The
Massachusetts Conference Board of Directors and executive staff recently
spent a day with trainers from the National
Coalition Building Institute, which works with organizations to
reduce prejudice and encourage diversity.
“There are things we can do in our local churches to become more truly
welcoming toward people of diverse backgrounds,” said Dawn Hammond,
Associate Conference Minister for Policy and Finance. “The Board sought
this training in order to begin developing better skills and understandings
as to how this can be done.”
At last year’s Annual Meeting, several people expressed concern that
the Board of Directors lacked people of color. Hammond said finding
diverse people to sit on Conference boards and commissions is an ongoing
challenge, because the majority of Conference churches have memberships
that are primarily white and of European descent.
She said the Board next plans to try to find a way to tap into the knowledge
of those Conference churches that are culturally and racially diverse,
and to share that knowledge Conference-wide.
Return
to United Church News front page
Return
to Massachusetts Conference home page