The following is an excerpt from the full and dynamic report which can be found here.

Mosaic Makers: Leading Vital Multicultural Congregations conference (February 17-19, 2012) was exhilarating, energizing, meaningful, and deeply informative. The event grew out of the Multicultural Growth Consultation (March 2011) and was a by-invitation gathering for congregations that are deeply engaged in the work of building intentional multicultural community.

We spent two-and-a-half days learning together, building intentional multicultural community, and generating new energies around doing this vitally important work in our communities and congregations.

Participants, presenters, and planners alike learned much from one an- other,  and  we’re  delighted  to  share  some  of  the  wisdom  that  emerged  from  the  conference.  These  personal   reflections center around the four pillars of intentional multicultural community: Leadership, Worship, Justice Ministry, and Congregational Life.

Three themes emerged from the Mosaic Makers Conference:

1) Leading vital multicultural congregations is a “shared leadership” job. No minister, religious educator, board member, or committee chair can do this work alone. Religious professionals and lay leaders must work together to project a bold vision and lead the change that enables multicultural community to thrive.

2) Direct experience in multicultural community is essential to motivating and supporting multicultural leadership development. The partnership with All Souls/DC provided critical pieces of the learning that UU leaders took home to their congregations.

3) To “grow leaders” for this transformative work, UUA staff, UU congregations, and innovative UU leaders must partner with each other. All of our staff groups are allied in sharing leadership and supporting the many facets of this work.

Please see the full report for reflections from the perspective of religious educator, chaplain, presenter, justice-maker, worship, congregational life, minister. There is something for everyone.

Are you interested in growing multiculturally?

• Check out tools here.
• Sign up for the Catalyst, the newsletter from Multicultural Growth regarding racial & ethnic concerns.
• Contact your District Staff.
• Reach out to neighboring congregations and to other congregations doing this well. We’re walking this path together.

Over 100 leaders from the following congregations were represented at this conference:

• All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, D.C.
• All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, OK
• First Parish in Cambridge, MA
• First Unitarian Church of Oakland, CA
• First Unitarian Church of San José, CA
• First UU Church of Richmond, VA
• First UU Church of San Diego, CA
• Mount Diablo UU Church in Walnut Creek, CA
• Unitarian Society of Germantown, PA
• UU Church of Annapolis, MD
• UU Church of Silver Spring, MD
• UU Congregation of Miami, FL