Beloved Community

Summary of Insights, Challenges and Experiments from Mission Summit Conversations (June 2013)

Insights
- We need to be COMFORTABLE, so we can get UNCOMFORTABLE, so that we all can be COMFORTED.
- We feel community means common-unity. Wherever we are there is the church.
Challenges
- Provide a safe place for expressions of discomfort and fear,
Experiments
- One group member shared in her long life she has found that she has been glad when she took a risk and reached out, and she has had few regrets for taking these risks.
- Offering classes for adults and youth in crafts and computer technology will help to build relationships with the community.
- Partner with other churches in programs for the needy.
- Choir Story: The choir always wore robes. They always got to church early, put on their robes, and then stood together waiting to go in. Their new pastor made a change and eliminated the robes which made the choir very uncomfortable. However, what they found was that they now had time to meet and greet new visitors that came in and even though they could not sit with them, they introduced them to another friend who sat with them. They became more accessible to people because they both had more time and they didn’t seem so set apart without their robes on.

Summary of Insights, Challenges and Experiments from the Mission Table (November 2013)

Insights
- A beloved community is known for what it is for rather than what it is against.
Challenges
- The church is pressed to keep up with what is happening to “community” in the USA. We are challenged to embrace the humanity of another person.
Experiments/Projects
- How we create beloved community needs to be sought after by the ABCUSA, such as learning how we accept/allow/be with one another in genuine ways and honest ways while valuing our difference than “in spite” of our differences.

Read the full notes:

Mission Summit Conversations:

Mission Table:

Day 1

Views expressed are the sole opinion of conversation participants. They do not express the views of American Baptist Churches USA, or individual American Baptist churches. Conversation notes and summaries are shared to allow American Baptists and friends to easily review and use these Mission Summit Conversations and the Mission Table learnings as they wish.