{"id":16576,"date":"2023-10-10T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=16576"},"modified":"2023-10-10T08:42:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T13:42:48","slug":"anti-racist-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two PTS alumni lead an anti-racism collective in Pittsburgh<\/em><\/h4>\n

Even through a computer screen, the Rev. Mike Holohan ’10 and the Rev. Gavin Walton ’16 exude hospitality and friendliness. It\u2019s easy to see why both are pastors, capable of delicately balancing speaking with listening, and the pastoral with the prophetic.<\/p>\n

Together, Gavin and Mike lead an anti-racist collective in Pittsburgh. For almost three years\u2014since the acceleration of the Black Lives Matter movement after the killing of George Floyd\u2014they have organized monthly meetings on Zoom with area leaders who desire a space for meaningful conversation and learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was to create an environment or a space where people can come together, sustain each other, and hold each other accountable in their anti-racist work, and not just let the flame die out when the moment passed,\u201d says Gavin, pastor of Grace Memorial PC<\/a> in Pittsburgh and PTS Board member. \u201cThat moment awoke something in the consciousness of America, and it was incumbent on people of faith to come together and respond and see what could be possible in our own spaces.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Space for Anti-Racist Support and Growth<\/h3>\n

As friends and colleagues, Gavin and Mike sensed a need to keep the momentum going here in Pittsburgh. But they soon recognized that many organizations were already doing significant work. What was needed was a space to build trusting relationships.<\/p>\n

Mike is the pastor of The Commonwealth of Oakland<\/a>, a non-traditional church founded in 2018. Of the anti-racist collective, he says: \u201cThe focus of this group particularly is on relationships and accountability. When something particularly tragic gets in the news cycle, a lot of white people get activated to do something about it, and then move on by the next new cycle. And so this needs to be like a lifetime commitment of work. How do we hold each other accountable to doing this work long-term?\u201d<\/p>\n

The collective has also become a place for religious and community leaders to learn about events and initiatives others are doing. And it is always a sacred space for people to speak or ask questions in an effort to continue growing and learning. Gavin says it\u2019s still an experiment in the process of being shaped. But a major focus is on supporting and sustaining the work through relationships.<\/p>\n

Engaging Difference with Courage<\/h3>\n

Because it\u2019s an experiment, sometimes things don\u2019t go as smoothly as expected. Last year, after conflict erupted in one of their meetings, two participants later connected in an attempt to more clearly understand each other. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly in line with the values we\u2019re trying to live into. Rather than conflict repelling each other, we allow it to draw people together,\u201d Mike says. In contrast to other organizing models that attempt to minimize difference, the collective aspires to lean into difference more courageously.<\/p>\n

Gavin adds that this practice is less about resolving tension and more about learning to live amid the tension. He credits Pittsburgh Seminary for helping him to be more comfortable with engaging difference. And he recognizes this skill as essential to Christian ministry and community leadership. And both he and Mike are encouraged by the Seminary\u2019s recent efforts to make racial justice more central to its curriculum and programming so that all students learn how best to engage in relationships across racial and ethnic difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re under no illusion that racism will end in our lifetime or even our kids\u2019 lifetime. So relationships are the only thing that will get us through,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to walk alongside each other, I need to know what matters to you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two PTS alumni lead an anti-racism collective in Pittsburgh Even through a computer screen, the Rev. Mike Holohan ’10 and the Rev. Gavin Walton ’16 exude hospitality and friendliness. It\u2019s easy to see why both are pastors, capable of delicately balancing speaking with listening, and the pastoral with the prophetic. Together, Gavin and Mike lead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,398],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-16576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry","category-people-of-pts"],"yoast_head":"\r\nCreating Space for Anti-Racist Work - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mike Holohan '10 and Rev. Gavin Walton '16 lead an anti-racist collective, holding monthly meetings as a space for support and growth.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mike Holohan '10 and Rev. Gavin Walton '16 lead an anti-racist collective, holding monthly meetings as a space for support and growth.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-10T13:00:04+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-10T13:42:48+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ptsblog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"headline\":\"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-10T13:00:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-10T13:42:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/\"},\"wordCount\":611,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Ministry\",\"People of PTS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/\",\"name\":\"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-10T13:00:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-10T13:42:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\"},\"description\":\"Mike Holohan '10 and Rev. Gavin Walton '16 lead an anti-racist collective, holding monthly meetings as a space for support and growth.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":375},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary\",\"description\":\"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f\",\"name\":\"ptsblog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ptsblog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/author\/ptsblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"Mike Holohan '10 and Rev. Gavin Walton '16 lead an anti-racist collective, holding monthly meetings as a space for support and growth.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","og_description":"Mike Holohan '10 and Rev. Gavin Walton '16 lead an anti-racist collective, holding monthly meetings as a space for support and growth.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/","og_site_name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","article_published_time":"2023-10-10T13:00:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-10T13:42:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":375,"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ptsblog","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ptsblog","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/"},"author":{"name":"ptsblog","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"headline":"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work","datePublished":"2023-10-10T13:00:04+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-10T13:42:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/"},"wordCount":611,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg","articleSection":["Ministry","People of PTS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/","name":"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work - Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-10T13:00:04+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-10T13:42:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f"},"description":"Mike Holohan '10 and Rev. Gavin Walton '16 lead an anti-racist collective, holding monthly meetings as a space for support and growth.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg","width":500,"height":375},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/anti-racist-space\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Creating Space for Anti-Racist Work"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/","name":"Pittsburgh Theological Seminary","description":"Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9e695c34c8e88351c00ef7369001ac5f","name":"ptsblog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b6530fb1e9ddce422ee48a03a2e5cf3eddac1d5b99f93e9b527390d4e28ad6fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ptsblog"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/author\/ptsblog\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Mike-and-Gaving-on-Steps.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MvlM-4jm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16578,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16576\/revisions\/16578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16576"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=16576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}