United Church Anti-Racism Resources
The United Church is committed to becoming an anti-racist church through a continuous struggle against racism. Find out more about this commitment, including how your community of faith can get involved in worship, study, and reflection.
Click HERE for June Newsletter
Update from Adele Halliday (Anti-Racism and Equity Lead, UCC)
Explore the United Church’s new national Anti-Racism Action Plan: This three-year anti-racism strategy is designed for the United Church as a whole. Developed by the Anti-Racism Common Table, the plan offers strategic directions and clear goals for the church’s anti-racism work.
United Church anti-racism blog posts: A new blog post explores the impact of systemic racism as well as personal commitments to ongoing work. Several other blog posts also focus on anti-racism.
Commit to work on anti-Indigenous racism: The United Church adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which includes the position that Indigenous Peoples should be free from discrimination. Yet in Canada, Indigenous Peoples continue to live under the Indian Act, an explicitly race-based piece of legislation. Learn more about this Act in the book, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act.
Explore the 40 Days of Engagement on Anti-Racism: Even if you have explored the 40 Days already, you may discover new insights as you read the content again.
View the United Church’s new anti-racism video series: This video series features four United Church leaders talking about different forms of racism, sharing stories, and offering challenges for the church.
Participate in racial justice training: The United Church offers racial justice education sessions which are open to anyone and are continually updated. Even if you have engaged in anti-racism education before, it can be helpful to engage with it again.
Reflect on the new anti-racism statement from the United Church Foundation:The United Church Foundation’s anti-racism statement could be an inspiration for similar statements for communities of faith—and commitments to living it out.
Read a book about anti-racism: Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization is one of the books offered by the United Church Bookstore that explores anti-racism, Indigenous justice, intercultural engagement, and related themes. It tackles the violations at every intersection of settler and Indigenous worlds which are woven into the fabric of our personal and political lives.
Pray, reflect, and act on racism in all its forms: One possibility is to explore the regional prayers created by World Council of Churches. People from the United Church were involved in the creation of the regional prayers from North America.
We hope that you might find ways of engaging with anti-racism throughout the year.
With thanks,
Adele Halliday
Anti-Racism and Equity Lead Staff
Black Lives Matter in the United Church
The General Council Executive issued a statement on June 18, 2020, confirming unequivocally that Black Lives Matter to The United Church of Canada.