A Heritage Month Invitation to Reimagine Institutions

Reimagining institutions requires moving them from expressions of empirical power over people towards institutions that operate with hope, healing, justice and equality.

On a walk

We stopped for this view

An African sunset

Just so beautiful

In this pause moment

I was filled with gratitude

I am an African

I know not about the how

How the odds landed as such

that I am born in Africa,

a child of the Motherland

Ubuntu is my grounding value

And faith family, food, fun music

Is my go-to kind of fellowship

Here in the warmth of Mother Africa

May we write a new story of us becoming

Our pursuit of building beloved community.

This reflection and provocation emerged through a conversation with Gil Harper as we considered how we shall continue our work of speaking out and mobilising justice and gender justice during the month of September — Heritage Month.

As we consider heritage, we must be mindful that some institutions were not built for all people, and for the well-being of all God’s people.

Heritage invites us not only to remember the past but also to critically reflect on the institutions, systems and structures that have shaped our present realities. It challenges us to ask: What have we inherited, what needs to be transformed, and what new spaces are we called to create?

The Architecture of Institutions: What We Build Reveals What We Believe

In theological studies of the church, we explored how churches were built to reflect the majesty and might of God. The architecture carried theological meaning.

The pulpit was high and lifted up for the preaching of the Word. The sanctuary was designed with intention. The positioning of leaders, the movement of people, the symbols and sacred spaces all communicated ideas about authority, reverence and power.

These magnificent religious organisations and institutions were built with purpose. Yet, many were not built with the inclusion and accessibility of all people in mind — for example, people requiring mobility access or communities who historically experienced exclusion.

Within the same physical buildings, cultural and spiritual institutions are formed.

While there is much to say about the physical spaces that we can see, we must also reflect on the invisible spaces: the feelings, emotions, relationships and culture of welcome that people experience when they enter these institutions.

Institutions are not only buildings. They are living expressions of language, beliefs, values, practices, symbols, relationships and histories.

They shape how people understand themselves, others and the world around them. They communicate who belongs, whose voices are valued and whose humanity is recognised.

This is why institutional transformation requires more than changing policies. It requires reimagining the culture, imagination and practices that shape how institutions exist in the world.

Reimagining Inherited Institutions: Lessons from Stellenbosch University

I remember visiting Stellenbosch University and learning from the late Dr. Russel Botman.

Between the years of 2006 to 2009, I facilitated an experiential and immersion-learning programme called “Heita South Africa.” We were participants on a learning journey of justice, reconciliation and transformation.

Dr. Botman shared with us about the tactics, strategies and practical steps he was investing time and energy into as he sought to bring change and transformation to Stellenbosch University — an institution that had historically been a theological home connected to the formation and justification of apartheid ideology.

As the first Black rector of Stellenbosch University, Dr. Botman carried the responsibility of reimagining how this institution could become more inclusive, equitable and a place where people from the full diversity and grandeur of South Africa could thrive.

One practical step was changing signs across campus to include English and isiXhosa alongside Afrikaans.

This was more than a language adjustment. It was a symbolic and practical step towards shifting the culture and imagination of the institution.

It communicated that South Africa’s diversity was not something to be tolerated but something to be embraced.

This is important for us to think about because places and spaces, buildings and institutions possess empirical characteristics, traditions and customs.

They carry histories. They preserve memories. They shape imagination.

Leaders of transformation must recognise that institutions are never neutral. They always communicate values, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

We need leaders and advocates who will step forward and help these long-standing institutions of empirical heritage reform and transform themselves into more equitable, inclusive institutions of well-being for all.

Creating New Spaces of Belonging: Institutions Founded on Justice

At the same time, there is also a need to begin institutions from the very beginning — institutions founded in a culture of equity, justice and belonging.

We need to see the formation of institutions that are intentionally social-justice-focused and committed to bringing about the societal change our world requires.

In 2024, I was blessed to join a church planted with a vision for beloved community.

The pastoral leaders, church leadership and members were invested in building a multi-ethnic faith community.

