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Theological Tools for the Work of Repair and Legacies of Slavery in New Jersey
February 11 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
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While many of us have been raised to believe that slavery in the United States was strictly a Southern issue, we have learned more in recent years about enslaved people in Northeastern states and in the Dutch New Netherland colony. Some slavery continued into the nineteenth century and even as late as the US Civil War in some communities.
How should churches engage with the history of slavery and racial injustice? What lessons from local and national histories can be applied to the pursuit of justice in the present? In 2024, the project for Acknowledging the History of Enslavement and Liberation of African Americans in Pequannock directed the reinterment of African American human remains in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. On Wednesday, February 11, from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm Eastern Time, the Reformed Church Center will host an online roundtable, “Theological Tools for the Work of Repair and Legacies of Slavery in New Jersey.”
This roundtable will feature pastors and educators who served on the advisory council for the project in Pompton Plains. They will offer reflections on their work in this project, attentive to their considerations of scripture, ministerial vocation, and public witness. We will move beyond the scope of that particular project to also address the resources and obstacles specific to the work of racial justice in varied ministry contexts. Attention will be paid to how this public history work presents challenges and opportunities for congregational engagement. This conversation will intersect with a curriculum under development at NBTS for churches exploring these themes of history and social justice.
Gregory Dunlap is senior pastor of Woodcliff Community Reformed Church. Prior to his service at Woodcliff since 2005, he was ordained at Mount Olive Baptist Church. He holds Master’s and Doctor of Ministry degrees from New Brunswick Theological Seminary and has served on the Board of Trustees. Dunlap also holds degrees from Fairleigh Dickinson University and Rutgers School of Engineering. He retired after 34 years of service at PSE&G, where he was Vice President of Customer Operations. His ministry has emphasized racial justice and community engagement.
Elmira Nazombe is an educator with 30 years of experience in leadership development and social and racial justice curricula with denominational and ecumenical church agencies. She has taught courses on Racial Justice at Rutgers-University New Brunswick for more than a decade, and was formerly a Program Director for Leadership Development and Global Education at Rutgers’ Center for Women’s Global Leadership. She holds the Doctor of Education degree from Rutgers, as well as degrees from Hunter College and Kent State University, and has served as Director of International Affairs and Human Rights for Church World Service and as Executive Secretary for Racial Justice, Women’s Division for the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries. She also has extensive experience designing and leading church and community conferences and educational resources.
Nathan Jérémie-Brink, is the L. Russell Feakes Associate Professor of the History of Global Christianity at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and is a historian who specializes in Christianity, slavery, and abolitionism. In addition to his leadership of Acknowledging the History of Enslavement and Liberation of African Americans in Pequannock, he has written numerous grants and directed other projects that center Black history and issues of social justice, including the Slavery + Freedom Studies Working Group, GospelMaterialities.com, and The SHELTER Project. His regular public facing writing is featured at his Substack Tables. He is also a Presbyterian minister engaged with faith communities on issues of antiracism and reparations.
This program, like all Reformed Church Center programs, is free and open to all, but participants must register at: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tIBrNu1RQwWYtIMemiGdrQ.