Interwoven Congregations

 Isn't it our hope?

That we could come together as a society across the chasm of race and become the 'Beloved Community' that Dr. King imagined?  Isn't it also our hope that faith communities -- of all traditions -- could lead the way?  Join that movement.  Support the work of Interwoven Congregations with a donation today.  And find out how your faith community could become an 'Interwoven Congregation' and share in this ministry of racial healing that begins one partnership at a time.  

The Opportunity.  Interwoven Congregations works to promote racial healing by helping to organize and support partnerships of faith communities with different racial compositions. These Interwoven Congregations over time develop committed relationships and share in joint efforts to uproot the weeds of interpersonal and systemic racism that afflict our own lives and society today.  Left on their own, such partnerships can lag as calendars fill, leadership changes, and  other priorities emerge.  Interwoven Congregations bring a framework of action steps and relationship building to nurture these partnerships to fruition over the long haul.  

How We Work.  Interwoven Congregations works to promote racial justice and healing three ways: 

· Confronting Racism.  We help faith communities explore the historical and present-day realities of racism through study groups, pilgrimages, professional trainings and media.  We assist congregations in reviewing their own racial history and community practices, including congregational surveys and focus groups that lift up individual experiences of race and privilege, along with their hopes and concerns for this work.  We conducted 20 video interviews with two congregations that explored these questions and turned the interviews into a film.  Below is a video promo that we shared with the congregations as they gathered to watch the film and discuss their work together.

· Building Relationships. Interwoven Congregations assists faith communities in identifying a potential partner congregation of a different racial composition and supports the development of that partnership. For congregations with an existing partnership relationship, we help take that partnership to a deeper level.   We help foster ties between the two congregations through small relational groups and joint activities around worship, service projects, and social events.  We can also work with congregations singly to develop relationships within the congregation and to the community.  

· Practicing Antiracism.  We work to leverage this expanded knowledge and the relationships formed to take concrete steps – both at the congregational level and individually – to address systemic racism in our communities and in society at large.  That has taken shape in efforts to feed the hungry, promote voting rights and then participating in the recent March on Washington with the Poor People's Campaign.  The video below highlights our work around the march.  While our organizing for that event focused on connecting Presbyterians from the D.C. metro area and around the nation, we are actively engaging other denominations as well as Jewish, Muslim and other non-Christian faith traditions in this work.

Sustaining the Work, Offering a Vision.   This work for racial justice and healing is generational work.  So to further support those on this journey, we seek to offer encouragement, tools and other resources through Interwoven Congregations Quarterly, the Daily Snack and other postings on our Facebook page, and a range of other resources on the Interwoven Congregations website.

The Difference You Make.   

If this work of promoting racial justice and healing is important to you, if you want to be a part of a growing movement of faith communities to help bridge the racial divide and advance greater equity and reconciliation in our society, then we invite you to donate today!   Here are some examples of what your support can help make possible:

  $10   purchases one anti-racism resource like "Be the Bridge" 

  $25   sponsors one person's annual participation in an anti-racism monthly discussion forum

  $50   sends one person on a local civil rights pilgrimage to the Maryland Eastern Shore or another site 

 $100  sponsors lunch for 8 people of different races to meet, build community and learn anti-racism tools 

 $150  sponsor an issue of Interwoven Congregations Quarterly to inform & inspire people nationwide to work for racial justice. 

$250  equips one person to be an Anti-racism champion by sponsoring their registration to a national racial justice conference.

$500  underwrites an anti-racism assessment of a faith community that uncovers their racial history and offers a blueprint for present                 day actions. 

$1,000 sponsors a faith community to participate as an Interwoven Congregation for one year. 

                                                       We can't do this work without you!  THANK YOU!!