Ward Consultation, Year 2  Being Agents of Reconciliation@ September 27-28, 2002

 Day Two           

One of the participants observed: “How could I not be here to interact with people like this?!”

The task for Day Two was to get as concrete as we possibly could. Brenda Salter McNeil asked, “Where does your organization stand?”

1. Have you identified where reconciliation initiatives in your organization?
2. What “story” (not the initiatives themselves but the story that is behind the process) is being created that could possibly be shared in a year? What would you like to test that you could come back in a year and report on?

At this point the members of the various small groups introduced themselves in relation to the questions asked above.  They sought assistance from their colleagues in working through appropriate responses for their organizations.

Questions and comments that emerged in the small groups were brought to large group discussion:

How do we create a kingdom culture in whatever context we’re in? Culture plays a prominent role in socializing people in the church bodies we create. Culture learning is important at both individual and corporate levels. 

Nothing that institutions SAY necessarily says anything about multiculturalism, racial reconciliation, and so on. CEO’s, church leaders need to be in real relationship with minorities.  How many of us have someone from another culture as a close friend? We can’t lead where we are not willing to go. Instead of saying, “how do we get them in here,” we must instead say, “how do we (go out) and serve them.” It’s not a matter of people being aware of who we are but of us going out and letting them know who we are by our actions.

If we want true diversification to happen then all levels of the organization must be penetrated. Representation at all levels is necessary before the top level can be “inserted.” It’s all interconnected. However, the top level of the decision-makers and administrators, the executive level, must be most influenced in order for true change to take place. When they make decisions, their decisions are obeyed.

Our publications have to be in the language of the people we minister to. For example, in Toronto, notes from the Board of Education or Board of Health come in 15 different languages.

DISCUSSION OF A CASE: AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

We asked a group of minority students to meet and discuss issues. They then sent representatives to tell the faculty what the concerns were.  The meeting concluded with apologies where needed, but didn’t go into the next step into collaborating on what to do.                                                                  

We tend to push at the problem or people without changing the institutional culture. We need a  “sustaining community.”  That is, it’s hard to create lasting change when you have such turnover as you do every four years in a university setting.  We realized we needed to have advisors from the cultural backgrounds of the students. Otherwise, they will have no place of reference or counseling in their struggles at that same place. There were promising beginnings in many places but the “lasting peace” is another issue entirely.

We found problems of racial tension, if not subliminal racism, in the offices that have the most contact with students: finances, admissions, and so on.  We are not just talking about faculty but also staff.

Brenda referenced the book, Leading Change by John Potter.  Kotter describes why companies change.

An important point for the case example was the notion of “Creating a Guiding Coalition”; that is, not looking for a point person but a team of people who represent the various positions and levels of the institution. For the educational institution it would be MERC (Multi-Ethnic Resource Team). They become the “subversive group” within the institution to lead diversity. But, the formation of the team is not enough by itself;, it must be “blessed” by the leader/president of the institution.

What would it take for diversity to really happen in your institution? What is it that people see when they initially come to visit? For example, symbols have meaning. Cafeteria, the food we serve, the music we play in the background, the decoration (e.g., the flags out front), all speak to the international people who come to your organization? 

If we say we believe in diversity and reconciliation, then we have to do something about it. WE’VE GOT TO LIVE IT OUT.

Discussion afterwards:

Reconciliation can become a passion that so abstract but around the globe reconciliation is about people. Not thinking about reconciliation but doing it.  There is no substitute for allowing people to tell their story. There’s something divine when this happens and does things that theories, concepts, ideas, and so on don’t.

·        “The past has a way of returning to you. It doesn’t go and lie down quietly?” Desmond Tutu

·        I can have all my pre-judgments about a person/people until I sit down and hear their story. Then things can change. Behavior makes sense. RECONCILIATION REQUIRES STORYTELLING. THERE IS HEARING IN THE TELLING OF NARRATIVES. That’s why confidentiality is so important because we are so afraid of the judgments that will come if we tell our stories.  Stories are a wake-up call. A taste of reality from something that actually happened to somebody.

Closing Words from Ted Ward: Being the People of Issachar

·        We need people for Christ and, therefore, powerful in this world but not powerful people for Christ.

·        The people of Issachar were known as people with a feeling for the times. (see 1 Chronicles 11 & 12)  They were a small subset of the mass of those who were leaders for Israel during David’s day. Issachar was a drop in the bucket next to hundreds of thousands of others.