Peace Colloquy

Peace Colloquy

November 5-7

How can we heal the divisions and conflicts that come from ethnicity, religion, power and privilege? How do we face the problems of racism and exclusion in our faith communities as well as in the wider society?

All humans are created in God’s image according to the opening chapter of Genesis. “Welcome the stranger” is the most repeated commandment in the Hebrew Scriptures. In the Christian New Testament to give hospitality to strangers is to entertain angels unawares, or to encounter the hidden Jesus. Jesus commanded his followers “Love your enemies”. The Acts of the Apostles is a story of how the Holy Spirit can draw together all humanity, all ethnic groups, in unity justly.

Yet Sunday morning church remains the most segregated hour of the week. Christians among themselves struggle to live together without violence in Northern Ireland. Catholics slaughtered Catholics and Protestants slaughtered Protestants in two World Wars in the twentieth century in Europe. To often, on the question of the treatment of Jews and Muslims, indigenous peoples, slavery, and civil rights, many Christians have been on the wrong side of justice.

2004 is the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that opened up the west to white settlers and further depredations on native peoples. It is the 75th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., also the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas decision of the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that segregated public school education were unconstitutional. This event helped launch the Civil Rights Movement where Christians and Jews, Blacks and Whites worked together to forge a new kind of politics of equality and dignity for all. Two days after the Colloquy is the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the November night of “broken glass” in 1938 when the Nazis escalated their terrorism of Jews in Germany by attacking Jewish homes, burning down 101 synagogues, and destroying nearly 7,500 Jewish businesses. 26,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. This was the beginning of the Holocaust.

Nazi Germany has gone, African Americans have the vote but the struggle is not yet over. How can people of faith today continue this struggle to repentantly address systems of power, privilege and violence and work for understanding, healing and reconciliation in a diverse, hurting world?

The Community of Christ is hosting this Peace Colloquy on ethnicity as part of a long term strategy to foster diverse communities where people of all ethnic groups feel welcomed and embraced as equals in the giftedness and contributions. Part of this strategy is a commitment to carry out an institutional Project Equality Assessment audit, theological work on race and scriptures, and ongoing training of all fulltime and bi-vocational ministers in cultural and ethnic sensitivity.

James Lawson was in India when he heard about the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956 that began the civil rights movement. After returning to the USA he began training volunteers in Gandhian tactics of nonviolent direct action. Going from organizing lunch counter sit ins, Lawson helped coordinate Freedom Rides in 1961 and the Meredith March in 1966. A Methodist pastor in Memphis he played a major role in the sanitation workers strike in 1968. On the eve of his assassination in Memphis, King called Lawson, “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.” Lawson has given a lifetime fighting for justice for the poor and against racism. He receives the eleventh Community of Christ International Peace Award.

José Ramos-Horta received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his unrelenting advocacy on behalf of the people of East Timor after they were brutally invaded by Indonesia in 1975. He lost four brothers and sisters. He pled the case of East Timor at the UN and with national governments for over 25 years before being able to return for the first time to East Timor in 1999. He continues to be foreign minister for the newly independent nation.

Margaretha K. Finefrock is a Senior Consultant for REACH (Respecting Ethnic and Cultural Heritage), an international multicultural and global educational organization based is Seattle, Washington. She is also founder and director of The Learning Project, assisting organizations to become learning organization. A former Peace Corp volunteer she was director of Kansas City Harmony 1989-1993. She is a certified spiritual director.

