An Antiracist Congregation

Chestnut Hill United Church is an antiracist community.  We are committed to confronting racism in our lives, the church, and the world.

Beginning in February 2008, and at the direction of the Church Council, Chestnut Hill United Church underwent a comprehensive self-study to reflect on issues of race and culture within the life, practice and policies of our church in order to strengthen our congregational commitments to antiracism. This self-study began after a lengthy process of deliberation, design and preparation by the church’s Antiracism Task Force, appointed in April 2007, and followed several years of discussion and reflection about the congregation’s commitment to antiracism.

This self-study, the church’s “Antiracism Audit,” took the form of an audit in order to include as many congregational members and to reflect as many dimensions of congregational life as possible. The audit was originally designed by the Central Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ and revised by our Task Force to fit our particular congregational dynamics. Utilizing this as our primary tool allowed us to adopt the three major elements of an audit: research, analysis and action.

The audit was designed to help us (1) look at ourselves as an institution, (2) notice areas where we are strongest and weakest, and (3) determine immediate and near-term or on-going changes in thinking and practice that we could make to become a more anti-racist and inclusive community.

Following the audit, the congregation had a series of meetings to affirm our community as an Antiracist Congregation, discuss the results of the study and set short- and long-term goals.

While this is an ongoing process, we offer the following resources:

  • Click here for Tema Okun's article "White Supremacy Culture - Still Here"
  • Click here for White Dominant Culture and Something Different work sheet
  • Click here for the Resolution adopted by the congregation on October 5, 2008.
  • Click here for the Report on Congregational Antiracism Audit, September 14, 2008.
  • Click here for a copy of the Antiracism Audit and Self-Study used by our congregation.
  • Click here for the Antiracism Resource Packet compiled by Linda Noonan, 2008.

We seek to transcend the barriers between us to honor and celebrate the fullness of God’s creation.  The more we see one another as made in God’s image, the more fully we see God.