Crossroads Antiracism Training

Name: Crossroads Antiracism Training
Start: 2020-10-23
End: 2020-10-25
Location: Montreat Conference Center

What’s Essential: Discerning the Church’s Work Amid the Twin Pandemics of Structural Racism & COVID-19

October 23–25, 2020 AdultContinuing EducationVirtual

In partnership with Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training

A Capacity Building Conversation Led by Crossroads Antiracism Organizing & Training

In 2015, we marked the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s visit to Montreat with the conference Dr. King’s Unfinished Agenda. Each year since then, we have offered conferences dedicated to intentional conversation about the topic of race and church. In 2018, we added our first antiracism training in partnership with Crossroads, an organization dedicated to dismantling racism and building racial justice in institutions. Our first Crossroads Conference introduced participants to key concepts such as racism, prejudice, power, and dominant culture.

Our goal is to provide participants with capacity-building tools and resources to work for antiracist transformation in their churches and institutions. Participants will finish this anti-racism training with concrete action steps for their congregations and local communities.

This Crossroads antiracism training will specifically address the political challenges facing the church in light of how the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the acute structural inequities of the USA and their impact on communities of color, particularly Black, Indigenous, and Immigrant communities.

Given the coronavirus pandemic and its disproportionate impact–which we see as resulting from the pandemic of systemic racism in the USA – our antiracism training will also address how the church is called to be a political actor. What and where is the Church being called to do and be?

We encourage you to attend this conference regardless of whether you have attended prior antiracism training, or if this will be your first time attending. Antiracist work is a process. Our goal is also to encourage community building and support among people with like-minded concerns who are thought leaders in their congregations.

At Montreat, we invite you to come and drink from a deep well of spiritual connectedness and build connections in the beloved community.

Leadership

Dr. Reggie Williams– Keynoter

Dr. Reggie Williams is the associate professor of Christian ethics at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. Williams’ book Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance (Baylor University Press, 2014) was selected as a Choice Outstanding Title in 2015, in the field of religion. The book is an analysis of exposure to Harlem Renaissance intellectuals, and worship at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist on the German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, during his year of post-doctoral study at Union Seminary in New York, 1930-31. Dr. Williams’ research interests include Christological ethics, theological anthropology, Christian social ethics, the Harlem Renaissance, race, politics, and black church life. His current book project includes a religious critique of whiteness in the Harlem Renaissance. In addition, he is working on a book analyzing the reception of Bonhoeffer by liberation activists in apartheid South Africa. Dr. Williams received his PhD in Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2011. He earned a MA in theology from Fuller in 2006 and a BA degree in religious studies from Westmont College in 1995. He is a member of the board of directors for the Society for Christian Ethics, as well as the International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society. He is also a member of the American Academy of Religion and Society for the Study of Black Religion.

Elona Street-Stewart– Conference Leader & Panelist

Elona Street-Stewart is co-moderator of the 224th General Assembly (2020) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is the first Native American to hold this position. She is also a ruling elder and serves as synod executive for the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. Prior to this, she served more than twenty years as synod staff for racial ethnic ministries and community empowerment, including administration support of Dakota Presbytery. A member of the Delaware Naticoke Tribe, Street-Stewart has been active in racial justice matters on behalf of the church for forty years, focusing on mission development, denominational policies, and educational programs. She has chaired the Council on Church and Race and the Advocacy Committee on Racial Ethnic Concerns. Also, Street-Stewart was a member of the Relocation Committee on General Assemblies following the reunion of the northern and southern branches of what today is the PC(USA). Street-Stewart has been recognized by a number of organizations for her work, including the denomination’s Women of Faith Award during the 219th General Assembly (2010).

Dr. Raj Nadella– Conference Leader & Panelist

Dr. Raj Nadella is the Samuel A. Cartledge Associate Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. His research and teaching interests include postcolonial biblical interpretation, migration and biblical perspectives on economic justice and their ethical implications for the Church and society. He is the author of Dialogue Not Dogma: Many Voices in the Gospel of Luke (T&T Clark, 2011), and is the co-author of Postcolonialism and the Bible and co-editor of Christianity and the Law of Migration, both forthcoming in 2021. He has written for publications such as the Huffington Post, Christian Century, and Working Preacher. Nadella is actively involved in the academy and the Church on issues such as race, representation and immigration. He served on the PC(USA) General Assembly's Committee on Representation and contributed to the recent documentary Trouble the Water. He currently serves on the National Council of Churches USA’s Faith and Order Commission and chairs the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL)’s Committee on Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession (CUREMP).

Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis– Conference Leader & Panelist

The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis is co-chair of the The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival with the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II which organized the largest coordinated wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in 21st Century America and has since emerged as one of the nation’s leading social movement forces. She is also the director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Theoharis' writings have been published in The New York Times, Time Magazine, CNN, The Guardian, Sojourners, The Nation, among others. She is the author of Always with Us?: What Jesus Really Said About the Poor (Eerdmans, 2017) and is co-author of Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing (Beacon, 2018). Dr. Theoharis is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and teaches at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett– Conference Leader & Panelist

The Rev. Dr. Diane L. Givens Moffett serves as the president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency — the mission arm of the PC(USA). She has held this role since June 2018.

Prior to that, Diane served as senior pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC. While there, she also served on several boards, and was co-chair of the Greensboro Interfaith Clergy Council and vice president of the Pulpit Forum. In April 2018, Diane received the Sojourner Truth Award, the highest honor of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, for her commitment to serving others.

Diane’s service to the denomination also includes serving as the first woman pastor at Elmhurst Presbyterian Church in Oakland, CA, and associate pastor of evangelism, discipleship and ministry at Elmwood United Presbyterian Church in East Orange, NJ. She has also served as coordinator of the Korean and African-American Pastors Reconciliation Project and executive director at Harbor House Ministries.

Diane holds a bachelor of arts degree in sociology and social welfare from the University of California at Berkeley, and both a master of divinity and doctorate of ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary.

Schedule

We understand that these are shifting and uncertain times, and we are prepared to offer this conference as an onsite/online hybrid so that participants can choose how to engage: in Montreat or at home. If you select the online option, the same large group sessions (such as keynotes and panels), small group options, and conference materials will be available to you digitally. Please select the option that works best for you on our Rates & Registration page.

SCHEDULE

Friday, October 23
2:45-3:15 PM- Welcome
3:30-5 PM- Separate guided conversations
5 PM, Dinner Break*
7 PM- Panel 1
8 PM- Vespers

Saturday, October 24
7:30 AM- Breakfast
9-10 AM- Keynote
10:15-11:15- Small Group
11:25-12:15- Feedback and processing for small groups
12:15-1:45- Lunch Break
1:45-2:30 PM-Using an Equity Lens
2:45-4:00- Case Studies (Small group activity)
4:15- 5:30 PM- Listening to Case Studies (Large group activity)
5:30-7:30 PM- Dinner Break
7:30-8:30 PM- Panel 2

Sunday, October 25 - Sabbath Morning
7:30-8:30 AM Breakfast
8:30-9:15 -AM Pre-recorded digital reflections
9:15-11 AM- Silent Reflection at specific locations
11 AM- Check-out**

*If you have purchased a conference center meal package, dinner in the Galax Dining Room is served at 5:30 PM, breakfast begins at 7:30 AM, and lunch is at 12:15. All meals are served for one hour and guests are encouraged to arrive on time.

**Guests are welcome to remain and enjoy the conference center grounds, but guests staying in conference center housing must checkout by 11 AM on Sunday.

Rates & Registration

Comprehensive Rate

Comprehensive rates below include conference fee of $100, room in Assembly Inn (Friday and Saturday nights), meals in the Galax Dining Room (Friday supper through Sunday breakfast), plus a $2 community services fee per adult for public services provided by the Town and the fire district. Rooms are assigned on a first come, first served basis.

Participants staying in the Assembly Inn will have a private room and access to internet and meals. Conference leadership will not be onsite, and will be conducting the lectures via webcam. Guests will not be required to gather in meeting spaces. You may wish to review our Guest Health and Safety guidelines, available here: https://montreat.org/visit/guest-health-and-safety. We know this will be a different kind of conference experience, and we are glad you're going to join us in this adaptive way of being!

Room check-in AFTER 3:00 pm on Friday. Room check-out BEFORE 11:00 am on Sunday.

Assembly Inn

Single Occupancy, Private Bath	$315.00
Single Occupancy, Connecting Bath	$285.00

Full Conference, Commuter In-Person
$102 per person. Rate includes a conference fee of $100, plus a $2 community services fee per person for public services provided by the Town and the fire district. Commuter rate does not include lodging or meals.

Full Conference, Commuter, Online Only
$175 per person. Online only participants will receive the same materials and have the same access to small groups, panels, keynotes, and conference materials. This rate rate does not include lodging or meals. To help us cover the costs of offering this conference online, this rate is higher than the in-person rate.

Keynote Only, In-Person and Online
$40 per person. We have invited Dr. Reggie Williams from McCormick Theological Seminary to share his insights with us. Should you wish to view only the keynote portion of this conference, you may also register for just the keynote, with the option to choose between in person or online viewing.

Scholarships

Scholarships are available for this conference.

Contact the Registrar

If you have any questions about the registration process, please email the registrar at barrye@montreat.org or call 828.419.9815.