The Work of JEDI
At The Neighboring Movement, we train faith leaders across the country in our Good Neighbor Experiment (GNE) curriculum so they can build networks of churches in their home communities that want to grow in the work of neighboring. Last week, we brought these GNE Facilitators to Kansas City, Kansas for a time of connection and learning.
One year ago, we hosted an in-person retreat in Wichita as a way to conclude the training of our first cohort of GNE Facilitators. During one of the evenings, we were jamming to some folk music and enjoying good food when Adam and I (spontaneously) decided this needed to be an annual gathering. Our rationale initially was: this group of faith leaders is too cool, too fun, and too inspiring for this to be a one-time thing. A few months later, when we hosted the in-person retreat for our second cohort of GNE Facilitators, our rationale was confirmed and strengthened.
So, we got to planning our first annual GNE Facilitator retreat. We knew that, at the very least, we wanted to hold space for these two cohorts to connect and get to know one another. Throughout the year, we hosted monthly Zooms between the two cohorts so they could meet and share learnings as we built church cohorts committed to neighboring. But as you know, Zoom isn’t quite the same! Beyond relationship-building, we also wanted to continue growing and nurturing these leaders in our work of neighboring, asset-based community development, and facilitation.
As we planned, we decided to gather in Kansas City, Kansas where our friend and GNE Facilitator, Rev. Carter Ellis, lives. She works at a non-profit called The Hub Argentine which serves as a connector within the Argentine neighborhood through a community market, community garden, storytelling, and more! What better way to continue learning about neighboring than to witness this work first-hand from Carter and the Argentine neighborhood?! Thanks to Carter we were able to enjoy several incredible meals together prepared by her Argentine neighbors - Cristina cooked a wonderful Mexican dish, Ruben made tacos straight from his food truck, and Josef and his wife cooked us Congolese food.
On top of that, we thought - this group has heard enough from us, who can we bring to this gathering to further educate and support us in our work together? Fortunately, because of our connection with our other friend and GNE Facilitator, Rev. Dr. Heather Kilbourne, we were lucky enough to cross paths with Annette Weston and Crystal Imes who work at NETworX, which is a nonprofit based in North Carolina that works to address poverty holistically through education, love of God and neighbor, and asset-based work.
We asked Annette and Crystal to join us in KCK to share a DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) training through an asset-based lens. We spent one day participating in conversations and activities that focused on topics such as privilege, race, class, discrimination, and more, which not only challenged us as individuals, but equipped us to facilitate some of this work in our churches and communities. In short - we began our training to become JEDIs, aka faith leaders committed to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
For those who have engaged in this kind of work before, you’ll know that this work to become grounded in JEDI is never done. However, this short time spent with our GNE Facilitators gave us the chance to 1) build deeper relationships grounded in uncomfortable yet necessary conversations, and to 2) begin integrating these learnings in the material and facilitation of the Good Neighbor Experiment. Our JEDI work together, and across the country with churches, has only just begun.
So compared to one year ago, from my perspective, our GNE Facilitator community left KCK more connected, more aware, more humble, and more energized. But also, the sentiment Adam and I had last year has remained. This group is just too cool, too fun, and too inspiring for this to be just a one-time thing. So last I heard, we are getting ready for next year’s annual gathering already… maybe in San Antonio??
