By the Community of Christ Diversity and Inclusion Team
Describe your journey to becoming a member. How has being a member impacted your life? What are some cultural gifts, talents, or practices that you bring to the church?
These and other questions will be used to create a way for Community of Christ members to get to know each other in a Diversity and Inclusion Team project named “We Are One, We Are Many.” When asked about our journey with the church, not everyone gives the same answer, and that is a blessing of being an inclusive, globally oriented faith community.
Describe your journey to becoming a member. How has being a member impacted your life? What are some cultural gifts, talents, or practices that you bring to the church?
Community of Christ celebrates the Enduring Principles of Unity in Diversity and Blessings of Community. For many of us, expressions of these principles seem most visible as we gather for World Conference, when our siblings from different cultures, ethnicities, and nationalities share ideas and perspectives or ask questions based on their experiences in the world and this faith community.
How enlightening and thought-stretching some of these encounters are for many of us! Yet, the conversations and exchanges often are limited by time and language constraints. Even when engaged in church in our home congregations, we may not be aware of our fellow worshipers’ uniqueness as they journey with Community of Christ.
When asked on the project questionnaire, “What challenges have you experienced because of your membership,” six people recently responded:
- Vickie Sandford: Misunderstanding of our beliefs.
- Mary Love: I have seen, and experienced discrimination based on beliefs of a few others. The best way I have learned to address this is to be the best example of a Christian that I can be.
- Mark Hensley: How to finance and create programs with limited funds. Starting a church plant with very little resources and people.
- Valerie Bryant: Some challenges are within the local area as the LGBTQ+, and other concerns need to be more fully addressed through listening circles or dialogue.
- James Johnson: Trying to love all my neighbors.
- Ui Ishikawa: Though we are (technically) a global family, diversity in the church is a blessing and challenge.
Responses to the “We Are One, We Are Many” questionnaire will enable us to expand our awareness, understanding, and perceptions of how others see God working in their lives, how they interpret inclusiveness, what is needed, and how they can help. We can be enlightened, inspired, and challenged.
Over the next few months some responses will be presented in a variety of formats. There will be Herald articles, links to some responses on the Diversity and Inclusion Team Facebook page, and other methods. This questionnaire will be available in English, Spanish, and French at CofChrist.org on the Diversity and Inclusion page (CofChrist.org/diversity-and-inclusion).
We invite you to share your story.