Israelis and the Palestinians – Panel
Nigeria: Religious and Ethnic Conflicts
Genocide, Ethnicity and Religion in Bosnia
Rethinking Kristallnacht: How Ordinary People Implemented Nazi Racism – Andrew Bergerson, UMKC

The Impact of the Lewis and Clark Expeditions on US History – Ken Mulligan
The Significance of Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, 1954 – Anita Mortimer +
The Civil Rights Movement in Kansas City
The Latino Experience in Metro Kansas City – John Glaser
Stories of Race and Faith in Independence – Bill Curtis and Alyversa Pettigew
What is it like to be Jewish in America?
What is it like to be Muslim since 9/11?
The Community of Christ and Race – Mark Scherer and Panel (?Wilford Winholtz, Bill Russell, Rich Hawks, Gwen Blue, Bill Blue, Paul Lucero, Joy Persal, Jimmy Munson etc)

Scripture and Race: Affirmations and Tensions – Tony Chvala-Smith and John Glaser
Hearing the Gospel in the Native Language of Each: Ethnic Diversity in
the Body of Christ – Don Compier
Overcoming Fear of Those Different from Me – An Inner Spiritual Journey – Greg Hankins and Jasper Harris
Worship and Music for Ethnically Mixed Congregations – Jan Kraybill
Creating a Multicultural Congregation in a Multicultural Neighborhood
“Make Disciples of All Nations (Ethne): Ethnicity, the church and Jesus – Ruben Landeros and Jim Slauter
Ethnic Sensitivities: Insights into African American Culture – Lynn Stubberfield and Derek Williams
Integrating Latinos and Anglos in a Congregation in San Diego – Gina Norton
Ethnicity Through Art – Roger McKinney
Exploring with appreciation your Ethnic Roots – Barbara Howard and Phyllis Moore?
What is it like to be European-American/White?: From Privilege to Co-responsibility – Margaretha Finefrock
Sharing Power: Decision Making and Participation in Congregations – Tom Mountenay
The Myth of Race
Walk the Talk: Intelligent Consumers and Equality – Project Equality – Kirk Perucca
Cultural Proficiency for Ministers and Other Leaders – Gwendolyn Hawks Blue and Cathi Cackler Veazey
ABCs of Congregational Partnerships – Janet Moss
Field Trips of Kansas City Neighborhoods – Phil Olsen, School of Sociology, UMKC
Economics, Crime, Privilege and Ethnicity

Priests and Others
Being an Ally of Families in Diverse Congregations – Derek Williams and Jeanne Earnest

Teachers and Others
Conflict and Reconciliation in Diverse Congregations - Sandee Gamet and Geri Macias?

High Priests
Bridgers of Cultures and People – Gwen Hawkes Blue and David Schaal

Elders
Celebrate Diversity in Worship – Hiroshi Yamada and Cathi Cackler Veazey

Seventy
Especial Witnesses of Jesus and the Worth of All Persons – Gina Norton and Steve Veazey

6:15pm Private Reception in Continents Room
7:15pm Keynote: Healing After Genocide in East Timor
Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, Foreign Minister, East Timor

1:00 Keynote: All in God’s Image: Ethnicity, Religion, Power and Privilege
Maggie Finefrock

4:00 Workshops IV
(Aaronic Ministers together in Temple Sanctuary – Aaronic Ministers and Diversity in Congregations. Group processing and closing worship)

7:30 Revd. James Lawson – the eleventh recipient of the
Community of Christ International Peace Award Ceremony

Sunday 7th November
8:30 Keynote: Addressing the Problems and Opportunities of Ethnicity in the Community of Christ

11:00 Closing Worship: Healing the Body of Christ, Healing the World
– Stone Church ? Speaker: Revd. James Lawson
Blessing and Commissioning of Ministers?

TOTAL COST **After October 8, add $10**
(*** After 10th October add $10 to all fees)

If paying by credit card, you can register by phone at
816/521-3077 or fax completed form to 816/521-3050.

Mail completed form with payment to:
2003 Peace Colloquy Registration
Community of Christ
1001 W. Walnut,
Independence, MO 64050-3562, USA

Kansas City Harmony
National Conference for Community and Justice, Kansas City
Community of Christ Seminary
St Paul AME Church, Independence, MO
Project Equality, Kansas City

Andrew Bolton, Director
1001 W. Walnut
Independence, MO 64050
Tel. (+1 USA) 800 825-2806, ext. 1372 or ext. 1356
Email: abolton @CofChrist.org