Tools for the Racial Justice Journey
We offer tools designed to support congregations in undertaking the four key steps in the work of antiracism:
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Understand systemic racism
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Build relationships across the divide of race
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Take action vs. systemic racism
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Sustain our work over the long term
Click on the step you're interested to see the tools for that area. This is a growing section, so keep an eye out for new additions! And then bear in mind that while we provide a series of free tools for the public at large on this website, we develop further tools that are available on the Interwoven Congregations Network.
I. Understanding Systemic Racism
Congregational Antiracism Survey
Where is your congregation on its antiracism journey? Use Interwoven's Congregational Antiracism Survey to gauge where your faith community is and what some next steps might be. This is useful for congregations that are just starting out as well as those that have been "at it" for a while, but want to reassess their progress. Request your custom survey today.
Join a Small Group Study
We get it. Book studies on their own, if that's all we do, are of limited value. BUT, if we yoke these studies to our commitment for action, they become powerful catalysts for personal and congregational transformation. Sign up for an Interwoven study group with others from around the country at the Interwoven Network -- Discussion & Study Hub or tell us of your interest here.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Twenty-four people joined together from across the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands and Ghana to present in its entirety Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. It also includes the precipitating letter, on Good Friday of 1963, from 8 white clergy advising Dr. King to slow things down. Here is the FULL event recording from this epic epistle which could well serve as the manifesto of the Civil Rights movement and still speaks with clarity and urgency today.
"On Juneteenth"
We held a public reading of excerpts from Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed's powerful and very personal text "On Juneteenth." Through poignant historical recountings of the founding of Texas, the experience of slavery and Jim Crow in the Lone Start state, and her personal experience of growing up in Conroe, TX, Dr. Gordon-Reed brings home the significance of Juneteenth. You can access the FULL event recording or the event in two parts. (Part I and Part II ) if you would like to host a viewing and discussion over two separate dates.
Take a 10-minute Pilgrimage
Do you have 10 minutes? Join us from a 2023 pilgrimage. Walk across the William Pettis Bridge in Selma; stand transfixed at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery; ponder the day of that blast in Birmingham; and imagine sitting in the pew at Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta. This taste can give you a vision of what your own congregation can experience. Want to go on a pilgrimage for real? Let us know so we can keep you posted about Interwoven sponsored pilgrimage opportunities!
Listen to the Stories
It's powerful to hear people's stories. So a meaningful exercise for a congregation is to do a series of interviews with people in your congregation (and perhaps with a partner congregation) around a key question: What life story can you share that shows how race or privilege has impacted your life?" Interwoven had the privilege of asking that question (and two others) to two congregations that partner in the Washington, D.C. area. Watch a film or read an article about those responses. What would it mean for your congregation?
II. Building Relationships across the Divide of Race
Partnership Guide (coming soon)
To what degree do members of your congregation have authentic relationships with people across the barrier of race? Does your congregation have a formal partnership with another congregation with a largely different racial composition than your own? Why should we pursue such relationships and how? This guide is an invitation to connection and transformation.
Conversation Cards
How do we hold conversations over the often senstive and painful topic of race? The Interwoven Congregations Conversation Cards are a tool for individuals and congregations to enter into deeper, more meaningful dialogue around the issue of race. Each deck contains 40 discussion prompts that lead us as individuals and congregations to consider our past, our present, and what we'll do next to promote racial justice and healing. Cards available for sale @ August 15th.
How Segregated is your Life?(Coming Soon)
How segregated WAS your life during your growing up years? And how segregated would you say your life is TODAY? In this soon-to-be-released survey instrument, Interwoven offer you a tool to examine the degree to which you have developed relationships across the divide of race in all the different spheres of your life. The results might surprise you, and you may find they point out opportunities for growth and new found joy in your life.
III. Taking Action against Systemic Racism
Partnering with Antiracism Organizations
Many congregations are discovering that a way to enact systems change is to get behind a racial justice organization led by people of color, such as the NAACP. This Roundtable recording shares 7 ways that congregations can partner with the NAACP and use the congregation's time, talents and resources to promote racial justice and healing.
Antiracism Assessment
Doing racial justice begins at home. This Congregational Antiracism Assessment tool is a guide for congregations to use to assess their own house. What were the circumstances of your founding? What is our racial membership history? How diverse are the theological resources used in worship or in the art on the walls? Where do you bank? This assessment is just the beginning -- not just a checklist, but a pathway to congregational self-discovery and action.
Taking Action Case Studies
Issue #9 of the Interwoven Congregations Quarterly featured three case studies of people of faith DOING racial justice. Read an in-depth profile of the partnership between Calloway United Methodist and Rock Spring UCC in Virginia; a snapshot from Topeka JUMP (a DART initiative); and the hope offered by the Reimaging America Project in Charlotte, NC.
IV. Sustaining our Work for Racial Justice
Scriptures for Racial Justice and Healing
For many, it may be the voice of Isaiah or Amos, or perhaps the words from Matthew 25 or the parable in the gospel of Luke about "And who is neighbor?" that inspires us, challenges us, encourages us, and equips us to work for racial justice. Interwoven has captured more than 100 Biblical passages and organized them across 24 themes to resource clergy and lay leaders for preaching and Bible study, and everyone for devotional use. Are we missing a passage that motivates your work for racial justice and healing? Let us know!
Racial Trauma Webinar Recording
Janet Thompson Jackson (full disclosure, the wife of Rev. Pat Jackson) offered this valuable webinar on "Understanding and Healing Racial Trauma." In the webinar, Janet explored the meaning of trauma and how it is experienced interpersonally, institutionally, structurally, and intergenerationally. In the second half of the webinar, she focused on the intersection of racial trauma and wellbeing, and in an interactive way provided information and tools to help heal racial trauma.
Racial Justice Devotional (Coming soon)
People from across the U.S.,the U.K. and the Netherlands are contributing personal reflections to this upcoming Racial Justice Devotional which is meant to spiritually support people in their racial justice journey. This devotional draws upon scriptures from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. A future devotional will offer an interfaith perspective.