Nebraska Synod ELCA
Event
The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline and New Hope for Beloved Community
by Stephanie Spellers
Sometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and call us home to God. It’s not surprising that a global pandemic and once-in-a-generation reckoning with white supremacy―on top of decades of systemic decline―have spurred Christians everywhere to ask who we are, why God placed us here and what difference that makes to the world.
In this critical yet loving book, the author explores the American story and the Episcopal story in order to find out how communities steeped in racism, establishment, and privilege can at last fall in love with Jesus, walk humbly with the most vulnerable and embody beloved community in our own broken but beautiful way. The Church Cracked Open invites us to surrender privilege and redefine church, not just for the sake of others, but for our own salvation and liberation.
The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers is a Canon to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and spearheads Episcopal efforts around evangelism, racial reconciliation and creation care. She also serves on the clergy team at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City. Prior to her current ministry, she served as Chaplain to the Episcopal House of Bishops, directed and taught mission and evangelism at General Theological Seminary, and served as Canon for Missional Vitality in the Diocese of Long Island.
Her professional ministry began at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston, where she acted as the Cathedral’s Minister for Radical Welcome and founded The Crossing, a ground-breaking church now in its 17th year. The author of “The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline and New Hope for Beloved Community,” an updated edition of “Radical Welcome: Embracing God, The Other and the Spirit of Transformation,” and “The Episcopal Way” (with Eric Law), Stephanie has led renewal and justice efforts within and beyond the Episocpal Church. She started out as an award-winning religion journalist in Knoxville, Tennessee, a job she took in 1996 upon graduation from Harvard Divinity School, where she studied religion and movements for social change. She later graduated from Episcopal Divinity School and, in 2019, received an honorary doctorate from the General Theological Seminary.
A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, she and her husband Albert deGrasse are grateful their cat Babette allows them to share her home in New York’s Harlem neighborhood. Stephanie meets God especially when she’s dancing and singing, listening and building bridges, and helping people to fall in love with God.
Nov 7: (25 pages)
Introduction: On Being Cracked Open
1: The Reality of Disruption and Decline
Nov 14: (28 pages)
2: New Hope for Beloved Community
3: The Origins of the Nightmare
Nov 21: (34 pages)
4: The Church of Empire
5: Shards of Light
Dec 5: (30 pages)
6: Lose Your Life–Kenosis
7: Gain Your Life–Solidarity
Dec 12: (32 pages)
Chapter 8: Walk in Love—Discipleship
Conclusion: God Bless the Cracks
Claire Meyer serves as Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Newman Grove. She was newly ordained this fall as a minister of Word and Sacrament but has been rostered as a deacon since 2013. She has served in small, multiple-point rural congregations and large suburban congregations. No matter the context, Claire is committed to loving conversations that help illuminate the work of the church and the power of God to accomplish this work.
Dates: Thursdays, November 9 through December 12. The class will not meet November 28, Thanksgiving Day
Time: 9:00 – 10:00am Central/8:00-9:00am Mountain
Format: This is an online discussion group using Zoom. Pastor Claire Meyer will send the link to registered participants November 4.
Cost: $25/person – Participants will need to secure a copy of the book.
Target Audience: This book discussion is open to anyone wanting to dig in and join a conversation about what it means to surrender privilege and redefine church. This book discussion comes on the heels of the Nebraska Synod Fall Leadership Gathering 2024 where pastors, deacons, parish ministry associates, and other church staff were challenged to flip the script and lean into being church in new ways.
Materials: Participants should have note taking supplies and their own copy of the book. Reading assignments are listed above.
Registration: Registration deadline is Friday, November 1. No refunds after November 1, 2024. Minimum 7 – no maximum.
Continuing Education Credits: 5 hours of contact for 5 hours of continuing education credit. (Parish Ministry Associates need to follow PMA guidelines to receive credit.)