UniteBoston

Nurturing Relational Connections Across Boston's Christian Community

RCCI Multiracial Collective Action Community Meet & Greet

Emmanuel Gospel Center’s Race and Christian Community Initiative is developing a Multiracial Collective Action Community for Christians who desire to take practical steps to contribute to the dismantling of racism. We are looking for justice-loving BIPOC folks and white folks who are RCCI cohort alum or have commensurate experience.

We envision this group taking collective action to support equity building, BIPOC-led initiatives. This action would be supported by training, reflection, and fellowship as well as race-specific support and accountability that increases folks’ capacity to collaborate effectively across racial lines.

We invite you to learn more and speak into this opportunity at a gathering on Saturday September 30th from 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm on the Rose Kennedy Greenway by the Aquarium T Station. RSVP HERE! 

It will be a chance to…

-Get to know other Christians interested in taking action

-Hear about what RCCI is imagining for our multiracial collective action community

-Shape this vision together

-Explore next steps

We’ll have some hot drinks and snacks to enjoy together. Please come and invite a friend. Bring your own picnic blanket or chair. 

RSVP at tinyurl.com/rccimcac.

For more information, visit egc.org/rcci-action-communities.

If it rains, we will meet at Boston Harbor Community Church in the North End (9 Salutation St, Boston, MA 02109). 

This is the same day as Unite Boston’s “Again I Say Rejoice” Worship Concert at 4pm. We encourage you come early to connect with RCCI and then walk over to the concert across the Greenway!

RCCI Learning Community for White Evangelicals

The Race and Christian Community Initiative Learning Communities for White Evangelicals are cohorts where Christians can learn about racism from a biblical perspective and develop the capacity to respond to it as an outworking of their faith. Our current cohorts are designed for White leaders shaped by the evangelical tradition, and aim to create a space where they can come together to learn about and do the self-work needed to engage issues related to race more effectively. RCCI understands leadership broadly and welcomes formal and informal leadership alike. 

Cohorts are six-month commitments through which people examine and respond to the ways racism impacts ourselves, our society, our Christian communities, and faith. They are run in a seminar-style format for small groups of 6-8 people and utilize various methods, including engaging books and media, guest speakers, discussion, spiritual disciplines, creative exercises, and field trips. Cohorts value experiential and peer learning and aim to get beyond an intellectual understanding of race by engaging the whole person in mind, body, emotions, and spirit.

At the end of each cohort, participants go through an individual and communal discernment process regarding how they can take actions to contribute to the dismantling of racism in their sphere of influence. All alumni are also invited into RCCI’s action taking communities to receive ongoing resources to move from knowing and caring to action.

While we do not currently offer learning communities designed for BIPOC folks, we invite people of all races to sign up for our resource and events email list that spreads the word about learning and action opportunities hosted by organizations throughout Greater Boston. Applications are due Friday, August 25th, 2023! 

Visit egc.org/racecohort to:

RCCI Summer Social & Open House

Do you desire to see racial justice in Greater Boston? Would you like to be part of a community that’s nurturing shalom across racial lines? As the Race and Christian Community Inititiative at the Emmanuel Gospel Center enters a new season, we’re excited to share about where we feel the Lord is leading us and invite folks to speak into next steps at our Summer Social & Open House.

Join us for a barbeque, lawn games, & an opportunity to…

– Connect with Christians who care about racial justice.

– Hear about and speak into RCCI’s vision, ministry shifts, and hopes for our future

– Get clarity on how people of all races can connect with RCCI to participate in God’s redemptive work across racial lines in Greater Boston

As a part of this, we’ll be sharing about concrete ways to connect to God’s redemptive work and inviting you to shape and connect with our shalom-building communities.

Here’s a highlight of our developing programs you can learn about and speak into:
– Our impactful learning communities for white evangelicals

– A multiracial collective action group that supports BIPOC-led, equity-building initiatives and offers extra support and accountability for white evangelicals’ action-taking

– An experiential learning weekend exploring the history of slavery in Boston and a subsequent southern civil rights pilgrimage, both led by a multiracial team and open to all Christians.

Our event is MBTA accessible, ADA accessible, and has indoor nursery access for caregivers of young children.

Click here to RSVP! 

Click here to volunteer!

RCCI focuses on equipping White evangelicals to nurture shalom between individuals, communities, and systems damaged by racism. That said, it is critical that people of all races work together toward racial healing and justice – with BIPOC folks in the lead. Come to hear about exciting program and partnership opportunities for people of all races to continue Christ’s redemptive work across racial lines.

Visit www.egc.org/race for more information.

A Long Repentance discussion group

This January – February 2022, Mako Nagasawa will be leading a new cohort of discussions in A Long Repentance, about how Christian heresies influence our American racial and political climate, and what we can do about it!

People talk about issues of race and justice in the United States as issues of ‘justice and injustice.’  Sometimes we launch into debates about ‘the proper role of government.’  But that is not the original framework from which these issues were asked and debated.

The purpose of our discussion groups in A Long Repentance: Exploring Christian Mistakes About Race, Politics, and Justice in the United States is to show how these issues began as Christian heresies.  Colonialism changed Christian beliefs and practices.  Since Christians enacted and institutionalized these practices, we bear a unique responsibility for changing them.  We must continue to resist the very heresies that earlier Christians put into motion.  The journey is long and challenging.  It may be impossible to see the end.  But along the way, it is also inspiring and sometimes breathtaking.

Justice, Politics & the Black Church of Boston

The Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience (ISBCE) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary is excited to host the 2nd Annual (Rev. Dr. Michael E.) HAYNES Symposium on Saturday, October 31 via LIVE stream via ISBCE on FaceBook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

This is a completely virtual and FREE event. We will celebrate 2020 ISBCE Legacy Awardees: Rev. Dr. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes and Rev. Dr. Arthur T. Gerald, Jr. We will hear panelists: Tracy Litthcut (City of Boston), Arva J. Byron (Boston Praise Radio & TV), Rev. Willie Bodrick II (Twelfth Baptist Church) and Rev. Mariama White-Hammond (New Roots AME Church) share on “Justice, Politics & the Black Church of Boston.” Come and join the conversation!


Give to Further Christian Unity

DONATE!