it started in advent 2020
A pressing need started everything:
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, how does the church talk honestly with children about racism?
In Advent 2020, we (Jen and Will) set out to create something different for the children in our Episcopal churches—St. Chrysostom's in Chicago's Gold Coast and St. Christopher's in Oak Park in the Chicago area.
We wanted to present conversations that:
Honored complex historical truths
Remained accessible to young minds
Grounded everything in our faith values
What happened surprised us. Families showed up enthusiastically.
Over 30 children from 20 families participated consistently, engaging with difficult history through our storytelling approach.
a natural evolution
We quickly realized something important: this work couldn't be packaged in a traditional published curriculum. It needed to be shared person-to-person, taught by trusted leaders within each faith community.
So we developed a training program to equip other Christian formation leaders to bring this storytelling to their own churches.
In July 2021, Tell Me The Truth About Racism (our former name) received a Becoming Beloved Community Grant from the Episcopal Church, supporting the expansion of our resources and training.
where we are today
From those first conversations with Chicago children, our antiracism work has grown to reach over 75 communities across the United States and Canada.
Antiracism remains at the heart of what we do.
"The Lie that Caused Racism" was our foundational story and continues to be the primary focus of our training and community work. We remain deeply committed to helping communities confront racism's historical and ongoing impact through our faith-centered approach.
The sand is a safe space to address other challenging conversations.
As our work has evolved, we are now exploring how our sand storytelling approach can address other challenging topics. We're developing new stories that examine different forms of hierarchy, starting first with a pilot story about the environment.
Now, as Sowing Seeds in the Sand, we continue this journey with antiracism at our core — creating spaces where difficult truths find safe ground, and where God's dream for all creation can take root anew.