Open Out
Getting to the nitty gritty of living inter-culturally. Exploring new pathways for intentionally opening our faith communities (and ourselves) to folk who not only look and sound different but also think and act in ways we might not expect. A safe space where we can both accept our chronic clumsiness and overcome our unavoidable fears as our brains and hearts encounter the unexpected. The podcasts provide a practical, hands-on approach to helping people who want to open themselves to form new relationships with folk with a different cultural or racial background - in faith communities, or any other kind of community. Research was funded by the United Church Foundation.
Episodes
23 episodes
Continuing #1: Decolonization - from the inside out.
This is the first in our final series of podcasts, called 'Continuing'. Here we are looking at resources for individuals and faith communities who have been engaged in the process of intentionally opening outwards to welcome cultural diversity....
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Episode 21
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38:27
Commencing 6: Finding the heart beat (Part 2)
This is the second of two episodes exploring the vital role of music in creating and sustaining intercultural / intentionally open faith communities. Once again we draw on our conversation with Scottish hymn-writer and global music pioneer,
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Episode 20
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49:01
Commencing 5: Finding the Heartbeat
This is the first in a two-part series exploring the vital role that music plays in building both intercultural community and cross-cultural connection. More than simply a pretty add-on to a worship service, music is a language of the hea...
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Episode 19
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31:02
Commencing 4: Storytelling, deep listening & disengaging expectations: The challenge of intercultural decision-making
While group decision-making is never easy, when the group making decisions is diverse - with some collectivists, some individualists, some direct communicators, others indirect, some top-down, and others bottom-up - it's a mix that regularly le...
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Episode 18
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46:53
Commencing 3: Space, Place & Displacement
The third in our Commencing Series looks at "place" in our faith communities. As we open to people who are somehow different than those who have been there in the past - what are we offering them? Just space? Or a place? Placemaking involves&nb...
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Episode 17
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29:12
Commencing 2: Decluttering Concepts
"The more words you use, the less sense you make - how does that help anyone?" (Ecc 6:11). Apparently most intercultural researchers, theorists and trainers missed that wee verse. Intercultural competency. Cultural intelligence. Cultural hu...
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Episode 16
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27:38
Commencing 1: The Edge Effect
We begin our second season by looking at the critical elements in the lives of folk who are part of communities that are opening out, actively engaged in the process of opening themselves to welcome those who are somehow different. In our...
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Episode 15
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29:58
Committed 7: Re-Opening - The Problem of Invitation
This last episode in our Committed series looks at the challenge of re-opening our churches in the midst of the racial tensions that have been pulsing through our cities over the last number of weeks. How do Black Lives Matter and Intercultural...
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Episode 14
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27:40
Committed 6: De-shuttering worship (Part 2) - Ubunye, Ubuntu & Amandla
This episode, a bit more technical, drawing on the wisdom of Michael Blair (Director of Church in Mission for national UC) and others, looks at the challenge of creating worship that can engage North American born folk [individualist culture] a...
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Episode 13
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31:59
Committed 5: De-shuttering Worship (Part 1) -Diving deep with the 90%!
This episode, # 5 in our Committed series, was published during Pentecost 2020, the festival of intended inclusion, just as America is rocked by racial pain that can no longer be contained, the reality of exclusion. We are are beginning conside...
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Episode 12
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32:43
Committed 4: How many kisses are necessary? How differences affect us (Part 2)
Have you noticed? Even greeting each other can be tricky... should we bow [who first?], shake hands, kiss [one cheek or two? How many times?] Often the things we stumble over in our cross-cultural relationships aren't the big things - but the m...
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Episode 11
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29:48
Committed 3: Is your 'me' a 'we'? How differences affect us (Part 1)
Is your 'me' a 'we'? It's an important question! This episode is the first of two looking at key differences in the ways people from different cultures think, feel, and make decisions - how they act and react. Today we focus on ...
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Episode 10
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30:00
Committed 2: Mindlessness, mindfulness and moonwalking bears. (Implicit Bias #2)
This is our second podcast exploring Implicit or Unconscious Bias, the stereotypes ad shortcuts that our brains create to help us. Except it's not always such a big help. Sometimes they're just kind of odd, and sometimes they can even be danger...
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Episode 9
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29:28
Committed 1: What's height got to do with it? (Implicit Bias #1)
Why do more people die in hurricanes with female names? Why are so many male CEOs so tall? What's height got to do with being a CEO? Why do bosses give lower performance appraisals to workers who are overweight? Why indeed. . . ...
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Episode 8
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28:07
Considering 4: That's how the light gets in.
In this episode we explore the vital role of vulnerability in opening ourselves to folk with different cultural backgrounds. Humility and giving up control are key factors when a community wants to welcome newcomers – but how do we do that? Per...
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Episode 7
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29:29
Considering 3: Bricks, Sandals & Leeks
This episode picks up on some of the thoughts of last week's "Rebooting", but in today's we focus specifically on the actual mechanics of how we change. Our brains are hard-wired to resist change, yet and this is so evident on a...
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Episode 6
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27:00
Considering 2: Rebooting our minds [and faith communities]!
When our computers stop doing the things we want them to, we reboot the system. How can we reboot our thinking? Our relationships? Our churches? Our brains naturally perceive anything ‘different’ as a potential threat – so how can we help...
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Episode 5
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24:54
Considering 1: What might we look like?
After these days of shuttered churches, our time of sheltering in, once more will come a time for opening out. It will not be a return to what was, but some kind of new time for churches - we will need t...
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Episode 4
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26:24
Curious 3: A Changing Church?
Episode recorded before full effect of Covid-19 pandemic In this episode we continue to explore why faith communities and other groups might want to intentionally open outwards, welcome the new diverse folk who are the...
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Episode 3
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24:37
Curious 2: A Changing Country
In this second episode of the "Curious" series, we look at reasons why faith communities (and other groups) might want to consider opening themselves to welcome greater cultural diversity - because Canada itself has changed, and is changing - d...
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Episode 2
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24:37
Special Open Out Podcast on Covid-19
Given the dramatic changes in our world over the last few months, and especially, for North America in the last weeks, the context for Open Out, and for conversations about interculturalism and faith communities has changed significantly. In fa...
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8:02
Curious 1: What are the possibilities?
This first series of Open Out podcasts, called "Curious" begins to explore that the possibilities are for faith communities who want to be intentionally open to welcoming folk who are somehow different - often those with different cultural back...
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Episode 1
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23:16