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Walking in the Waters of our Baptism

by | Jun 16, 2020 | East District News Webpage, East District Newsletter, East District Notes

We want to share with you the Appointive Cabinet statement made at Annual Conference.

The Commitment of the Appointive Cabinet to End Racism

The murder of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and the hate crime causing George Floyd’s horrific death have brought our nation and our church to a tipping place. The Appointive Cabinet denounces the sin of systemic racism and commits to taking action to end a culture of white privilege in our society and in our church.

As people washed in the waters of baptism, the Appointive Cabinet of the Desert Southwest Conference confess that we have been complicit by a lack of attention addressing racism in more effective ways. We believe that true repentance is evidenced in accountable and visible transformation. As such, the Appointive Cabinet seeks forgiveness, and commit to action which calls us to walk more fully in the waters of the baptism we claim.

Our Commitment to the people of the Desert Southwest Conference:

1.  We will awaken to ways we have not fully lived our baptismal vows through a process of listening, learning and prayerful reflection. Following the guidance from the Conference Commission on Religion and Race and the Ethnic Local Church Concerns Committee the appointive cabinet will:

a.  Participate in the Implicit Bias course offered through GCORR.
b.  Complete the Intercultural Development Inventory assessment.
c.  Engage in Intentional Listening Sessions with our pastors of color and our white pastors.
d.  Engage in the book study of White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo.
e.  Engage in the book study of How to Be an Anti-racist by Ibram X. Kendi.
f.  Commit to meet with the Conference Commission on Religion and Race (CCORR) and the Ethnic Local Church Concerns Committee (ELCC) to listen, learn and discuss ways to enhance the work we are called to do.

2.  We will actively walk in the waters of our baptism through the following commitments:

a.  We affirm and support the development of a conference initiative to end racism led by a coalition of the Conference Commission on Religion and Race, the Ethnic Local Church Concerns Committee and the Conference Board of Church and Society. We commit to participating in the work of this coalition and the initiative for transformation it presents.
b.  We commit to implementing the process presented in the Learning from Strangers and Meeting God at the Boundaries curriculum as we give better attention to cross racial/cross cultural appointments.
c.  We commit to developing more effective ways to enable persons of color to move into places of leadership as pastors in our churches.
d.  We commit to partnering with the Conference Commission on Religion and Race (CCORR) and the Ethnic Local Church Concerns Committee (ELCC), following their lead in a three-year process to impact the culture in the Desert Southwest Conference.
e.  We commit to having discussion with CCORR, ELCC and the extended cabinet to discern other ways we may all be instruments of justice and transformation.
f.  We commit to participating in the Conference campaign – calling us to flood social media with a common message denouncing the sin of systemic racism, to be held on June 17, 2020 at noon.

The Appointive Cabinet is aware of our need always to listen deeply to diverse voices, moving toward a new day as the people of God. The steps presented are only first steps in, what we commit to you, will be a more fully developed plan to enabling all of us to walk together in the waters of our baptism – accepting the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

We ask for your prayers and your partnership.

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Author: Susan Brims

The Desert Southwest Conference is a diverse and loving organization with open doors to a variety of people and partners in ministry. Celebrating our connection and diversity, we offer various resources. Content on this site includes information from other organizations that may not reflect the official policies or Social Principles of The United Methodist Church or the Desert Southwest Conference.

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