Pandemic Racism
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona / Unsplash
Oklahoma Annual Conference | Feb. 12, 2026
As part of the Oklahoma Conference’s ongoing commitment to beloved community, conference leadership has begun a season of listening and reflection focused on racism, cultural competence, and the work of becoming an anti-racist church.
The Ethnic Local Church Concerns (ELCC) team has developed a set of three reflection questions that have been shared with every Oklahoma Conference board, agency, and committee. Chairs have been asked to guide their groups in discussing the questions together and to submit a summarized response by April. The full set of questions is available here.
The questions invite leaders to reflect on how racism is experienced and witnessed within the life of the conference, what it means to build intercultural competence within the body of Christ, and what courage and preparation are required to create spaces for honest dialogue and faithful action.
Conference Lay Leader Sharri Hiller said the process has already prompted her own learning.
“These questions made me realize there is much I do not know about racism, and I need to learn,” Hiller said. “I don’t know what I don’t know.”
Jacqueline Devereaux, a member of the ELCC team who worked on developing the questions, said the effort is intentionally focused on assessment and discernment.
“The Ethnic Local Church Concerns (ELCC) team has the responsibility to establish priorities in areas that address the concerns of our ethnic congregations,” Devereaux said. “The present goal is to develop a relevant, functional plan that addresses and begins to dismantle racism in the Oklahoma Conference. The ELCC team felt it was important to assess the current temperature in order to identify resources that address emerging needs. The questions are designed to determine the level of work that is needed and to help in choosing a path that moves us forward in this area.”
Responses will be reviewed and discussed by conference leadership, including ELCC, the Board of Laity, Church and Society, the Local Church Development Ministry Team, and the Cabinet, as leaders discern appropriate next steps. At this stage, the work is focused at the leadership level of the conference, with broader engagement to be determined following review and discussion.
While there is no direct action required of local churches at this time, conference members are encouraged to check in with their church leaders and ensure their conference committees are engaging the questions thoughtfully.
Hiller emphasized the importance of follow-through.
“It will be important for the groups receiving these questions to take them seriously, take time in their meetings to discuss them as a group, and submit a clear summary of their answers for this to work to be successful,” she said. “As conference lay leader, I am pledging to not let this process get started and not be completed. It is important work that I will keep in front of the conference.”