Implementation Task Force

May 2022

Recommendations to the Board

The Task Force chose three of the commitments from the Repairing the Breach document issued by the Board of Trustees in 2020 and created recommendations to the Board and Administration regarding implementation.

1. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) will be administered to all incoming students, graduating students, faculty, staff, and trustees to cultivate greater self-awareness, growth, and deeper communal commitment to doing less harm when navigating across difference.

   • Recommendations included convening constituents across the community to provide input on processes, rollout plans, and policies and procedures created and shared with the community.

2. The Columbia faculty will evaluate and revise the curriculum to more comprehensively and constructively empower students to engage across difference and combat systemic racism wherever it is present in the world.

   • Recommendations included a commitment to curriculum and pedagogy and extracurricular programs that study multiple theologies and traditions to prepare students to engage cross-culturally, including anti-racism as a means of liberation for all people, and equipping students for cross-sectional coalition building and alliances. There were also recommendations for creating policies and practices and providing funding for these activities and classes.

3. Columbia Seminary will fully fund the cost of Masters tuition and student fees for all Black students who apply and are admitted to the seminary.

   • Recommendations included publication and communication within the community and external communities that may benefit from these scholarships. It was also recommended that it be communicated how these scholarships have been funded and will continue to be prioritized in future funding in perpetuity.

The President’s Council and the Trustees received the recommendations with thanks for the level of thoroughness and attention to detail they represent. These recommendations, along with plans already in process in these areas, will be considered during the budgeting process this year.

The Implementation Task Force is taking a break during the summer and will resume conversations to follow up on actions taken, as well as ITF meetings, as the Fall semester approaches.

February 2022

ITF held two Forums to share with students and others in the community the work being done on the Becoming Project.

Fall 2021

Framework for the Future

In light of recent events in the life of the community, the group discussed whether we are willing to model for the seminary how commitment and perseverance that acknowledges breaches in the cycle toward change is the way to affect organizational development and cultural change. There was a consensus that this work is imperative and should continue even in the midst of complex challenges and myriad uncertainties.

As the Task Force continues to work on envisioning a desired future state for Columbia, these events have highlighted the need to identify and embrace both short-term and long-term aspirations. It has become clear that the road to becoming an anti-racist multicultural organization will need to begin with healing and reconciliation as well as building organizational trust. Utilizing the organizational justice framework to guide our work, the Task Force seeks to intervene in 4 major areas of organizational life:

1. The distribution of resources (distributive justice)

2. Interpersonal relationships (interpersonal justice)

3. Information sharing (informational justice)

4. Policies and procedures (procedural justice).

As a community, we believe that the work of justice is God’s work and trust that engaging this framework will constructively and effectively lead us forward to becoming a more faithful, equitable, and just community.

July 2021

Thinking Theologically About Repairing the Breach

The Implementation Task Force spent time this month uncovering theological themes we see in CTS’s Repairing the Breach document. Our theological reflection began with how God is described (implicitly or explicitly): God wants all humans to flourish and stands in solidarity with Black people as all of us confront this seminary’s overt and covert acts of institutional racism. Our theological vision of God ‘s hospitality compels us to make this a space of welcome, acceptance, and justice. Therefore, our attitudes and actions must be transformed. We must:

(a) see and hear one another,
(b) engage in self-examination and repentance as individuals and a community,
(c) uncover injustices here and in the world, and
(d) know that God is already here doing a new thing and invites us to join in creating and living into God’s vision for community where we all can flourish.

See some of our biblical points of departure for grounding this work.

Becoming Anti-Racist and Multi-Cultural

The Implementation Task Force utilized this greater understanding about what comprises organizational culture to reflect deeply on where each member of the Task Force would place CTS on The Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist, Multi-cultural Institution [1].

The discussion reinforced an understanding of how each person’s location (time at CTS, institutional position, and much more) impacted how they determined where they see CTS on the Continuum. Sharing of perspectives and listening for understanding has been important to clarifying themes for future work.

[1] Crossroads Ministries. “Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multi-Cultural Organization.” Philanos, www.aesa.us/conferences/2013_ac_presentations/Continuum_AntiRacist.pdf.

March, 2021

In this video, four CTS Alums serving on the Becoming Project Implementation Task Force present an overview of the purpose, work, and methodology of the Task Force. They discuss (a) the Becoming Project as an ongoing process of becoming what God is calling us to be in the world today, (b) the process for selecting members of the Implementation Task Force, (c) the roles and responsibilities of Task Force members, and (d) the methodology guiding the Task Force’s work. Finally, panelists share their hopes for what God will do in our community through this work.

February 22, 2021 Meeting

The focus of this meeting of the Task Force was to work in small groups to revisit and extend the input received from the TCC last Fall and envisioning both how the group will work together and the desired future state of CTS.

February 2, 2021 Meeting

The first meeting of the Implementation Task Force was an orientation to each other, the work, and the processes that will be followed.

Task Force members shared their hopes.