Strengthening Pastoral Formation grantee Dr. Alexia Salvatierra shared an update about the “Joshua Project” at Fuller Seminary. They held a long-planned retreat on August 23-24, 2024 with 10 young pastors connected with Fuller’s three ethnic centers. The retreat was planned with the pastors in a pre-retreat zoom meeting and was facilitated by a psychology professor and therapist who specialized in racial trauma and intersectional therapy incorporating spiritual formation.
The focus of the retreat was internal, interpersonal and community healing - with a strong emphasis on self-care and forming healthy support networks which fully recognize the stresses of urban pastors of color. Books produced by ethnic center faculty were given as gifts to the participants. They also planned the final steps of the project - a set of 10 educational videos to be used in adult Christian Education contexts and a dinner in November that will focus on peacemaking in a time of crisis.