Session Notes
A few words from Laura:
Western Friends, at the May meeting the Antiracism Coordinating Team (Jen Druliner, Naomia Suggs-Brigety and Sara Parker, with support from Susanne Ward), after consultation with other related groups, made two proposals for the sake of furthering the work of antiracism in Western's ministry.
This week, with additional discussion, reflection and prayer, the Session approved both actions. I am hopeful about what lies in store for our church as we grow as a community and seek to remain faithful to Christ's call to live into the antiracist world God intends for us and for all.
Your Session sat, by Zoom, for its regular monthly meeting this week.
After last month’s presentation from the Antiracism Coordinating Team on how we might approach the missional work of antiracism, we followed up in small groups to further discuss their proposals.
At the Session meeting, we shared our hopes and fears regarding antiracism and discussed how we felt God was calling us to act. We then adopted two resolutions. They are:
“We as the Session of Western Presbyterian Church pledge to lead Western into becoming an Antiracist, Intercultural Church Congregation. This missional journey will encourage personal work of members of Western, communal work of the congregation, and engagement with communities beyond Western, particularly marginalized communities. We also commit to participating in and envisioning the work of Antiracism as a long-term ministry, recognizing the need for the financial support necessary to carry out the mission of Antiracism. All the while, we will rely on prayerful discernment to guide us through this transformative journey.
The Session will commission a working team (the “Antiracism change team”) to be responsible for researching and guiding this missional journey of the Western church congregation as faithful followers of Christ. The Session will designate a member to participate in this working team.”
Our hope is that the congregation will join us in the work ahead and that we will all approach this commitment as a community of faith.
That’s it for this month. Thanks for reading.