Ferguson and Faith: Sparking Leadership and Awakening Community by Dr. Leah Gunning Francis, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana is composed of selections from interviews by clergy that participated in the Ferguson protests.
The interviews are notable as they provide insight into the motivations of those participating (1) prior to the completion of judicial due processes which culminated in a Department of Justice Report regarding the shooting death of Michael Brown which clearly showed that the shooting was justified, (2) a not guilty verdict on the charges brought against the officer involved in the shooting, (3) in collaboration with segmented, polycentric ideological networks.
The reasons for clergy-members involvement in the protest actions include:
• To feel oneness with God (understood as catharsis in protests).
• To be a part of divine salvation.
• To proselytize people who would not normally come to church.
• To provide pastoral care.
• To validate a historical interpretive frame with which they identify.
• To prove oneself as being an anti-racist.
• To obtain a guidance role in the protests (Ministry of Presence).
• To fulfill a perceived obligation to prevent history from repeating itself.
• To fulfill a theological imperative.
• To act like one of the Biblical prophets.
Network Collaboration
“Not only did they voice their support of the protestors, but they put their bodies on the line and brought the gravitas of their moral authority to the moment and movement. They sent a clear message that they were bringing the resources and authority of their faith to the cause of racial justice.”
After arrests at the St. Ann Police Station clergy collaborated with those arrested soon thereafter the two groups “began to, as a unit and as a network, commit to doing that more systematically.” (67)
Network Development
“For many clergy who responded to the killing of Michael Brown, their rationale was deeply tied to their understanding of God and the mission of the church. They preached about the ill effects of racism upon young black men, held book discussions about bias in the criminal justice system with Michelle Alexanders’ The New Jim Crow, an provided community lectures as part of Metropolitan Congregations United’s sacred conversations on race…. “for these clergy, to stand with the oppressed is to stand with God. (91)”
Network Growth
“…we ended up hosting an ecumenical prayer service here in our sanctuary, and that was with representation from churches and pastors all through the neighborhood. The alderman and I worked on pulling that together. So – that really stepped up the congregations engagement once the shooting in our neighborhood happened.” (124)
Jacquelyn Foster, Pastor of Compton Heights Christian Church
“Unitarian Universalists from out of town have ecome to stand with us…”(134)
Krista Taves
Network Support
“for the weekend, we became a host site providing shelter for people, providing space for strategy to take place, and providing a worship experience for them… two hundred people come back for Ferguson October and convene at the church in the basement, and there they organize, strategize a week of tesistance to occur two weeks later. That’s when you begin to see “Shut down the streets in Chattanooga,” Shut doen the streets in Atlanta,” “shut down the BART in Oakland. That was organized in a church basement where the BLM riders come back and then they begin to trade ideas.”
Starky Wilson, Pastor of St. Johns UCC, CEO of the Deaconess Foundation
Network Focus
“Since Ferguson, there has been an important shift, and I can’t not see it this way anymore, and that has been toward figuring out how the seminary can be an agent in the movement of dismantling racism in the church and broader community.”
Deborah Krause, Eden Seminary’s academic dean
Network References
“My hero was Angela Davis. I tried to get her to come to my high school. I think it was 1968, and I was a junior or senior in high school, and I arranged it. What I’m remembering is there was one subversive teacher who helped me, but he king of stayed in the background.
Rabbi Talve
“I think I’ve always preached with a view towards liberation and history… I think I felt a push to make us aware of the violence around us; and to talk about it and to preach about it, but to preach about it from the standpoint of restoration, to speak about it from the standpoint of liberation, to speak about it from the standpoint of “Ubuntu,” the African proverb that says “I am because we are… the history of the church was born from protests…”
Karen Anderson
“Some variations of “for such a time of this” came up repeatedly in the interviews for this book. Several clergy reported feeling called to respond in the ways that they did. They connected it with a greater purpose and described how God seemed to use their life skills, experiences and resources for the benefit of this collective effort.”
#StayWoke
The “street signposts” also challenge us to consider the opportunities for faith communities in the wake of Ferguson – to join the quest for racial justice around the country. As previously mentioned, Ferguson is merely one example of the racial injustice that is present in cities and towns across the United States, not an anomaly. This is a moral injustice and faith communities are still being called upon to frame it as such. Now that we have been awakened to these injustices, there are at least three things we must do to #staywoke in order to be able to demand systemic changes that promote the fair and equitable treatment of black people. We must awaken to the awareness of our own privilege, build relationships in our own communities, and connect this awareness and the corresponding action in order to effect change for a more racially just world.” (158)
Subjects Interviewed/Involved in Ferguson Protests
Rebecca Ragland, Pastor of Holy Communion Episcopal Church, University City, Missouri
Jon Stratton, Episcopal Priest and Director of the Episcopal Service Corp.
Brendan O’Connor, Intern from Washington
Rosemary Haynes, Intern from North Carolina,
Sherry Nelson, Intern from Illinois
Tori Dahl, intern from Minnesota
Reverend Sekou
David Gerth, Executive Director of Metropolitan Congregations United,
Willis Johnson, Pastor of the Wellspring United Methodist Church
Traci Blackmon, Pastor of Christ the King United Church of Christ, Florissant, Missouri
Carlton Lee, Founder Flood Christian Church, Ferguson, Missouri
Mary Gene,
People Improving Communities Through Organizing (PICO)
Heather Arcovitch, Pastor of First Congregational Church of St. Louis, Clayton, Missouri
Mike Kinman, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri,
Shaun Jones, Assistant Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Officer in the Clergy Coalition,
Jamell Spann, youth activist
Brittany Ferrell, Millennial Activists United founder
Alexis Templeton, Millennial Activists United founder
Tef Poe,
Organization for Black Struggle
Starky Wilson, Pastor of St. Johns UCC, CEO of the Deaconess Foundation
Susan Talve, Rabbi
Karen Yang, young adult activist and seminary student
Dietra Wise Baker, Pastor of Liberation Christian Church, St. Louis
Sara Herbertson, Episcopal Service Corp intern, Connecticut
Nelson Pierce, pastor in Ohio,
Deborah Krause, Eden Seminary’s academic dean
Fred Pestello, President of St. Louis University
Jacquelyn Foster, Pastor of Compton Heights Christian Church
Waltrina Middleton, National Youth Coordinator for United Church of Christ
Krista Taves, Congregational Minister at Emerson Unitarian Universalist Chapel
Christi Griffin, Executive Director of The Ethics Project, St. Louis
DeMarco Davidson, seminary student and President of the consistory for St. John’s UCC
Renita Lamkin, Pastor of St. John’s AME Church in St. Charles, Missouri
Julie Taylor, Unitarian Universalist community minister and active participant in the protest movement
Derrick Robinson, Pastor of Kingdom Dominion Church
Martin Geiger, Episcopal Service Corp. intern from Illinois
Karen Anderson, Pastor of Ward Chapel AME Church
Rebecca Ragland, Pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion
Gamaliel
Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry