our strategy
As followers of Jesus Christ, as the body of Christ here on this earth, we are called to put aside the sin of racism and to work to systematically and institutionally destroy it.
Racism continues to have a negative impact on our synod’s efforts to effectively fulfill its mission.
We believe that God is calling this church to work toward dismantling racism and building antiracist diversity in our congregations, agencies and institutions.
As the antiracism ministry body of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, the Antiracism Team is working faithfully to fulfill the vision and commitments set forth in the Team’s vision and mission statements. As such, since being commissioned at the 2004 Synod Assembly, the Team has embarked upon its intentionally long-term and strategic work detailed in a 20-year plan of action that was given preliminary structure during the final phase of Team training.
In order to support this 20-year plan, the Team is focusing on several key initiatives which are designed to enable and empower the whole Team to be informed about and engaged in the essential areas of the Synod’s antiracism ministry.
STAKEHOLDERS
Ensuring that the work of the Antiracism Team is well supported within the overall organizational structure and ministry efforts of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod is one of our primary objectives.
Personal visits and interactions with key stakeholders within our synod are an ongoing objective as the support of these leaders is paramount to fulfilling the Team’s mission.
The ongoing outreach and information-sharing process with stakeholders encompasses the following specific action steps:
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Identify key stakeholders for strategic contacts;
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Share the Team’s vision and plans with these key stakeholders;
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Enlist the support and assistance of these key stakeholders;
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Encourage and recruit key stakeholders to complete a formal session of antiracism training.
Our stakeholder outreach efforts are designed to continually build a base of support for the antiracism ministry among the most recognized and influential leaders of the Synod. Over the next several years our focus is on some key areas, including:
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Enhanced communications and publicity efforts to ensure that this ministry is given visibility and its work shared through the Synod’s already established information resources;
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Identifying and engaging a smaller number of initial partner congregations for more extensive involvement in the Team’s antiracism ministry;
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Regularly scheduled introductory, intermediate and advanced workshops aimed at presenting our common analysis of racism, the development of a greater understanding of the root causes of racism and soliciting greater participation from the congregants who attend these workshops.
CONGREGATIONS
Congregations are a major part of our ongoing efforts.
The Team fully understands that, since congregations serve as the “front-line” for all ministry efforts of the Synod and of the greater Church, the most important and challenging work to dismantle racism and create a new antiracist identity for the Synod must necessarily engage congregations.
Our work in this area involves introducing a common analysis of racism to as many people as possible and the provision of tools that will facilitate the identification of systems that perpetuate racism.
If we are to effectively impact this synod we must engender a common analysis that will allow us to provoke meaningful and fruitful conversations with all synodical stakeholders.
ANTIRACISM MINISTRY
The antiracism team has made a commitment to the successful continuation and expansion of an active antiracism ministry in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod.
Since the Synod has unsuccessfully attempted to maintain an ongoing antiracism ministry several times in the past, intentional work must be done that focuses on supporting and strengthening the current antiracism team for the difficult, taxing and long-term work to which it has been called. Toward these ends, the Team is focusing its efforts on several areas, including:
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Ongoing Team building through organizing devotions and/or worship for each Team meeting, keeping members apprised of prayer concerns and encouraging all members to take deliberate care of their spiritual lives – individually and collectively – throughout the challenging work of the Team;
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Encouraging and expecting Team members to meet one-on-one in order to build stronger and more personal bonds between individual members;
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Ongoing training in antiracism history, principles and practices to strengthen the understanding and capabilities of all Team members for this work;
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Developing and implementing strategies to expand the Team’s membership in order to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of the Synod’s 20-year antiracism plan.
THE WORK OF THE TEAM
The antiracism team is now in the midst of implementing its antiracism strategies. Some specific examples of the work of antiracism teams include:
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Shaping awareness of systemic racism within the Metropolitan Chicago Synod and an analysis of the specific barriers to change;
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Developing commitment within the Metropolitan Chicago Synod to dismantle institutional racism and to establish an antiracist purpose within the institution’s mission statements;
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Develop plans for the dismantling of structures that perpetuate racism within the Metropolitan Chicago Synod;
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Development of cultural identities within the Metropolitan Chicago Synod that are based upon an antiracist understanding.
