The Spiritual Directors of Color (SDC) Network, Ltd.
About The Spiritual Directors of Color (SDC) Network, Ltd.
The Spiritual Directors of Color (SDC) Network, Ltd., is a nonprofit in good standing incorporated in the State of Maryland and headquartered just outside the city of Washington DC.
The first convening of the SDC Network was at a Spiritual Directors International event in March 2008 in the greater Washington DC area. We were 10 spiritual directors of color from across the globe gathered at a networking table to discuss our concern for the low representation of people of color in contemplative-focused organizations and at related events, and in the resources they use for formation and certification. We were African American, Cameroonian, Puerto Rican, South African, and South Korean. In December 2014, as a founder, convener, and organizer of this Network and after publication of our first anthology Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color, Therese Taylor-Stinson incorporated the Network as a non-stock, tax-exempt partnership with approximately 100 members from around the world, but predominantly African American. After several scrubs to our roster, we now stand at 125 members, and the countries we represent have expanded. Our second anthology Ain't Nobody Gonna Turn Me Around: Stories of Contemplation and Justice published in October 2017, with Therese Taylor-Stinson as the sole editor.
The SDC Network also hosts a closed Facebook group where approximately 75 percent of our members are more closely connected through social media. Events, accomplishments, and collaborative activities are announced there, as well as members welcoming each other and creating a web of connection through social media via Facebook. Our Facebook page also contains our Vision and Mission statement.
We have an ongoing supervisory peer, currently on hiatus as we shift leadership for many of our small groups. The peer group facilitates discussions about spiritual direction using the Shalem group spiritual direction model and the Quaker clearness committee for discussions of contemplative leadership. We have hosted two learning circles thus far--one on our first anthology Embodied Spirits and another on "Spiritual Direction as a Business," which we hope to repeat as a webinar in the near future. We are also planning an Emotional Emancipation Circle (EEC) for spiritual directors of color using our webinar capabilities with two certified EEC facilitators, Therese Taylor-Stinson and Debra Robinson Baker. Emotional Emancipation CirclesSM(EECs) are self-help support groups in which Black people work together to overcome, heal from, and overturn the lie of Black inferiority: The root cause of the devaluing of Black lives.
Our Board is made up of four members:
Rev. Ineda Adesanya (Oakland, CA)
Rev. Gibbon Bogatsu (former Redemptorist, Soweto, SA)
Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn Smith-Crooks (Amherst, MA)
Therese Taylor-Stinson (Washington, DC)
Since our incorporation, we have established annual dues at $25, and we are asking those who can afford it to offer an additional donation to help us build our treasury and to move more fully into our vision and mission.
Vision and Mission Statement of the Spiritual Directors of Color Network, Ltd.
As children of God and members of the human family, we seek to use our collective gifts as spiritual directors of color to bring love and healing to all seekers. We are a community that fully embraces the lived experiences of people of color but is welcoming to all people regardless of race. We strive to be a group that celebrates the richness of diverse cultures, faith traditions, and spiritual practices. We look for opportunities to serve, support, educate, train, nurture, reclaim, and unite those who are seeking God through contemplative practices such as the ministry and practice of spiritual direction.
Our primary mission is to:
1. Create a space for Divine Presence and Mystery;
2. Reclaim as people of color our ancient traditions of contemplative practice that includes the practice and ministry of spiritual direction;
3. Support spiritual directors in their work with diverse populations;
4. Lift up and transmit the unique traditions of our various heritages; and
5. Build a bridge within the broader International spiritual direction community.
6. Offer spiritual support in a culturally affirming context