Colonization and Christianity: A Pro-Reconciliation/ Anti-Racism Continuing Education Series

CCIW’s PRAR Team will present three workshops on Colonization and Christianity, facilitated by Keri Anderson, Nick Cream, and Kiva Nice-Webb.

Participants MUST attend the first or second workshop and ALL registrants must attend the third workshop and complete required reading for Ethics credit.

Registration is limited to 30. (Links to registration are the title of each session.)

Workshop 1: Exploring the Connections Between Colonization & Christian Imperialism

Saturday, September 21 from 9:30-11:30am CST

This workshop will focus on the history of European colonization in North America. We will learn about the ways in which Christianity provided theological justification for the colonization of the land we now inhabit and for the genocide of native people here. We will explore the ways in which five centuries of colonization on this land have culminated in our current reality in which indigenous peoples and histories have been profoundly erased from the view and dominant narrative of our settler colonial society. We will also begin to locate ourselves and our ancestors in the history of colonization and will consider ways in which this collective trauma continues to live on in and through each of us.

Workshop 2: Exploring the Connections Between Jewish and Christian Zionism, U.S. Imperialism, and the Genocide in Gaza

Saturday, October 26 from 9:30-11:30 CST

This workshop will serve as an introduction to the ideology of Zionism. What is Zionism? How and why did Christian Zionism develop, and how has this ideology come to play such a key role in U.S. support for the nation-state of Israel today? How is Zionism connected to colonization and imperialism? How have Jewish and Christian versions of Zionist theologies been used to justify the ongoing violent colonization of Palestine and the current genocide unfolding in Gaza? These questions and others will be explored, and participants will make connections between religious Zionist ideologies and ongoing U.S. and European imperialism and colonization in Palestine.

Workshop 3: Decolonizing Our Theology & Our Churches

Saturday, November 16th from 9:30-11:30am

In this final workshop, we will do a deep dive into the ways in which colonization and Christian imperialism have shaped each one of us and our faith communities. We will reflect together on how these histories live within us and in our churches.  We will explore what decolonization of our theology and churches could look like.  We will consider together how we can decolonize the ways we read and preach and make sense of scripture as well as the ways we relate to our fellow Christians, our broader communities, the world at large, and the planet we share.  We hope that participants will leave with concrete ideas and reflections to bring back to their faith communities.

About the Presenters

Keri Anderson, MDiv., MSW (she/her) was raised in Peoria, Illinois and was a member of Glen Oak Christian Church throughout childhood and young-adulthood. She has a B.A. in Catholic Studies from DePaul University and a Master’s of Divinity and Master’s of Social Work from the University of Chicago where she was a Disciples Divinity House Scholar from 2013-2017.

Keri was a pastoral intern and then a co-pastor at Root & Branch Church in Chicago during her time in Divinity School. Keri currently lives in western Massachusetts where she works as a social worker and trauma-informed therapist. She enjoys supporting clients who have experienced religious trauma and is invested in the ongoing work of decolonizing her practice.

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Nick Cream, M.A. (he, him) was raised in New Jersey. He attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges where he majored in History and Philosophy and minored in the study and prevention of violence. He then spent time teaching English in Japan before attending a graduate program at the School for International Training (SIT) in Vermont, where he studied Sustainable Development. Nick spent several years working in higher education before returning to graduate school to obtain a Masters of Arts degree in History Education.

Nick has a passion for planning and facilitating workshops, trainings, and other discussion-based spaces focused on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Over the past several years, he has created and facilitated workshops and trainings related to anti-racism, creating anti-oppressive classrooms, LGBTQ+ issues, identity, gender, bystander intervention, and Palestinian liberation. He is currently an Ethnic Studies and History teacher at Dean Technical High School in western Massachusetts where he enjoys challenging his students to explore connections between historical injustices and modern-day systems of oppression.

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Kiva Nice-Webb, MDiv, MSW (she/her) grew up in rural Western North Carolina and southeastern Pennsylvania as a public school kid active in various Mennonite congregations. She is an ordained minister in Mennonite Church (USA) and  is currently active at Frazer Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania. She holds a B.A. in Religious Studies with a minor in theater from Elon University, and dual MDiv and MSW degrees from the University of Chicago. Her professional life has taken her to a rural setting in Missouri and now to a suburban setting west of Philadelphia, PA.

Kiva has worked and volunteered in non-profit settings as part of a faith-based postgrad service program and during graduate school, in many different Christian denominational settings, and in multifaith settings as a college chaplain and campus minister. Whether in the classroom, extracurriculars, or just one on one, Kiva enjoys accompanying her students as they ask questions about what kind of people they want to be and what kind of world they want to build with each other. Kiva’s current employment is as the campus minister for retreats at Villanova University, and in her non-work time she sings with a social justice community choir in Philadelphia.