Open Out

This is the first in our final series of podcasts, called 'Continuing'. Here we are looking at resources for individuals and faith communities who have been engaged in the process of intentionally opening outwards to welcome cultural diversity. These episodes are perhaps a bit more complex/technical than earlier ones.

The way we 'continue' as open communities is not by maintaining, simply holding on to what we have - it is by continuing to challenge ourselves.

In this first episode  we look at the critically important matter of decolonization. This word gets used a lot these days, particularly in 'progressive' circles - but we must be careful not to try to over-simplify this (one strategy we can use to help us feel we are on the right side of an issue). To effectively engage in the external processes of decolonizing, we need first to do some inner work. Because it is, for so many of us, inherently a challenging area for us, we need to 'decolonize our hearts' before our brains can really start to process or we can engage in shared action as reliable allies.  This episode looks at 6 interior processes [for individuals and communities] that can help ready us to participate meaningfully, respectfully and vulnerably in conversations about what reversing colonization might entail. 

This episode looks at this issue in a Canadian context - but folk in USA or Australia, etc, will likely find some common ground. This episode also helps ready us for the next one on indigenous-newcomer relationships.

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This is the second of two episodes exploring the vital role of music in creating and sustaining intercultural / intentionally open faith communities. Once again we draw on our conversation with Scottish hymn-writer and global music pioneer, John Bell, but in this episode
we focus on specifics: specifics about the music itself, about the process of learning, and best ways to introduce this music into a community in transition. 
 
Host Bill Millar also  draws on insights from C Michael Hawn and Bruce Harding - who are also both pioneers in the field. (49 min)

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This is the first in a two-part series exploring the vital role that music plays in building both intercultural community and cross-cultural connection. More than simply a pretty add-on to a worship service, music is  a language of the heart itself, expressing all the struggle and triumph of simply moving through life, the complexities and beauty of being in relationship with One we can know only by faith. Universal yet highly specific to cultures, linked so deeply to our memories and emotions - how can we create a respectful space in our diverse communities  where we can learn each other's rhythms, sing each other's songs, and together build our own diverse musical repertoire?

Both of these episodes feature an in-depth conversation with the Scottish hymn-writer and global music pioneer John Bell (you can find much of his music at wildgoose.scot).  This first episode looks at concepts and contexts, and so leads us into our next podcast, looking at the specifics of the music itself.

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While group decision-making is never easy, when the group making decisions is diverse - with some collectivists, some individualists, some direct communicators, others indirect, some top-down, and others bottom-up - it's a mix that regularly leads to misunderstanding, frustration, and communication breakdown! Why is this? How can people who are good at making decisions in their personal lives stumble so often when they try to do it together.

We explore this question, and possible solutions,  in this episode with Eric Law, founder of the Kaleidoscope Institute - a respected, wise voice in intercultural ministry. Eric shares with us his insights into what can help diverse groups communicate, plan and make decisions together. In addition Adrian Jacobs, of the Sandy Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, shares with us the Haudenosaunee teaching on the 'two row wampum' - and how it connects to interculturalism. 

This episode, the 4th in our Commencing series is a little longer than most - running just over 45 minutes.  [Sorry...had a series of technical problems in publishing this episode. Hope all resolved now]

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The third in our Commencing Series looks at "place" in our faith communities. As we open to people who are somehow different than those who have been there in the past - what are we offering them? Just space? Or a place? Placemaking involves  design [or re-design] processes for transforming public spaces into community places, places that belong to the people, the heart of the community. How can placemaking help our faith communities intentionally open outward, give grit and gravitas to our welcoming, embody our best vision of inclusion and generosity.

And so to help us open,  we'll draw on insights from architecture/design, cultural geography, U.S white supremacists [yep, that is not a typo....] and a song by The Many called "All Belong Here" ['Come and remember who you are here...'].

Like our last episode, this one might seem at first to be a bit technical - but knowing what we are really offering newcomers to our communities is essential if we are to build lasting, strong relationships. Jesus told his companions 'I'm going to prepare a place for you...' - so are we doing something similar?

