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Righteousness Seminar Focuses on Race, Ethnicity, Change
By Lisa Hutcherson
TACOMA, WA (October 18, 2005) - (Editor's note: the following was written
by Lisa Hutcherson, who with her husband, Darryl, pastor Tapestry
Covenant Church. The article focuses on an Invitation to Racial
Righteousness seminar recently conducted at the church.)
Tapestry Covenant Church began with this Bible passage as its
foundational scripture: O Lord, may we as your people be woven into a
tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of you
(Colossians 2:2 from "The Message"). The congregation's motto is
built on that scriptural foundation - "Weaving a multicultural church
for a diverse generation in the 21st Century."
The Invitation to Racial Righteousness (IRR) experience challenged
Tapestry to go beyond the words we have been reciting since this church
plant's inception. The purpose of the seminar is to expose us to issues
surrounding race and ethnicity and to challenge us to create personal
and corporate change based on righteousness principles.
During our experience as a church family, we were indeed challenged. We
were real with one another and set free in some very deep places.
Everyone came with expectations, goals and objectives that were shared
with one another as we gathered around our community tables
(accompanying photo shows seminar participants). Many felt that sitting
with the same group of people at their table through out the weekend
allowed for more personal and deeper ways of tackling the issues of
race, racism and prejudice.
The IRR seminar came to Tapestry at a pivotal time in the life of this
multiethnic church. The congregation was pressed to go beyond its pseudo
(surface) multicultural relationships – pressed to deeper places that
allowed us to live out M. Scott Peck's Community Building model.
"To accomplish, or at least start moving towards real community, we must
enter into chaos and then into emptying before we can authentically
reach true community," says Peck in his book The Different Drum.
Basically, what that means is that we have to get real with one another
in order to have authentic relationships with each other. The first
evening of our training, we addressed the matter of chaos, which for
many was an uncomfortable topic, but we decided that we would commit to
staying with it through the anger, tears and frustration. It was only by
the grace of God that we had this experience together. We could not do
it alone.
The Invitation to Racial Righteousness seminar is a powerful way to
expose the injustices that surround us daily - not just in our
communities and churches, but also in the systems in our society by
which we live. One of the white female participants said, "All of what's
happening concerning the issue of race makes me angry," to which one of
the African American women responded, "I am glad that you are angry, but
I need you to do more than get angry. I need you to lock arms with me
and do something about it! When it's all said and done, what are we
going to do about it?"
The seminar allowed us to get a glimpse of what God is doing in and
through us, his people. It was an awesome privilege to participate with
Tapestry Covenant in their journey toward racial righteousness and to
sense the Holy Spirit's movement in the life of the Body of Christ.
Those who were in attendance at Tapestry were touched and moved by the
Spirit to see their part in the Kingdom here on earth. This experience
challenges us to live out the scripture found in Colossians, the motto
upon which Tapestry Covenant Church stands in real authentic community.
(Editor's note: The Invitation to Racial Righteousness seminar was
facilitated by Lisa and Carolyn Poterek, both of whom were trained as
seminar facilitators in January and serve as facilitators for the North
Pacific Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. The seminar is
offered by the Department of Christian Formation in cooperation with
Compassion and Justice Ministries. To learn more about the program,
contact Debbie Blue of Christian Formation at debbie.blue@covchurch.org
or Linda McIntosh at linda.mcintosh@covchurch.org.)
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