Photo of Rev. Paul Robinson featured speaker at the “Becoming the Beloved Community” event being held by Zion Covenant social justice group, Love Mercy, Do Justice. Submitted photo

Social justice and cultural awareness are being brought to the forefront in an upcoming event being held by a local social justice group on Oct. 2. Love Mercy, Do Justice, an initiative hosted by Zion Covenant Church, will be hosting a cultural awareness workshop titled “Becoming the Beloved Community.”

The event, which consists of two sessions and a luncheon, will feature Rev. Paul Robinson, executive minister of the Love Mercy, Do Justice Mission Priority of the Evangelical Covenant Church. Robinson previously served as a church planter and senior community leadership consultant. He has a bachelor of science in finance from Eastern Illinois University and a master’s of divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary of Chicago.

Rev. Rick Miller of Zion Covenant Church said the Love Mercy, Do Justice group has been meeting for about four years, but this is the first major public event they have held. True to its values of diversity, equity, inclusion, the group is made up of various members of the community, including people of different faiths and walks of life. He said the idea behind the event is to educate people, both those in the congregation and outside of it. Miller said the Evangelical Covenant Church has been involved in efforts such as these for quite some time.

“Our denomination, which is the Evangelical Covenant Church, has been very active in racial reconciliation for I believe the last 25 years, and it has completely reshaped the denomination,” he said. “So, they have been paying attention to justice issues for a long time. What’s happening on the denominational level is coming to fruition locally now for us. A lot of people think … that we’re sometimes jumping on these issues just because they’re big in the news right now or they’re big in our culture right now, issues of race or racial tensions. Again, this is something our church, the denomination, has been addressing for the last 25 or 30 years.”

Miller said the event is open to the public. He said the first session will focus on cultural competency, which will focus on understanding one’s own culture as well as other cultures. He said the first session may be more applicable to the general public, while the second session will tie racial reconciliation into faith and what that means to the religious community.

“Organizations and structures are healthier when they’re diverse and inclusive, and having a conversation around that is important,” Miller said. “It’s applicable across the board – health care, education, church, community whatever. The afternoon session is catered more toward the component of faith and how our faith, actually the Gospel, addresses issues of righteousness and equality, and racial reconciliation. This is part of the conversation around the Gospel – it’s not separate from it, it’s not a distraction from it – it’s part of the good news of the Gospel.”

He said he believes the event and the conversation are important to have in the community as racism still exists in Jamestown and the nation at large. He said he was led to the topics after various visits to poignant areas as well as materials he has been reading, including those by Martin Luther King.

“Things have changed, but not enough has changed,” Miller said.

Miller said the idea for the title came from Dr. Martin Luther King’s concept of a “beloved community,” that was free from discrimination, bigotry and prejudice, and focused on tolerance and inclusiveness.

Marie Vos, a leader in the Love Mercy, Do Justice, said the group is a ministry team through the church.

“Not all of our members of the team are members of Zion, and that’s intentional,” Vos said. “In fact, one active and one inactive member of our team is not a Christian, and that’s intentional. We wanted it to be a diverse group. This group has been offering events to Zion in particular, but the community at large, to try to raise awareness of different justice issues. Mostly we have been focusing on a lot of race issues, but that is not our intent going long term.”

Vos said the group has held movie showings at the church, but the events are not exclusively for the church. Due to the denomination having a larger denomination version of Love Mercy Do Justice, the group was able to bring Rev. Robinson to hold the workshop. Vos said the group has been planning the event since March.

“There are racial issues in the community – there are racial issues in the whole country,” she said. “Fortunately, we haven’t been a Minneapolis with a high profile tension case, or Ferguson or Kenosha – but there’s no reason to think Jamestown is exempt. Maybe this is a preventative measure. It’s one more opportunity to talk and realize we’re all human and we have more in common than we have in differences.”

Sam Qadri, Jamestown Islamic Society community outreach coordinator, is also a member of the Love Mercy, Do Justice team. Qadri said he feels as if Zion Covenant “adopted” him. He said he was glad to see that the church officially made the group a committee of the church. He said it spoke a lot to the intent behind the group and the church.

Being included as one of the non-Christian members was something meaningful to him, Qadri said.

“I think the inclusiveness part of that to me is very important and having the different denominations of the different faith groups within Jamestown and Chautauqua County – to be able to do that freely and willingly is important,” he said. “I think that’s a truly great step.”

Qadri said the event being held at this time is fortunate as there could be “no more perfect of a time.” He said conversations are being held at this time in the area and across the country regarding racial justice and other social justice issues, which makes the topic of the workshop even more important.

“When I see other people talking against the Black Lives Matters groups or when they try to undermine their intentions or their activities, then you have a sense that we still have racists in our community,” he said. “I don’t know if we can change someone’s mind from being a prejudiced bigot, but we can certainly educate the children. Hopefully, the next generation grows up in an environment that fosters acceptance, that fosters tolerance, and that fosters collaboration even with someone you might not agree with on the principles of faith and what the faith teaches. At least we ought to be able to work together on a common goal for the sake of our upcoming generation. We are accountable for that I believe in the eyes of God, the Creator.”

Qadri said his involvement is “intentional” as he is still interested in learning about cultures and other aspects of the workshops.

The event is being held at no charge on Oct. 2 at Zion Covenant Church from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A luncheon will be held at noon with a suggested donation of $10. The first session will run from 9 a.m. to noon and is titled Cultural Competency. The second session will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and is titled Racial Reconciliation. Participants can attend one or both sessions. For more information and to register for the event, visit www.ZionCov.org. Registration closes on Monday, Sept. 27th.