by Eva Kortekaas, Netherlands Fellowship and former EUU Delegate to ICUU
Last fall, two significant events took place in the international U/U community. I finally have had the time to sit down and write an update to share with you all.
This update focuses on Leading into the Future: a conversation on global U/U theological education & lay leadership which convened in Prague from October 26 to October 29, 2023 and on the online Town-hall organized by the Leadership and Design Team on November 30, 2023.
I also bring the (kinda very belated) greetings from Liz Slade and Elekes Zsolt, who attended the April retreat in Bad Homburg in 2023, on behalf of the Leadership and Design Team. They led a workshop on what EUU members felt was important for the future of international cooperation.
“Leading into the Future: a conversation on global U/U theological education & lay leadership” in Prague, October 26-29, 2023
After a very long train journey (three hour delay included) I arrived in Prague on October 26 with my friend Klaas, who represented the Vrijzinnigen Nederland, a Dutch liberal religious group. We were warmly welcomed by the Czech Unitarians with coffee, tea and delicious snacks. The first day only included a fairly short meeting to introduce the theme and the program and the chance to get to know each other. For me, personally, this especially offered the chance to reconnect with my friend Juuban from India, who I first met at the ICUU conference in 2016 in Mennerode. After dinner we had some time to explore the city. Jubaan was not the only person I had the chance to reconnect with though. I also re-met many others for the first time since Corona. Of course I also had the opportunity to meet new people, including a few students from the Prague Unitarian Academy, the remaining members of the Leadership and Design Team, Rev. Alicia Forde (the current International Office Director of the UUA), and Rev. Morgan McLean (International Engagement Program Manager of the UUA).
The convening focused on how to bring our faith into the future and what is needed for this, with a strong focus on the future of (theological) education for both ministers and lay leaders. A special summary of the entire convening was made by visual facilitator Jonathan Dorset from the UK, and if you would like to see more of this, please take a look at the booklet at this link or the picture here. In the booklet you can also find links to the recordings of the keynote speech on the first day and the keynote panel on the second day.
The next day, the first full day, began with a time of worship, followed by a keynote speech from Bayo Akomolafe. In his keynote “Making Sanctuary, Together: Faith in a more than human world,” Akomolafe explored a new vision of what faith is and what it could mean. Many intriguing ideas were offered, and I can only show a glimpse of the things that jumped out at me.
Starting with the Yoruba story that Bayo calls ‘the God who Accompanies’ he asks the question of what role faith plays in current times. Where might faith go in times of crisis? First going briefly into the common ways faith is understood and contrasting with rationality, Bayo instead hopes to offer a re-framing of what faith is in this highly interconnected world. And not just connections between humans, but also with the tiny creatures that live on our skin, the bacteria that inhabit our body, the whole ecology around us. We are not separate from the world around us, and what does that mean for faith?
Next Bayo explored the story of Job and especially focusing on the final part where God comes and speaks about creation. He points out that this creates bewilderment and, through this, it de-centers human anxieties and problems. We are invited to consider how much we are a product of the ecologies and the environments we are a part of. What does that mean for how we consider ourselves as individuals, separate from the world around us? From there, Bayo widens the picture by inviting us to consider faith as something of a post-humanist process, something that doesn’t only affect humans. He defines faith as “the fidelity of certain heterogeneous arrangements or rhizomatic assemblages in their moral co-productions of goals, in the ongoing inquiry into what matters and how it comes to matter. In other words, faith is how bodies borrow other bodies to navigate a universe too complex for isolated answers, too dense for correct approaches, too slippery for arrivals.” Bayo describes faith as the art of living together, like, for example, the bee and a nectar producing plant. Faith also isn’t a destination, a certainty, but a journey, a process. Faith is acting together, co-creating together.
Finally Bayo explored the story of a painting of Mondriaan and a discussion of how it hung and what is the correct way to view it. How do we decide what the correct way is? Is there even a correct way? And is there a correct way to do faith?
Particularly interesting for me was the part where Bayo said that making sanctuary is a vocation of catching people where they fall. This could be a task of faith communities: catching them where people fall, a form of radical hospitality where we stay with them in grief and loss. We seek for what matters next with them and hold space for the process of grief and loss.
I’ll be honest, the first time I listened to Bayo’s talk in Prague, I was a little overwhelmed by the concepts and ideas that he introduced. It’s after revisiting the talk when I got home that I got a better grasp of his points and could start to reflect on them. I still chew on them from time to time.
In the afternoon we got to work in small groups we explored what we love and celebrate about our U/U faith, but also the things we find challenging. Afterwards we came together and shared our insights with the larger group. Under the theme of love and celebration, things like ‘Finding Joy in the Transcendent’, ‘Place to ask questions’ and ‘Gentle Braveness’ were mentioned. Examples of identified challenges were ‘an unequal distribution of resources’ ‘finding a balance between the now and the past’ or ‘so many social challenges. What to address?’
For me, personally, and probably many other people with me, this is a familiar topic, something I have done before. But it is always good to remember why we love this faith, while also being honest about the challenges we face.
The theme of the future of (theological) education for both ministers and lay leaders was especially explored on the second day with a keynote panel. The members of the keynote panel were Rev. Dr. Sophia Betancourt, president of the UUA; Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, president of Starr King School for the Ministry in the US; Kristyna Lederova, Executive Director of the Religious Society of Czech Unitarians; Helen Mason, Director of Unitarian College in the UK; Dr. Mphala Mogudi, lay worship leader in Britain and South-Africa; Rev. Fulgence Ndagijimana, founder of the Burundian Unitarian Universalist Church; Dr. Elías Ortega from Meadville Lombard Theological School in the US; and Liz Slade, Chief Officer of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches in the UK.
