against the racial profiling, criminalization, disenfranchisement, and mass incarceration of people of color. You can also connect with other UUs involved in this growing movement through a Facebook group on this topic.
  • Doctrine of Discovery: Taking Action on the 2012 Resolution: A collection of study materials, justice actions, and planning materials related to the GA 2012 resolution calling on UUs to repudiate and study the Doctrine of Discovery in order to eliminate its presence from the current-day policies, programs, theologies, and structures of Unitarian Universalism.
  • Multicultural Welcome: A Resource for Greeters (PDF): A free online training resource 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 Programming: 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.
  • UU Conferences and Events: In addition to the Mosaic Makers Conference, regular anti-racism / racial justice gatherings are held in the MidamericaSouthern, Central East, and New England Regions. Diverse & Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM) and UU Allies for Racial Equity also hold regular events and gatherings.
  • Living Legacy Pilgrimage: A week-long journey through Mississippi and Alabama to visit sites and veterans of the Civil Rights Movement, laying the groundwork for deepening one’s commitment to work on issues of race, oppression, and injustice within 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.

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