A diverse group of Christians will gather in Chicago August 9-11 to talk about the language people use to talk about God and faith.

The National Council of Churches symposium, "Language Matters," will discuss how to talk about God and faith in ways that respect the sensibilities of people from a variety of Christian traditions and viewpoints.

The conversation will focus on the language, images and symbols used in worship and everyday life to talk about faith and God.

Initiated by the NCC's Justice for Women Working Group, this conversation is a first step in a larger project designed to create resources for congregations and groups to assist their own conversations.

The term "expansive language" has been used in some circles to describe respectful language that honors all of God's people and is more than just "gender inclusive".

As communions seek to become genuinely inclusive as well as multiracial communities of faith, planners say, the conversation about the use of language in churches becomes more critical and more challenging.

"When women in the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) held a joint event, we prepared guidelines around expansive language which asked preachers, speakers and workshop leaders to bring consciousness to the language they were using out of the traditions from which they came," said the Rev. Loey Powell, executive for Administration and Women's Justice in the UCC.

"This helped us all 'stay in the room' with each other," said Powell.

Sensitivity to gender inclusive language, particularly religious language and metaphor, emerged in the 1970's with the advent of feminist theology and feminist biblical exegesis and hermeneutics. Many denominations began the process of developing gender inclusive worship materials, protocols for publications, and even biblical translations that offered metaphors and names for God and humanity that reflected this inclusiveness.

In 1988 the General Convention of the Episcopal Church first approved Supplemental Liturgical Texts, now known as Enriching Our Worship, as an alternate to the Book of Common Prayer for Episcopal worship.

Part of the impetus to have a meeting on language is the impression of some observers that the use of gender inclusive language throughout our NCC member communions has declined.

Furthermore, new insights have emerged within our churches about language that reinforces harmful stereotypes around the realities of race, disabilities, sexual orientation and gender, planners say.

The August gathering will explore dimensions of language, images and symbols for God through multiple approaches that reflect the diversity of the group.

The 30 participants, both lay and ordained, come from a wide diversity of NCC member communions and religious traditions.

Co-Facilitators are the Rev. Aleese Moore-Orbih, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and director of training and consulting for FaithTrust Institute, and the Rev. Virstan Choy, a minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a church consultant and member of the adjunct faculty at McCormick Theological Seminary.

The following contacts have been provided as sources of additional information:

Rev. Ann Tiemeyer
Program Director Women's Ministries
National Council of Churches, USA
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 800
New York, NY 10014
atiemeyer@ncccusa.org
212-924-2605

OR

Meagan Manas, MDiv
Women's Ministries
National Council of Churches, USA
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 800
New York, NY 10115
mmanas@ncccusa.org
212-870-2738