Nilwona Nowlin currently serves as the Administrative Specialist for Governance for the ECC and is an active member of the Christian Community Development Association. In her “spare time,” Nilwona teaches workshops about living successfully as an introvert. She also randomly blogs about random things at thedreamerspeaks.
During my time in the dual degree program at North Park Theological Seminary, I also pursued a Certificate in Justice Ministry. At the same time, I was serving as an intern with North Park University’s Urban Outreach program (facilitated by University Ministries) and participating in the CCDA Leadership Cohort program. All of these experiences allowed me many opportunities to engage in conversations about power and privilege. They also helped me to understand that power has to be shared/redistributed in order for us to get close to seeing anything that even looks like justice. However, people who possess power are not always quick to share it or give it up. I have had many unfortunate encounters with people who have found my presence to be a threat to their power and privilege simply because of the color of my skin or my gender. Yet, I am also blessed to have experienced a great example of what it looks like for someone with power to share it in a way that was not paternalistic or patronizing.
At Midwinter 2014, I co-facilitated a roundtable discussion about engaging churches in ministries of compassion, mercy and justice – specifically how to move from compassion and mercy to justice. The truth of the matter is that my internship supervisor, the Urban Outreach director, was the actual facilitator. Rich was the one who had been asked to facilitate the discussion, and he was the one listed in the program book as the facilitator. However, he was willing to share this space and opportunity with me because he was familiar with my gifts, talents and skills – particularly in relation to the discussion topic. Continue Reading »