Beloved Conversations is a program for Unitarian Universalists seeking to embody racial justice as a spiritual practice. Over 80 congregants have taken the class in person. In 2020, Beloved Conversations was revamped into a brand-new program, designed and intended for online participation with vastly improved new features. It is now for individual participation and is run through the Fahs Collaborative (not through UUCWC).

This new version of the program is in three phases and must be completed in order:

• Within (the individual, personal work we each need to do)
• Among (the institutional, systemic change needed in our congregations)
• Beyond (the work outside our congregations, with our local communities)

The first phase–Within–focuses on the individual, personal work we each need to do, and is run in two sections: one for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and one for white people.

Within work includes: individual Lessons, using videos, music, and readings, accompanied by reflection prompts and suggested conversations with Critical Friends chosen by the participants; bi-weekly small group conversations in a Learning Pod; and larger, monthly, facilitated Meaning-Making Sessions on Zoom. You may request to be placed into a Learning Pod with people from your congregation.

There are two separate terms of the Within program—Fall and Spring—which will contain different content. Participants can sign up for one or both. They begin every Fall or Spring.

These phases build on each other, so you must take the Within phase to take the Among phase later. People who have taken Beloved Conversations before must take one semester of the Within phase to take the Among phase next year. The new virtual Beloved Conversations has different content and meets people where they are in their racial justice journey. It will be a different way to go deeper in the personal work needed to engage in racial justice.

Beloved Conversations Within semesters are expensive ($300 per person). Because the Adult Faith Engagement Committee believes this is an excellent program and UUCWC is committed to bringing people further along their path to beloved community, Adult Faith Engagement will offer partial scholarships to members interested in taking the class. For more information about the Within phase of Beloved Conversations, including program structure and dates, please see: https://www.meadville.edu/fahs-collaborative/beloved-conversations/within-phase/.

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