PTS Responds
Dates
Weekly on Wednesdays, June 24-Aug. 26, 2020, 12:00-12:45 p.m. EASTERN
Overview
Another news cycle, another series of Black deaths – and millions of people around the world have responded, “No more!” to the sin of systemic racism. These are times that call for people of faith to lament, repent, learn, unlearn, and act – to name where the church has been complicit and unresponsive and to commit to the peace God promises.
Join us this summer for a series of conversations led by members of the PTS community to help faith and community leaders navigate a way of responding to the persistence of racial injustice and white privilege. They are staff, graduates, faculty, and trustees; they serve as educators, pastors, judicatory leaders, and advocates. Together we will explore these times – and our call to respond as people of faith – from historical, theological, practical, and pastoral perspectives. We will listen together to where the Spirit is drawing us; and we will discern a way forward for the church.
Each session will be recorded and made available to registrants. All sessions will be free and available to those who register. All are welcome to participate. Invite your friends and colleagues to listen in.
Presenters
June 24: "Dear White Church" - Ralph Lowe, PTS student and director of justice ministries, Pittsburgh Presbytery, and Brian Wallace, Associate Minister, Pittsburgh Presbytery
July 1: "Church Without Walls" - Dorsey McConnell VIII, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, and member, PTS Board of Directors, and Darryl T. Canady, Senior Pastor, Rodman Missionary Baptist Church
July 8: "Bible, Babel, and God's Desire for Diversity" - Steven Tuell, James A. Kelso Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament, PTS
July 15: "Barmen, Belhar, and the Theology of Protest" - Derek Woodard Lehman, Lecturer in Theology and Ethics and Administrative Assistant for the Dean of Faculty and Institutional Advancement, PTS
July 22: "Stories from New Hope: Ministering with Black Youth" - Allan Irizarry-Graves, Youth and College Pastor at New Hope Baptist Church, North Little Rock and Conway, AR
July 29: "The Whitest Denomination: Antiracism Work in the ELCA" - Kurt F. Kusserow, Bishop, and Melissa Stoller, Director for Evangelical Mission and Assistant to the Bishop for New, Renewing and Collaborative Ministries, ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod
Aug. 5: "Dismantling Racism: Pressing on to Freedom in the United Methodist Church" - Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, Bishop, Western Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church, and Debra L. Mason, Senior Pastor, John Wesley United Methodist Church, and Interim Coordinator, Diversity Development and Inclusion, Western Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church
Aug. 12: "On Being Effective Allies" - R. Drew Smith, Professor of Urban Ministry and Director of the Metro-Urban Institute, PTS
Aug. 19: "Antiracist Witness in a Polarized Church" - Angela Dienhart Hancock, Associate Professor of Homiletics and Worship, PTS
Aug. 26: "Racism and the Church: Decolonizing Mission" - Hunter Farrell, Director, World Mission Initiative, PTS
Registration and Log-in Instructions
To participate, please register via the link below. Log-in instructions and password details for the Zoom sessions will be sent with registration confirmation.
Questions
E-mail or call 412-924-1345.
Additional Race and Faith Resources
We invite you to download the Seminary's Race and Faith Resource Kit, providing a variety of materials, and hope it is helpful to you as an individual, to your church community, and in your neighborhood as a means of promoting knowledge, understanding, compassion, and peace among all God’s people. Access the Seminary's Race and Faith Resource Kit.