Our Commencing series focuses on issues and concerns that impact communities and individuals who no longer are simply wondering about this path, and have moved beyond intention, into the often confusing process of living as a community that is intentionally and truly open. 

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"The more words you use, the less sense you make - how does that help anyone?" (Ecc 6:11). Apparently most intercultural researchers, theorists and trainers missed that wee verse. Intercultural competency. Cultural intelligence. Cultural humility. Constructive marginality. Intercultural sensitivity.  .  . 

This episode wanders into the swirling stream of concepts, hoping  to find out how all these can work together to give us some practical insights and tools to help us build strong mutual relationships across cultural divides. 

While a show on 'concepts' may seem a close rival to watching paint dry - this stuff actually matters - it shapes both how we encounter the stranger, and how these encounters shape us.

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We begin our second season by looking at the critical elements in the lives of folk who are  part of communities that are opening out, actively engaged in the process of opening themselves to welcome those who are somehow different. In our first episode we look at The Edge Effect in faith communities that are currently asking 'what could happen when strangers meet?'.

The Edge Effect describes the fertile and creative zone created when two or more ecosystems meet, unique biological environments that allow new life forms to develop, and old life forms to morph. To help us focus, we draw on material from NPR's podcast, Hidden Brain,  that itself looks at the Silk Road Ensemble and the vibrancy created when different musical forms intersect. Then we explore whether churches, or other faith communities, can and have experienced something of that same energy - in conversations with Lesley Harrison [pastor at Knox Winnipeg] and Nobuko Iwai [pastor at Grosvenor Park Saskatoon], both diverse, intercultural faith spaces, both located in prairie provinces, historically fertile ground for Canadian diversity.

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This last episode in our Committed series looks at the challenge of re-opening our churches in the midst of the racial tensions that have been pulsing through our cities over the last number of weeks. How do Black Lives Matter and Intercultural Church connect? The title was originally The Power of Invitation, but Bill changed it to The Problem of Invitation. Why? What is the problem with inviting?

Along the way we explore both intersectionality and the matrix of domination -two important themes in our inter-racial / inter-cultural relationships. 

Following this episode, Open Out will go on a wee break for a couple of months, and will begin publishing again in mid-August. 

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This episode, a bit more technical, drawing on the wisdom of Michael Blair (Director of Church in Mission for national UC) and others, looks at the challenge of creating worship that can engage North American born folk [individualist culture] and newcomers & indigenous [collectivist]. 

The church finds itself in ambiguity. Mainstream protestant churches have been shrinking - as the traditional white cultural majority is giving way to a racially and cultural diverse population. How can we create worship that is truly open to all - worship that grows out of the lived experience of the new Canada. To help us, we look to the experience of the church in the townships of South Africa - themselves very much in-between [liminal] spaces - and discover the principles that have shaped their worship: ubunye, ubuntu & amandla.

This is the second  in a two-part series looking at worship, and draws on material from last week's deep dive into the mind & heart of collectivist worship.

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This episode, # 5 in our Committed series, was published during Pentecost 2020, the festival of intended inclusion, just as America is rocked by racial pain that can no longer be contained, the reality of exclusion. We are are beginning consider how we will, sometime soon, de-shutter our churches - open them again,[but to whom?]. Perhaps it is time not simply to re-open, but to re-imagine. 

We have, over the last few months, utterly transformed worship - moving in from in-person to on-screen. And somehow we have survived such unprecedented change. Given that, would it really be so difficult for us to open our worship patterns just enough that those who have come to our land as immigrants could also join us for worship?  What reason could we have for refusing to make space for those who've arrived more recently than us, the differently accented, differently hued?

This is the first of a two-part series on de-shuttering worship. In this episode we focus on understanding worship as experienced by the hearts and minds of most of the people in the world - a deep dive into the collectivist experience - wisely and intimately  guided into that world by Damber Khadka.  He helps us understand what's happing in the hearts and minds of newcomers in worship, gives insight into why this connection so often goes wonky, and suggestions about  we can do to open our circle wider.

If you want to see your faith community open, explore, welcome new folk, this episode might be just the thing to help!

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