Damascus Road tracks changes in churches and organizations

Mennonite Central Committee
Saturday, 5 February 2000

AKRON, Pa. -- The road to Damascus was an eye-opener for Saul; confronted by Jesus, he saw his own blindness. Across the Mennonite church today people describe similar experiences as they take part in Damascus Road anti-racism training.

"Going through the training was a kind of conversion for me," says Everett Thomas, president of Mennonite Board of Congregational Ministries (MBCM) in Elkhart, Ind. He saw in a new way how church structures and institutions limit people of color. "The scales on my eyes continue to fall off," he says.

"It's really a spiritual battle," believes Jeff Hackman, a teacher at Western Mennonite High School in Salem, Ore. "Realizing racism is rooted in spiritual conflict makes people take it more seriously."

The Damascus Road program has other parallels to the book of Acts. From early beginnings in 1995 at a Chicago conference, enthusiasm and desire for change has spread across churches. Christians from colleges, churches, church conferences and church organizations have taken part in anti-racism training and started teams working for long-term change.

Like the early church, change has spread outside traditional boundaries. In Indiana, Thomas' membership on city council led to an anti-racism training for city department heads. Later strong city opposition to Ku Klux Klan activity in the Goshen area was a sign of public resolve growing out of understanding racism, remembers Thomas.

Anti-racism training had a major impact on understanding discussions of race in the workplace for participant Rachel Yoder. "The issue is who's in control," says Yoder, a Damascus Road team member from Fairhaven Mennonite Church in Fort Wayne, Ind. "Whites need to share power in planning, not only ask people of color to follow existing patterns."

"Unlike many programs that call for grassroots change, Damascus Road is encouraging church institutions to change from the top down. Both kinds of change have happened in Franconia Mennonite Conference," says Sharon Williams, a team member from Pennsylvania. Before the initial Chicago conference, a group of people had come together to pray, frustrated by their work against racism. Williams says that this "season of prayer" laid the groundwork for Franconia changes growing out of Damascus Road.

Franconia Conference, as part of its long-term restructuring, is "rebuilding our core documents, constitution and bylaws to include anti-racism," Williams reports. The conference board is "calling forth teams for a long-term commitment." She believes work against racism is part of the Great Commission. "We are to go into all the world, and the world is here" in various cultures and ethnic groups, she notes.

Zenebe Abebe, coordinator for Goshen (Ind.) College Damascus Road teams, says commitment from the top makes a big difference. With commitment from the college president, administrators and faculty, one team has grown to four over the years. Teams have outreach to Sunday schools, the school system, the Goshen ministerial association. People had to be turned away from a training for area churches, Abebe reports, and an additional training is planned.

MBCM has asked questions about "virtually every program, ministry or project we provide, to see if those are serving only mainstream churches or serving churches of many cultures and ethnicities," says Thomas. He credits support from MBCM's board of directors for this Damascus Road effort and for staff diversity that has increased greatly in the last 10 years. Today MBCM helps congregations understand cross-cultural evangelism, tailors worship resources to serve many cultural traditions, and works with ministerial groups from various ethnic backgrounds to better serve them with pastor placements.

With Mennonite Church/General Conference integration taking place, "the irony is that our organization [MBCM] will disappear within a couple years," Thomas comments. But he believes the focus on anti-racism at this time is providential for the church. "As we create plans for how church agencies will work, foundational to all is the work of dismantling racism. Damascus Road has already borne significant fruit in integration plans," he says, such as the requirement that the new executive board of Mennonite Church USA have at least 20 percent people of color.

Many goals remain for Damascus Road teams. At Western Mennonite Jeff Hackman hopes to see more people of color on the board, faculty and staff, school publications in Spanish and English and a stronger recruitment relationship with the conference's eight Hispanic churches. The Franconia Conference team has conducted several workshops and consultations; "We need to encourage these groups to develop their own teams and commit to long-term work against racism," says Sharon Williams. Despite Fairhaven's multiracial history, Rachel Yoder learned that African-American members had given up parts of worship that they loved; "Everyone should be able to have expressions of worship that are really meaningful to them," she says.

Damascus Road theology fits well in the Anabaptist tradition, Williams says. "Its solidly rooted in the New Testament understanding of peace and justice as a central part of the gospel."

Abebe believes the church's growing focus on racism is as significant as when Mennonites first took up overseas missions. "The knowledge is here, the scriptures are there, we can combine that force to make this our mission for peace and justice in the absence of war. This is a tremendous opportunity for the Mennonite Church."

A program of Mennonite Central Committee U.S., Damascus Road is an anti-racism training process equipping church congregations and institutions to dismantle racism. Begun in March 1995, Damascus Road has grown to work with more than 40 institutions in the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. To find out more contact MCC U.S. at 717-859-3889 or damascusroad@mccus.org

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org