This place and space, the people, their faith beliefs and their practices embraced justice, inclusion and belonging as critical grounding values by which they sought to live and mobilise.

Jesus, Justice and Jazz: Sanctuary Covenant Church and Beloved Community

Sanctuary Covenant Church in Northside Minneapolis was the faith institution where Rev. Dr. Efrem Smith poured his calling of serving God and people into the pursuit of beloved community.

When I remember my time serving at Sanctuary Covenant Church, I am reminded that sometimes you just have to start some churches and faith institutions from the very beginning with Jesus, justice, and some jazz.

At Sanctuary Covenant Church, we experienced a context where theology, creativity, justice and community came together.

We experienced expository justice theology, preaching and the Word of God intentionally, engaging and disrupting unhealthy social norms.

We were immersed in a beautiful diversity of musical genres and ways of worship — including jazz, hip-hop, soulful gospel, Latin, European American and African-Asiatic musical and worship traditions.

It was a place where belonging was not achieved by making everyone the same, but by creating spaces where difference was welcomed, celebrated and experienced as a gift from God.

I remain grateful for the memories of being part of a vision and mission grounded in our faith, calling us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

Words, Theology and Prayer as Practices of Transformation

To begin a process of reimagining, we require theological learning and leaders who are trained and conscientised about the importance of decolonising institutions.

We require leaders who are immersed in experiences that help them unlearn and learn new ways and strategies that are purposed for the work, witness and service of transforming and founding institutions of hope, healing and justice.

In my own theological training and academic learning, I was guided through inclusive language practices where we were encouraged to write about God’s self rather than limiting God through exclusively masculine language such as “He” or “Him”.

Writing and learning can inform our thinking, believing and practice.

Finding ways to describe God free of socialised hierarchy, patriarchy and empirical norms becomes important in the pursuit of reimagining institutions grounded upon justice, gender equality and inclusion.

Dr. Nontando Hadebe taught us through the Faith Leaders Gender Transformation Programme about prayer and the words we use, becoming a spiritual practice for change.

I have embraced the practice of praying using the nouns:

God our Creator,
Jesus Christ our Liberator,
Holy Spirit our Comforter.

This practice of prayer informs my own journey of reimagining institutions of faith, leadership and service.

The Workplace as Sacred Space: The John Deere Story

At John Deere, where I worked on a transformation assignment, the factory floor became a symbol of reforming and transforming a workplace.

Factory workers worked long hours on a darkened floor beneath them.

Over years, maintenance of the floor was managed by repeatedly painting over the concrete with a factory-authorised non-slip rubberised liquid. This became the accepted practice.

However, an employee working in the executive offices became aware of the need to build an inclusive workplace culture.

Mr. Ernest Jackson was inspired to make the factory environment intentionally warmer, more welcoming and more aesthetically dignified.

Today, the rubberised factory floor that once made the working environment look gloomy and heavy has been restored to its original marble concrete floors that bring a warm glow and shine to the physical workplace for factory workers.

A simple transformation of the environment communicated something profound: The people who work here matter.

Critical question we must ask if we are to realise institutions forming and transforming for justice

This invites us to ask deeper questions:

What language propels our institutions?

What theology, practices, creative arts and ideologies posture our institutions?

What environments shape our institutions towards welcome or exclusion?

What ways of writing, marketing and mobilising language entrap our institutions?

What icons, physical structures, statues and symbols inform the imagination of our institutions?

What culture prevails when we enter, experience, feel, and live and breathe within these institutions?

If we do not reimagine institutions and build new institutions of equity, justice and inclusion, then these institutions of learning, working, serving and faith will continue to inform people, cultures and leadership in ways that can dehumanise, colonise and deprive us of our human rights and acknowledgement of our shared humanity.

Moving Beyond Empire Towards Beloved Community

The call before us is to move beyond empire.

To build institutions where hope is practised, healing is experienced, justice is pursued and beloved community becomes visible.

The work of reimagining institutions is ultimately the work of reimagining ourselves — and the kind of world we believe is possible.

sethnaicker@gmail.com