About The Event
Join us Thursday, February 12th at 7pm Eastern / 4pm Pacific
Many of us are sensing it: the rhetoric is sharper, the stakes feel higher, and our churches are being asked—directly or indirectly—to choose what kind of witness we will offer in a fractured time. The pressures don’t usually come all at once; they build through small compromises, exhausted silence, and the normalization of harm.
Bridging Divides is an invitation to pause, discern, and practice a different way. This eight-part webinar series centers BIPOC faith leaders—while welcoming everyone ready to listen with humility. Together, we’ll name what’s happening in and around our congregations and explore spiritual practices and organizing strategies that make belonging, justice, and courage possible.
Our first webinar, Black Joy as Resistance + Innovation, explores Black joy not as escapism, but as spiritual sustenance and a generative force—for leadership, wisdom, creativity, and survival. We’ll reflect on how joy has functioned as resistance in the face of oppression, and how it continues to spark innovation and movement-building today. This session is for anyone longing for a faith that tells the truth and refuses despair.
Our panelists are:
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Rev. Dr. Ayo Morton, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Virginia State University
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Rev. Mia McClain, Lead Pastor, Riverside Baptist Church, DC
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Dr. Vanessa Abernathy, Psychologist, Phoenix Rising Psychological Services
As always, after each webinar, we’ll post the recording to our SojoAction YouTube channel—along with additional resources and discussion questions you can use personally or with your community.