Engagement Guide

This website is intended as an educational tool for use by churches and other individuals and groups in Austin. It is a curated collection of stories formed together into a larger story. On this website you will find stories about people in Austin written by Austinites, journalists, sociologists, and historians. You will also find links to articles about whiteness and the deleterious effects of systemic racism on people of color.

Some suggestions for small groups:

1. One place to begin is with discussing Willie James Jennings’ ChristianCentury.org article on the ways in which racism grows out of a distorted Christian theology. Jennings goes into greater detail on this topic in his book, The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race.
2. There are many wonderful resources available in the form articles, podcasts, books, and videos for small groups to engage on the broader topic of racism. Information from youarehereatx.org can supplement those discussions with specific, local applications of ideas encountered, bringing them closer to home and heart.
3. Small groups can engage with the stories of Indigenous, Latinx, African American, and Asian American peoples on different weeks, taking time to click on each link, read, and listen to the stories. They might drive around to visit different areas, landmarks, and historical buildings to see Austin with new eyes.
4. Church small groups can dig into the history of their congregation and its relationship to the surrounding community. Where is their church in this story?
5. Finally, small groups can use this as a launching point to dream, to re-imagine life together, to pray for a new way forward.