Racial Justice and De-Colonizing the Church
The Executive Committee on behalf of the full WJIECC designed the first of the series of conversations on dismantling racism. This action is an outcome of the Executive Committee’s conferring with our Leadership Team Chair, Donna Pritchard that the WJIECC is supporting the Western Jurisdiction’s bold ministry in fighting against racism or eradicating racism. The first conversation was held on January 5, 2021 at 6:00-8:00 pm via Zoom. There were 233 registrants and 189 attended the conversation.
The conversation speakers were the Rev. Michael Yoshii, a retired clergy from the California-Nevada Conference; Pastor Ann Jacob, a young clergy serving as one of the pastors at Edmond UMC in the Pacific Northwest and Deborah Bass, Vice Chair of the National Black Methodists for Church Renewal, and the Chair of the Conference Committee on Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century of the California-Pacific Conference.
Purposes of the Conversation
(1) Strengthen work of advocacy on racial justice in the five main Caucuses in the WJ: