An invitation to be part of this 3-session event!
| Bishop Alfred Johnson, Gil Rendle: 3 conversations on race |
| Ardmore UMC will host on the next three Wednesdays of July a special, three-part conversation on race between two noted, retired “clergy sons” of the Eastern PA Conference. The really special part may be that the Rev. Gil Rendle, an Ardmore UMC member, and Bishop Alfred Johnson have been friends for over 40 years. |
 They both attended Boston University School of Theology, served churches in Philadelphia and were ordained in the conference in the 1970s. Johnson (above) has served black and white congregations in Eastern PA and served as a district superintendent and director of Metro Ministries. He now teaches Urban Leadership at the New York Theological Seminary and directs the Center for the Study and Practice of Urban Religion there. |
 As a top leader and consultant in the Alban Institute and the Texas Methodist Foundation, Dr. Rendle (above) has helped several denominations as a consultant, teacher and author focusing on issues of conflict, leadership and systemic change. He has published ten books. During the recent “black lives matter” protests, Rendle proposed to Johnson, former bishop of the Greater New Jersey Conference, that they have publicly “an honest conversation about race, the local church, the community and the wider church.” “An Open Conversation: Race Relations as a Part of Our Life Story” will happen as a Zoom video webinar on the next three Wednesdays, July 15, 22 and 29, at 7 PM each evening for an hour to 90 minutes. The Zoom access link is available on the church’s website at www.ardmorechurch.com. The conversations offered here are similar to conversations they have shared over the years. July 15: Conversation #1 – Honesty: telling the truth about ourselves, & telling the truth to one another. July 22: Conversation #2 – Uncovering our fears – and the blessings within them. July 29: Conversation #3 – Reparations: repairing what was and moving forward. The Rev. Timothy Thomson-Hohl is Ardmore UMC’s pastor and can be reached at thomhaht@icloud.com or 610-306-3709. I hope you will join us for these important conversations. Also, watch for opportunities for book studies and dialogue at Cedarville as we learn, discuss, and confront these issues for our own lives, for our community, and for the world. |