To begin exploring the intersection of anti-racism work and lament, our CIT will hold a series of half-day team gatherings structured around readings on both lament and issues of race. We will also examine denominational anti-racism curricula to see how lament is or is not present and to discover what we might learn from this. A participatory action research methodology will be used during the course of these team gatherings to collect qualitative data for analysis at the end of the project.

Emerging from these team gatherings, we will hold two one-day church summits for members of four participating local churches. These summits will include educational components as well as opportunities to enter experientially into lament. Before and after each summit, interviews will be conducted with focus groups, again using a participatory action methodology to gather qualitative data.

The project will conclude with data analysis with the assistance of a qualitative research consultant. The ideas and insights that emerge from this will be disseminated through avenues such as blogs and web-based videos, academic journal articles, sermon-series resources, articles in denominational periodicals, and the creation of an educational module on lament that could be used with existing anti-racism curricula.