September 15
90-minute Presbyterian Outlook webinar
Presented by Kerry Connelly
Sponsored by Presbyterian Publishing — Free of charge to participants
View the replay of the webinar here.
There is no denying what history makes clear: Systemic racism in America is deeply entwined with the history of the institutional church. Even today, the church must look at our complicity — which at times has been overt, and other times the product of mere silence. The good news – and there is good news – is that church is in the business of redemption and prophetic imagination. That means that the church can lead toward a more just world that truly resembles the realm of God.
At the crux of the American race issue is white identity. So many good white people want to do the right thing, yet remain complicit in racist systems because they don’t understand the ways in which whiteness operates in their own psyches and in the world. In order for justice to reign, the construct of whiteness needs to be understood so that white people can strip away the conditioning of the world that causes them to be complicit and find their truer selves – their anti-racist selves – underneath. This is a deeply spiritual process that requires pastoral care.
But what will it take, exactly? Bold church leaders who are willing to brave the tumultuous waters of humility, where it’s possible you’ll get battered and a little bruised, but where you’ll come out the other side wiser and split wide open with grace. Congregations willing to have tough conversations and deep dive into some serious spiritual self-reflection. Elders, deacons and other congregational leaders willing to be a companion to other white people who are in the deconstruction process. And a collective prophetic imagining of what the realm of God could actually look like apart from pseudo-supremacy and systems of dominance.
In this webinar, you will:
- Begin to understand and deconstruct white identity and how it operates in the world.
- Understand the process of this deconstruction, and how it resembles the stages of grief.
- Learn how to practice agency over embedded whiteness, unconscious bias and inherent racism.
- Get practical tips on how to combat systemic racism.
- Acquire language and tools to companion others in their process of deconstructing whiteness and other systems of dominance.
- Learn how the church can be an agent of change and justice in the current racial divide.
KERRY CONNELLY is a certified coach, speaker and the author of “Good White Racist? Confronting Your Role in Racial Injustice” and “Pause: Making Time to Walk with God.” She holds additional certifications in DISC personality, emotional intelligence and global citizenry and is a New York City Leadership Fellow. She is in the final semester of her M.Div. at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, and she lives in New Jersey with her family.
Read the Outlook‘s book review of “Good White Racist?”
