October 10 | 12:45 – 1:45 p.m. ET

A Sabbatical Journey Through White Supremacy, Black Resistance and The American South

Join Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis and Rev. John Janka for a free teach-in describing lessons they learned on sabbatical travel through the South. They embarked on this journey asking how the same religion could birth both theologies that enslaved people, and theologies that resisted slavery. And they searched for lessons about Black joy and resilience that sustained people through the struggle against that evil, that can inform how we live into fierce love today.

John Janka (he/him) is the co-founder of The Middle Project, which prepares ethical leaders for a more just society. He created the annual Revolutionary Love justice conference offered at Middle Church.  John is a consultant to congregations and denominational systems on strategic planning and visioning; managing change and resistance; dealing with cultural diversity and conflict; and human relations. Ordained in the United Methodist Church, Janka has taught leadership skills in the Doctor of Ministry Program at Wesley Theological Seminary and co-created the Doctor of Ministry Program in Public Theology at Drew University.

October 20 | 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET

Rising to Indigenous Reparations

In this conversation, we’ll talk about how to move from nominal indigenous reparations, like land acknowledgements, into deeper partnership with native siblings. We’ll talk about how power and colonization still manifests in many of the ways religious communities interact with indigenous communities, and in our own theologies. We’ll also talk about the role art can play in helping us to imagine new futures that foster indigenous thriving, and tell more accurate stories about our native siblings’ past, present and future.

Jacqui Lewis will be joined in this conversation by Kali Spitzer and Jim Bear Jacobs.

Kali Spitzer (she/her) is is Kaska Dena from Daylu (Lower Post, British Columbia) on her father’s side and Jewish from Transylvania, Romania on her mother’s side. A photographer, her work includes portraits, figure studies and photographs of her people, ceremonies and culture.

Jim Bear Jacobs (he/him) was born in St. Paul, Minn., and is a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation. He is the Director of Community Engagement and Racial Justice for the Minnesota Council of Churches. and the creator and director of “Healing Minnesota Stories.”

This conversation is made possible through sponsorship by the Middle Project, an organization that prepares leaders for a more just society through social justice initiatives that foster greater political and civic engagement. The Middle Project takes its strength and approach from the progressive faith traditions that have played a major role in America’s greatest democratic achievements: the abolition of slavery, civil rights, universal suffrage, and the anti-war movement. It carries out its work through active partnerships and collaboration, education and training, and fiscal sponsorship.

December 15 | 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET

Rising to A Moral Economy

We live in a world of economic extremes: American billionaires added more than $1 trillion in wealth throughout the pandemic, while millions of families now risk eviction. Unfortunately, that gap will continue to grow if we don’t pass policy deliberately crafted to reduce inequality. This deplorable state of affairs violates the abundance created for us to share. In this conversation, we’ll explore a variety of policy solutions that could help rebalance this cultural mess. We’ll particularly focus on the ongoing eviction crisis, and examine how public housing, increased minimum wages, community land grants and collective action can make a difference. Plus, we’ll discuss how theology has been complicit to constructing these economic disparities, and the spiritual changes religious communities must make to help build systems that equitably distribute everyone deserves.

Jacqui Lewis will be joined by Tiffany Dena Loftin and Jawanza Williams. Tiffany (she/her) is a national social and racial justice organizer. She trains movement leaders on the fundamentals of power relationships and organizational capacity building to directly improve the conditions of communities of color. Tiffany served as the National Director for the Youth and College Division at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Her mission there was to train, organize and uplift young Black leaders everywhere who fight for the racial, social, and economic equity of all people. She worked with 340 middle, high school, and college autonomous chapters under her leadership who are constantly recruit new members that organize local and national campaigns like ending mass incarceration, ending gun and police violence, school safety, college affordability, and protecting and increasing democracy.

Jawanza (he/they) is a Black, radical Queer, Prison Abolitionist, Socialist, Community Organizer. He is a native of Beaumont, Texas. They are Director of Organizing for Voices of Community Activists and Leaders (VOCAL-NY), and were recognized by City & State New York in 2021 as one of the 50 top activists to watch.

This conversation is made possible through sponsorship by the Middle Project, an organization that prepares leaders for a more just society through social justice initiatives that foster greater political and civic engagement. The Middle Project takes its strength and approach from the progressive faith traditions that have played a major role in America’s greatest democratic achievements: the abolition of slavery, civil rights, universal suffrage, and the anti-war movement. It carries out its work through active partnerships and collaboration, education and training, and fiscal sponsorship.

January 19 | 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET

Rising to Beloved Community

The beloved community that Dr. King promised requires radical honesty and true repentance, a journey upon which white American society stubbornly refuses to embark. Even now, the fervent resistance against teaching honestly the history of US racism in our schools underscores the work we must do. This conversation will focus on how we can transform beyond the painful divisions that try to tear us apart, to foster conciliation. We will focus on both the personal and social dimensions of this work, and the practical steps each of us can take to heal what is broken.

