Implicit Bias Training Course Now Available for Free to Missouri Conference Members

posted on March 27

Beginning January 1, 2021, all candidates entering into ministry in the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church have been required to take the implicit bias course as part of their complete file. In spring 2022, the Conference partnered with the UMC General Commission on Race and Religion to create a Missouri-specific version of its existing implicit bias course that will be FREE to our Missouri clergy and lay members.

Conference leaders will encourage leaders to voluntarily take the course before it is a requirement for you to learn about the unconscious bias we all experience. By July 1, 2024, we hope to have every leader serving at the district and Conference level trained with this module.

“Implicit Bias Course: What We Don't Think We Think” is a resource for leaders, preachers and congregations who want to learn and teach about implicit bias. The learning engagements included in each section allow for individual work, group work and sermon preparation. All of the learning engagements recognize and lift up the reality that context is known best by those on the ground. Thus, while this course provides multiple entry points for learning about, thinking through and transforming action regarding implicit bias, it does not contextualize the information for you. Implicit Bias: What We Don’t Think We Think honors the contextual wisdom that you and others will bring to this material. Each exercise is an invitation to the sacred journey of discovering with your church and community how God is leading you to use this material faithfully within your context.

The Conference will be billed for the course directly, and any Missouri Conference member – clergy or lay – is invited to take the training for free. Visit https://gcorr.teachable.com/courses/moacimplicitbias to enroll in the course. The course should take 90 minutes to two hours of your time. You cannot skip sections for course completion.

After completion, clergy should download their certificate and send to their district administrator for inclusion in their clergy file.

In Missouri, we are committed to understanding our own biases. Our work in race and culture exists to help us become a place for people from diverse cultures and generations so that, ultimately, we become a Church for all God’s people. Missouri Conference leadership is committed to learning more about race and culture. The Board of Ordained Ministry, together with the Mission Council, wants to equip Conference leaders and local churches for multicultural leadership, cross-cultural connection and healing justice. This course is one tool for that purpose.