Conversations toward Reconciliation

2/1/2019

Last night, January 31, 2019, the Charlottesville Clergy Collective organized a "Conversations toward Reconciliation" dinner gathering at Carver Recreation Center. The purpose of the gathering was to bring together faith communities in Charlottesville in a fellowship setting to get to know one another better through intentional conversations.

Our Hope
We hoped that members of these faith communities will begin (or continue) to

engage with their own congregations in conversations about race,
learn and record stories of the role their congregations played in the history of race in Charlottesville,
build relationships with members of other faith communities to support, encourage, and learn from one another as we all do this work.

Great Turnout!
31 faith communities (see below for the list) and around 200 people attended the gathering. They enjoyed a light dinner catered and served by members of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Attendees also brought salad and desserts ... more than enough to share.

After a welcome by Dr. Alvin Edwards of Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church, Apostle Sarah Kelley of Faith, Hope and Love International Healing and Deliverance Center led the group in an opening song. Dr. Lehman Bates of Ebenezer Baptist Church offered the blessing.

Questions for Conversation
During the dinner, the participants around each table shared their answers to these questions:

Your name, your preferred pronouns, your faith community, how long have you lived in Charlottesville?
What was the religious or spiritual background of your childhood?
What brings you here tonight?

After dinner, Elizabeth Shillue of Beloved Community Charlottesville, and Charlene Green from Charlottesville Office of Human Rights prepared participants to answer a few questions (time permitting) selected from this list:

What is the racial makeup of your faith community? How does it compare to the demographic of the larger community?
What teachings does your faith tradition have which support being community across racial lines?
How widespread is the knowledge of racial justice work in your faith community?
What opportunities have you had to learn the history of your faith community in relation to the history of race events in Charlottesville?
Why do you think that our faith communities are largely segregated today, when other institutions are visibly integrated and multicultural?

Participants received a resource booklet that contained more questions to help guide further conversations with their own faith communities.

What is the Charlottesville Clergy Collective and why is honest conversations so important?
Dr. Alvin Edwards, Pastor of Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church, and President and Founder of the Charlottesville Clergy Collective talked about how the collective was formed. Dr. Michael Cheuk and Rev. Brenda Brown-Grooms, Co-Pastor of New Beginnings Christian Community then talked about how the idea for this event came about, and the importance of future conversations.

Gratitudes

Rev. Maren Hange, Pastor of Charlottesville Mennonite Church and Rev. Marilu Thomas, Associate Rector of Christ Episcopal Church for chairing the steering committee for this event.
Elizabeth Shillue of the Quaker Friends Meeting, Rev. Robert Lewis Pastor of Hinton Ave. United Methodist Church, and Michael Cheuk for being the team that created the resource booklet.
Michael Cheuk for pictures and video of the event.
The staff at Carver Recreation Center for allowing us to come and helping us to set up their space.
Charlene Green of the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights for her on-going consultation and support.
For all the faith leaders who invited members of their congregations to attend the gathering, and for their courage and work to support further conversations and education about race in the coming weeks and months.