{"id":8167,"date":"2014-04-01T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T00:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=8167"},"modified":"2018-11-09T04:00:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T04:00:57","slug":"conferees-discuss-how-to-build-bridges-at-intercultural-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2014\/conferees-discuss-how-to-build-bridges-at-intercultural-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Conferees Discuss Bridge-Building at Pacific Southwest District Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Randy Miller<\/p>\n

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Photo by Randy Miller<\/small>
Gilbert Romero, a member of the Mission and Ministry Board, with a group at the intercultural gathering in Pacific Southwest District<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brethren from Pacific Southwest District congregations met recently to talk about how to put hands and feet on a unity statement they adopted in 2007. Some 30 Brethren gathered March 28-30 at Principe de Paz Church of the Brethren in Santa Ana, Calif., to talk about how they could be more intentional in their efforts to build bridges across racial, cultural, ethnic, and religious boundaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea for this conference was to listen to what is going on in our urban churches,\u201d said Gimbiya Kettering, coordinator of Intercultural Ministries for the denomination, who facilitated discussion. \u201cAt some conferences, outside speakers offer information to participants about what they should do. Here, the idea was to create a listening environment, and get a sense of where people in this district want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unity statement that PSWD adopted in 2007 centered around John 13: 34-35, in which Jesus told his followers to love one another as he had loved them. \u201cBy this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo by Randy Miller<\/small>
Two Brethren engage in conversation at the Pacific Southwest District gathering, which focused on how to put a 2007 unity statement into action.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s one thing to adopt a statement–something which, conferees observed, districts and denominations are adept at doing–it\u2019s another to put the words of the statement into action. Seated before an easel and a dry-erase board in a small alcove off the Principe de Paz sanctuary, participants shared ideas about how to put John 13: 34-35 into motion in their own churches, and in their district.<\/p>\n

The diversity in their backgrounds was readily apparent. There was Roxanne, from Reedly, Calif., near Fresno, whose father was Mexican, and whose mother was Mexican-American. There was Steve, an African-American born in an Illinois farming community who moved to Compton, Calif., near Los Angeles, when he was 5, and who speaks fluent Spanish. There was Richard, a Brethren pastor originally from Ecuador, but who has lived in Chicago, as well as northern and southern California. And there was Russ, a white co-pastor of a church in California\u2019s central valley, who has struggled to find ways to reach out to other groups in his district.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of redemptive community can we be?\u201d asked Joe Detrick, acting district executive. \u201cThis district needs to be faithful to what it called itself to be, to what we\u2019ve committed ourselves to be,\u201d he said, referring to the unity statement of 2007.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Randy Miller<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBeing intercultural is integral to being Christian,\u201d said Jenn Hosler, community outreach coordinator for Washington (D.C.) City Church of the Brethren, who is studying Brethren churches in urban settings. \u201cIt\u2019s not just something that\u2019s optional or \u2018cool.\u2019 It\u2019s part of being Christian. We\u2019re not fully who God has called us to be if we\u2019re not together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilbert Romero, a member of the Church of the Brethren Mission and Ministry Board and former pastor of Restoration Los Angeles (formerly Bella Vista) Church of the Brethren, offered some perspective. \u201cSome people ask me, \u2018Why do you stay in the Church of the Brethren?\u2019 I tell them it\u2019s because we\u2019re a stubborn people. It probably comes from our Germanic background. I believe that, in time, with God, all things will work together for the good. God glues us together. I don\u2019t see color differences. We\u2019re all in this together. At Annual Conference, we argue, we hash things out. But at the end of Conference, we\u2019re all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo by Randy Miller<\/small>
Intercultural ministries director Gimbiya Kettering leads group discussion.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

After two days of listening to each others\u2019 stories, conferees agreed to keep the discussion going and continue to find ways to build bridges across cultural barriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know people because we know their stories,\u201d Kettering observed. \u201cIndividuals have to share their stories in order for the organization to work…. This conversation has got to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the end of the conference, participants had drawn up a list of things they could do to continue the conversation and bridge-building, including potlucks, song circles, and \u201ccross-pollinating” worship.<\/p>\n

Thinking about what could develop in the district–and even across the denomination–one participant observed, \u201cThat\u2019s what I like about the Church of the Brethren–it\u2019s that word \u2018Brethren.\u2019 You\u2019re all my brothers and sisters. We\u2019re family.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Randy Miller edits the Church of the Brethren magazine “Messenger.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brethren from Pacific Southwest District congregations met recently to talk about how to put hands and feet on a unity statement they adopted in 2007. Some 30 Brethren gathered March 28-30 at Principe de Paz Church of the Brethren in Santa Ana, Calif., to talk about how they could be more intentional in their efforts to build bridges across racial, cultural, ethnic, and religious boundaries. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[806,1274,1369,1379],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-8167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-congregational-life-ministries","tag-intercultural","tag-pacific-southwest-district","tag-randy-miller"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8172,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8167\/revisions\/8172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8167"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=8167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}