The question of what the future of theological education should and could look like was explored from many different angles. The keyword that jumped out to me here was “context,” and that is determined by so many different factors. A few examples that were discussed were questions like: What is the cultural context we are talking about? What do the communities need, and who are the individuals serving them? Are we talking ministers, lay leaders or more faith formation in general? Is the emphasis more on the community itself or on engaging with the wider world? All of these questions have a lot of impact on what skills and capacities are needed, while also considering issues like financial constraints.
There was also valuable discussion on Bayo’s point from the previous day about ‘catching people where they fall,’ especially in a time where the world is changing rapidly, and people are grieving the loss of the old one. There was a general sense of agreement that this is an important task for religious communities and the people who serve them. However, one important addition was made: we also have to help people to get up, be brave and become a part of this new world.
In the afternoon we ‘Played with Purpose.’ Each of the panel members joined a small group of participants, and together we explored the possible future of theological education, even trying to come up with a bit of a plan. How could we use the various resources that are around? The group I was part of created the image of a ‘table with a potluck,’ bringing with us ‘dishes’ like global thinking, meeting people in their place, many images of the divine, expertise, and knowledge. Afterwards, the many groups came together and shared their own images. What stood out to me was the focus on exploring what the different groups might offer rather than just their needs and wants.
On Sunday morning, at the closing of the convening, four ‘buckets’ were suggested for further conversation and development as preliminary results: education, youth and young adults, funding and sustainability and global Unitarian thought and theology. Other ideas floated were ‘women’ and ‘history’. Afterwards there was a closing service where we sang Spirit of Life in eight different languages, reflected on the question of ‘What is the main moral and spiritual driving force of your community for the betterment of society in general?’ and wrote wishes to other people on little notes. These notes were then gathered, and everyone was able to draw one and thus receive a wish.
This is by no means a fully comprehensive overview from moment to moment. There was the wonderful company during mealtimes (even if the food wasn’t that great), friends both old and new, the beautiful city were we in, the choir of Ukrainian refugees formed by people the Czech Unitarian community has been helping and that performed for us, and the lunch where more of the Leadership Design Team’s hopes for future international collaboration was shared. More about that last is below with a report of the Leadership and Design Team Town-hall.
Leadership and Design Team (LDT) Town-hall November 30, 2023
I also attended the Leadership and Design Team town-hall on November 30, 2023, where the LDT’s new vision for international collaboration was shared. After a brief introduction of the LDT members, we dove into the goal of the meeting: sharing their vision of the future of international cooperation and offering everyone the chance to provide input. This was followed by short breakout sessions to do a check-in around the question: ‘What is it that brings you to this meeting?’ In my group, people mostly expressed an interest in seeing international work continue and affirmed that there is important work to be done.
Afterwards a short overview of the LDT was given. The group was formed after the dissolution of the ICUU and UUPCC with the goal of learning together and creating a new vision of international collaboration. As a group they have tried to learn from the past, listening to people who both participated and didn’t participate, and create something that would fit the current needs of the international U/U community. For the past two years they have been meeting twice a month. The process has been intentionally slow, to take the time so mistakes might be prevented, so they could listen widely and discover how much there is in common, but also learn more about the current cultural and theological contexts. Their vision focuses on facilitating collaboration based on specific needs, with the LDT helping connect people to potential international partners. Modern internet networks will be a great asset in this endeavor.
The main focus was the presentation of this brochure with some added comments. Below are the main pages with a summary of the comments made.
This Is Spiritual Work: Core Commitments of the U/U & FC Global Network
This page shows the basics of the vision. It will take time to build though. They strive to be non-hierarchical. There will be no independent NGO or other organization. Instead the aim is to create a non-hierarchical, collaborative network between organizations, communities and people where relationships form the heart. The four key points encapsulate this vision of ‘relationship at the heart’. The hope is also very much of it being spiritual work, with people having to be open to spiritual growth and transformation.
Core Commitments: How We Will Work Together
What does this mean in practice though? This slide shows more of what these core commitments could and would look like and which choices the LTD has made to bring their vision to life. For each of the four key points a few of important, more practical choices have been listed.
The Big Picture: Strengthening the U/U & FC Global Network
The focus of the future network is on facilitating collaboration and creating connections. The LDT will provide leadership until the network matures while the UUA will provide a financial backbone through administrative support and an annual grant. They also maintain close connections with the International U/U Funding program. Online platforms will be used to facilitate collaboration and to engage in a continuous process of feedback and reflection.
Our aim: Building Capacity to Facilitate Relationships
Most of this slide speaks for itself. It outlines future roles and duties, which will hopefully contribute to the international network’s development
Building a New Way, Together
It will take time to truly build and implement this vision. The goal for 2024 is to hire initial staff and set up online resources, encouraging more participation.
After the presentation we had another breakout session with questions like ‘What is one challenge that you have experienced that this group can help?’, ‘What has been successful?’ and finally ‘What would things look like if it went really well?’ One point I keep pondering about was the idea that building relationships among all community members, not just the leadership, is crucial for international work. I wonder if EUU members might be interested in this and whether we should facilitate it.
And in a final update… a few weeks ago, the Leadership and Design Team shared some exciting news: a job opening for a Network Facilitator was posted with applications closing on May 17. I hope everyone who might be interested had the chance to see it on the EUU Facebook page and apply. The Network Facilitator will hopefully play an important role by building the means for online connections and support among the various international U/U groups, providing administrative support to the LTD, and organizing other ways to keep the various groups connected.