Jacqui Lewis will be in conversation with Danya Ruttenberg. Rabbi Danya (she/her) is Scholar in Residence at National Council of Jewish Women and author of the forthcoming On Repentance: Repair and Amends in an Unapologetic World (Beacon Press, August 2022), on applying an ancient framework of repentance and repair to the contemporary public square, to institutions, and to national policy.

March 23 | 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET

Rising to Gender Equality

The fight against patriarchy is a holy struggle. For far too long, men have wielded undue economic, social and political influence to the detriment of all other people. And while forms of #girlboss feminism have made headlines, they have sadly left much structural inequality intact—we still suffer gross disparities in pay, bodily autonomy and representation across board rooms and statehouses alike. Moreover, “gender justice” has too often left out our trans and gender nonconforming siblings, who are currently under legislative assault. Any movement for true gender equality must confront these myriad forms of harm. In this conversation, we’ll talk along the fault lines of these modern struggles—how we can build new coalitions of all people impacted by patriarchal abuse—to birth a world where everyone is free to live into the fullness of their gender without fearing violence or suffering injustice.

Abby Stein (she/her) will join Jacqui Lewis for this dialogue. Abby is is a Jewish educator, author, speaker, and activist. In 2015, Abby came out as a trans woman, and has since become a prominent activist for trans rights and those leaving Ultra-Orthodoxy. She is the author of Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman.

April 23-24 | 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET

Rising to Multiethnic Community: An Antidote to White Supremacy

Multiethnic community isn’t easy. It’s also the only way we can uproot the white supremacy that’s poisoning our politics and communal life. To build spaces where all people are welcomed, seen and celebrated, we must begin by facing crucial truths about the interlocking injustices that currently keep us apart. Jacqui Lewis is a renowned expert in multiethnic movement building: In her  more than 15 years as senior minister, she’s helped Middle Church transform into one of the most robust and diverse faith communities in the country.

We invite you to join us for a two-day intensive, where Jacqui will be joined by a host of fabulous guests, who each approach community-building from a different vantage point. Together, we’ll help equip you for the difficult but essential work of fostering space where everyone is welcome, and organized to disrupt the forces keeping us apart.

Kat Armas (she/her) is a Cuban-American author and podcaster from Miami, FL. Her first book, Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us About Wisdom, Persistence and Strength examines the intersection of women, Scripture, and Cuban identity. She also explores similar topics on her podcast, The Protagonistas, which centers the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other women of color in church leadership and theology.

Curtiss Paul DeYoung (he/him) is the Chief Executive Officer of the Minnesota Council of Churches. He has also served as the Executive Director of Community Renewal Society in Chicago, and as Professor of Reconciliation Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. He is the author of Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice.

Mary Fashik (she/her) is a Lebanese born, queer disability rights activist, author, public speaker, and workshop facilitator. She is the founder of Upgrade Accessibility, a movement designed to challenge today’s accessibility standards. In 2020, she created Camp Access, a virtual camp experience for the disabled and chronically ill community.

Andre Henry (he/him) has a passion for making the invisible visible. In the summer of 2016, he began lugging a solid granite boulder around Los Angeles to show the weight of systemic racism on the black psyche. And he founded an activist collective called “Something Disruptive” after police killed his mentally ill neighbor, J.R. Thomas. An accomplished musical artist and writer, he is also the host of the Hope and Hard Pills podcast.

Robert P. Jones (he/him) is the CEO and Founder of Public Religion Research Institute and a leading scholar and commentator on religion, culture, and politics. Jones is the author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, and The End of White Christian America, which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

June 15 | 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. ET

Rising to Divine Queerness

Queer people and communities, though long-vilified in religious spaces, provide one of the most beautiful embodiments of what God is doing in our midst. Ethics of radical community care, joy as resistance, destabilizing false binaries/hierarchies, and the revolutionary power of art transform divine promise into worldly action. In this conversation, we’ll examine how we come to know God better through LGBTQIA+ people, and the ways queer liberation offers a roadmap to free all people.

In this conversation, Jacqui Lewis will be joined by Semler. Semler (all pronouns) recently became the first openly queer artist to hit number 1 on the iTunes Christian music charts with their EP, Preacher’s Kid. The project explores Semler’s experience growing up as a queer person of faith. Semler has been featured on NPR, The Washington Post and Apple Radio. Preacher’s Kid was recorded independently by Semler on a USB mic and received over a million streams in just a few months.

Together, they’ll talk about how they use their music to offer the kind of radical love they wish they heard growing up. She’ll talk about the why heteronormative culture fears LGTBQIA+ people, and how everyone can fight legislative bigotry. And he may even offer a song or two…