Begin, Re-energize, Re-focus your church’s journey toward racial justice and equity Becoming the Beloved Community: How to Talk About Race in America

Becoming the Beloved Community is a 4-hour workshop that conveys not only facts and essential knowledge about race and racism but also seeks to help us experience some of the harm and hurt racial prejudice has caused.

Future workshops and registration details for 2023 coming soon.

Friendship UMC in Bolingbrook event to be rescheduled for 2023

Hinsdale UMC event to be rescheduled for 2023

Are you interested in hosting a workshop at your church, in your cluster, or in your district?

If so, we have additional spots opening up for 2023. Please contact Dr. Richard Guzman at rrguzman@comcast.net for 2023 open spots.

The Anti-racism Task Force’s Becoming the Beloved Community workshop was created by a team of Champion Team members led by Dr. Richard Guzman. This 4-hour workshop conveys facts and essential knowledge about race and racism and seeks to help participants experience some of the harm and hurt racial prejudice has caused.

• The workshop emphasizes engagement, not confrontation
  To make progress on race, we have to stay engaged, even with people we disagree with.
• Small groups meet after each presentation session
  Trained facilitators lead in story sharing, helping people connect personally with the presentations.
• It re-balances our view of the personal vs. the systemic
  Though we talk about the harm personal racism causes, we also have to become “systemically aware.”
• Relationships are paramount
  The workshop seeks to lay the groundwork for friendships and alliances that will fight racism together.
• The workshop is media-rich and remains respectful while confronting hard issues.

The pilot workshop was held on Sat., Sept. 11, 2021, at Friendship United Methodist Church in Bolingbrook. Since then, three other churches held a workshop at Glencoe: North Shore UMC, Elmhurst: First UMC, and Elgin: First UMC in the Spring of 2022. Workshops are planned at Bolingbrook: Friendship UMC in October and Hinsdale UMC in November of 2022.

Dr. Richard R. Guzman

Facilitator: Dr. Richard R. Guzman is a professor emeritus at North Central College, where he taught writing, literature, race/ethnicity, and social change and is active in his family’s foundation, Emmanuel House.  He serves as a consultant on anti-racism initiatives for the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church and headed the committee that produced the Becoming the Beloved Community workshop.

The Becoming the Beloved Community Planning Team is Dr. Richard Guzman (Bolingbrook: Friendship), Tom Butler (Evanston: First UMC), Lennox Iton (Hinsdale UMC), Rev. Tennille Power (Chicago: Hazel Crest Community UMC), Donna Sagami (Chicago: Ravenswood Fellowship).