Building Communities of Belonging
Our Mission
We provide education, support and leader development services for clergy, congregations and organizations who want to build communities of belonging where cultural differences are recognized, understood, appreciated and utilized as strengths.
Through educational facilitation, immersive experiences, and spiritual leadership support, Belonging, Inc. helps diverse communities address and change the biases, behaviors, and emotions that hinder authentic belonging, peacemaking, and collaborative leadership.
Your contribution helps make this possible! Thank you!
Our Services
Community Conversation
St. Augustine Pilgrimage
St. Augustine Pilgrimage
This virtual weekly meeting on Tuesdays at 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. using Zoom is open to anyone who wants education, support and development as a leader of multicultural change. We learn and practice tools taught by VISIONS, Inc. for building healthy, culturally inclusive communities of belonging. The VISIONS tools that we use allow for (at tim
This virtual weekly meeting on Tuesdays at 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. using Zoom is open to anyone who wants education, support and development as a leader of multicultural change. We learn and practice tools taught by VISIONS, Inc. for building healthy, culturally inclusive communities of belonging. The VISIONS tools that we use allow for (at times) difficult and intensive work within a model that makes participants feel safe enough to stay invested and engaged. People are welcome to come and listen, bring challenges to work on, practice teaching one of the tools and celebrate success in their own work. Click subscribe to receive Community Conversation notifications and access information via our newsletter.
St. Augustine Pilgrimage
St. Augustine Pilgrimage
St. Augustine Pilgrimage
The St. Augustine pilgrimage invites you to visit Florida’s “oldest city” differently than a tourist. We will move through the city, stopping in 8 locations, with openness to learning from the stories of racial resilience, struggle, courage, trauma and transformation. It is an invitation to encounter, reflect and transform.
Encounter stor
The St. Augustine pilgrimage invites you to visit Florida’s “oldest city” differently than a tourist. We will move through the city, stopping in 8 locations, with openness to learning from the stories of racial resilience, struggle, courage, trauma and transformation. It is an invitation to encounter, reflect and transform.
Encounter stories of both racial trauma and transformation present in the community.
Reflect on these stories using a framework that deepens appreciation for your own story and that of others. In the process of encounter and reflection, become reconciled to yourself and others in transforming ways.
Allow six hours to go through the city, visit the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center, have lunch, debrief your experience together and take home some tools for continuing the healing work of cross-cultural hospitality in your own community. Depending on your needs, this experience can be included as part of a multi-day training in the tools and strategies for building communities of belonging.
Training and Coaching
Cross-Cultural Hospitality
Cross-Cultural Hospitality
Customized for your needs or the needs of your group, training events are adaptable in length, process and content. They are led by experienced facilitators to support and develop leaders of multicultural change.
Trainings are designed to support your learning goals through an experience of diverse and collaborative teams that address and
Customized for your needs or the needs of your group, training events are adaptable in length, process and content. They are led by experienced facilitators to support and develop leaders of multicultural change.
Trainings are designed to support your learning goals through an experience of diverse and collaborative teams that address and change the way exclusion happens at personal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural levels.
Trainings can help participants . . .
- Lead effectively in the 21st century.
- Build trust, belonging and authentic engagement where cultural differences are present.
- Communicate more effectively across difference.
- Identify previously unconscious biases and misinformation in themselves, in others, and in organizations.
- Develop collaborative solutions that both heal legacies of conflict and chart new ways forward together.
Cross-Cultural Hospitality
Cross-Cultural Hospitality
Cross-Cultural Hospitality
This training provides practical tools and strategies for church members and leaders to recognize, understand, appreciate and utilize cultural differences as a strength for God’s mission in the world.
The Florida Conference UMC Bishop and Cabinet require this training for congregations in preparation for receiving a new pastoral appointmen
This training provides practical tools and strategies for church members and leaders to recognize, understand, appreciate and utilize cultural differences as a strength for God’s mission in the world.
The Florida Conference UMC Bishop and Cabinet require this training for congregations in preparation for receiving a new pastoral appointment when there are significant cultural differences between the pastor and the congregation.
The assumption is that cultural differences - particularly race differences - come with unique opportunities for practicing Christian discipleship. Those differences when ignored, discounted or treated as if they don’t matter can lead to harm (intentionally or unintentionally) for the appointed clergy, the congregation and their God given mission in the community.
During this 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. training we will learn and practice 7 tools for Cross-Cultural Hospitality. These tools are part of a larger framework created by VISIONS, Inc. for creating communities of belonging where cultural differences are recognized, understood, appreciated and utilized as a strength for the mission God has given to the church.
Facilitators
Rev Laverne March
Laverne is the pastor at Living Waters Ministries in St. Augustine. She grew up in St. Augustine, graduating from St. Augustine High School and holding a degree in Social Psychology from St Leo’s University. Rev. March is known for her dedicated love for her community, leading multicultural education efforts one-on-one and in group settings with St Augustine and St John’s County government leaders and concerned residents. She is the founder of a beautification and empowerment project in West St Augustine called “Pride in the West Side.” She has been using and coaching others to use the VISIONS model for building communities of belonging since the summer of 2018. laverne@belonging-inc.org
Rev David Williamson
David is an Elder in the Florida Conference United Methodist Church appointed to extension ministry with Belonging, Inc. He is a skilled facilitator providing education, support and leader development services for clergy, congregations and communities who want to build communities of belonging where cultural differences are recognized, understood, appreciated and utilized as strength for God’s mission in the world. David has 29 years of experience as a pastor in the UMC and 7 years of experience facilitating effective cross-cultural dialogue where diverse groups of people can address and transform conflict at personal, interpersonal and system levels.
david@belonging-inc.org 407-415-7850
Insights and Perspectives
What's the Point of Grace
What's the Point of Grace
What's the Point of Grace
In October 2017 I sat in a Northern Ireland Pub with some colleagues who had been spending time listening to the experiences of locals who had been harmed and done harm during the 30 year civil war there.
I was both drawn and repulsed by their truthfulness about what happened to them.
Who Cares What I Know
What's the Point of Grace
What's the Point of Grace
If I don’t care for the pain that people are experiencing (including my own), then it will be very hard to have peace with justice.
The political violence we witnessed this week with the public murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has deeply impacted millions of people in our country.
A Beautiful Witness to Belonging
A Beautiful Witness to Belonging
A Beautiful Witness to Belonging
I began reading many of my close friends sharing their shock last Tuesday evening that Helen Ryde had died. I regret that I never met Helen. I’m only meeting them now through the many people that they touched, inspired and changed. Helen embodied a beautiful witness to belonging.
We Must Dance
A Beautiful Witness to Belonging
A Beautiful Witness to Belonging
It’s been six months since Laverne and I started Belonging, Inc., a nonprofit organization focused on addressing and changing all the ‘isms’ that create distance within us and between us. In our divided world this is a much needed and serious cause. So much is at stake.
Therefore we must dance!
