Break Barriers, Build Beliefs (B4) Workshop
Held Saturday, November 9th, 2024
Facilitated by Rev. Amanda Schuber; hosted by the Ministerial Search Team

On Saturday, November 9th, a thoughtful and curious crowd of 25 of us gathered in the Cleveland Room for a learning experience with the very warm and wise Rev. Amanda Schuber. Rev. Schuber currently serves as a Developmental Minister at the High Street UU Church in Macon, GA. She shared some of the realities and challenges of living in the South while holding several marginalized identities; she did not record our session due to heightened safety concerns with the evolving political climate. As one participant commented, the workshop “prompted great self-reflection for us as individuals and as a church with positive and inspiring ideas for how we move forward in love.”

Here are some key ideas from the workshop that we wanted to share with the full congregation:

Multiple identities: We all hold more than one identity, and none of us wants to be identified with “one story,” be it one we are proud of or not. This is important to keep in mind, in relation with our ministers and their interests, and also with each other.

Belonging vs. Othering: What is it that makes someone feel welcome, and that they could be a part of our community (be they a minister or a potential member)? It is vital that we look at all the ways that we connect with others, and what messages we send. Consider ways to practice Radical Hospitality at our services and during fellowship.

Understanding and Confronting Bias: We looked at different categories of bias, how to be more aware of them, and how they impact how we see the world (including how they could affect the selection process for the Search Team). We all carry biases (and they are not all bad), but we don’t want those beliefs to define how we approach and relate with people.

Understanding Microaggressions: We learned about the small actions (often subtle or unintentional) which can diminish another person, and how they have the potential to add up to “10,000 daily paper cuts.”

Interrupting Microaggressions: Rev. Schuber shared the fact that ministers with marginalized identities typically have shorter tenures because of silence from a congregation in the face of microaggressions, and the feeling of not being supported. We all must be willing to step in and interrupt microaggressions and other behavior that goes against our shared values. This becomes more natural when there is a collective awareness of an articulated mission/vision/covenant, as we can “call each other back” into Covenant. Part of loving and caring for each other is helping one another do better.

Types of Bias and Microaggressions

Please see the B4 Discussion Guide for a helpful overview of types of bias and microaggressions.

Co-conspirators: While it is important to be an ally, what is needed now even more are co-conspirators: people who are willing to actively join the fight and help amplify marginalized voices. Given the evolving cultural/ political landscape, people with marginalized identities will need support more than ever. We have to be willing to take risks and to act in love, not out of fear… we have work to do (in our congregation and in the wider world).

Some feedback from workshop participants:

“It was an enlightening day and the Reverend was a wonderful presenter.”

“I feel like it prompted great self-reflection for us as individuals and as a church with positive and inspiring ideas for how we move forward in love for ourselves as we fumble, one another in the church and everyone who walks in the door!”

“I hope [potential visitors] will see our social media posts with rainbow colors and core values and know we are a sanctuary.”

“Rev. Amanda is a talented and gifted person, presenter and minister! The UU community is fortunate to have Amanda in our presence.”

“I love that we have welcomed teachings like this into the Search Process. It is so needed, and I am grateful we are bringing the UUA Resources into the process… I was left wondering how much we are tied and living in past systemic infrastructures instead of one that pulls us into a more expanding future for today’s world. This was an excellent inquiry to step into and see where we get stuck.”

“I’d love to see us take this forward in some way, using the guidance to help us in our work to create a vision, a mission, and processes for conflict resolution and communications. It was very good stuff!”

Some ideas for next steps– things we can work on together!

Using our Blue Sky visions to help develop inspiring vision and mission statements.
Enhancing our communications and marketing
Invigorating our Welcoming habits (while not overwhelming visitors)
Having pronoun stickers available for nametags
Helping keep our Little Free Library stocked
Bringing in additional speakers/workshop leaders on related topics
Participating in the UUA 2025 Common Read: Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families
Contributing to discussions and helping to support the development of a Behavior Covenant and other systems which support “Right Relations” in our congregation.

Results from the pre-workshop survey (completed by 62 people) illustrate some of the work we have to do:

More than half of the respondents said they weren’t sure if First Church has a mission and a vision statement. (We don’t! We also don’t have an articulated Behavior Covenant, other than our 1629 Covenant).
Only 35% felt “competent to interrupt a microaggression when it is happening between congregants.
Only 8% agreed that the “congregation has effective ways to engage and manage conflict amongst congregants over congregation-level issues.”
Only 11% felt that “my congregation has a process for accountability when a congregant strays from behavioral expectation.”
When asked if the church has offered formal opportunities to discuss topics such as anti-racism, diversity and justice, well over half of respondents replied no or unsure.

From the Ministerial Search Team:

The B4 workshop is a highly recommended part of the ministerial search process. It brings forth the opportunity to examine how congregations can temper and avoid bias and prejudice becoming a part of the search process. Avoiding bias is yet another way to put our faith into lived experience and improve the odds that, regardless of identity, we will find the minister who is the best match for us and who will serve us well.

This workshop opportunity allows the entire congregation fuller participation in the search process. It will allow us to explore our hopes and concerns for a new minister, learn more about the search process, and see how our history (both personal and congregational) might interfere with our efforts in this search.

Credentialed ministers in our faith who are LGBTQ+, disabled, younger, older, working class, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, fat, neurodiverse, genderqueer and other marginalized identities still face discrimination as part of the ministerial search process.

“Will the new minister hear me? Will my concerns and needs be met? Will the minister understand what I’m living with? How will the community respond to our minister?” In answering these questions, a picture of the “ideal minister” (categorized by age, gender identity, nationality, physical or cognitive ability, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and more) comes to mind. With this picture in place, it can be easy to exclude ministers who fall into certain categories unintentionally. As we get caught up in comparing candidates to our “picture,” we can forget what we hoped for in a minister.

The B4 workshop was designed by the UUA to help congregations grapple with breaking old cultural habits, and rebuild belief in the power of Beloved Community. It was developed over the 2022-23 congregation year to answer the call of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change as published in Widening the Circle of Concern (June 2020).