DeKalb’s Beloved Community recently celebrated five years of hospitality. At the occasion, two strangers met.
“Hello," said one. "Hello, I’m Jim Hovis," said the second. "I’m Jim Bailey, " the first replied. After which came, "O.K., that was easy" and "Nice to meet you" from each to the other.
Then followed a prayer led by DeKalb resident and licensed minister Jim Bailey:
“Most holy righteous God, thank you for the souls who are gathered here today," Bailey said. "And we thank you for the organization that’s been formed.”
Beloved Community sets aside the third Sunday of each month for food, drinks and conversation. Everyone is asked to bring a dish or two. People are broken into small groups of strangers.
The conversations can range from race relations to immigration.
This was Jim Hovis’s second time attending. He said the first time he came, the conversations were very stimulating.
“Racial relations, difficulties, stigmas in the community," he said, "how you go about overcoming it, what kind of a contribution we can make.”
Beth Campen organizes these potlucks. She explained the idea behind the Beloved Community.
“It has lots of different meanings," she said. "It isn’t just different faiths, different skin colors.”
It’s more than that, she said.
“Beloved community also means, you know, the faith of the people, but they wanted to include other people," she said. "But it doesn’t mean you give up who you are in order to include people.”
Campen said the potlucks began after a conversation with Dr. Leroy Mitchell. Mitchell is the founding pastor emeritus of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Dekalb.
“It’s like a ministry through New Hope," she said. "So it faith based….there is definitely a lot of the people who attend, you know speak openly about their faith as do I do. But that is not the basis for people being able to come.”
For the 5th anniversary gathering, the group was asked to describe what a beloved community looks like and how to best promote hospitality.
“Hospitality being a place where people can feel safe," was one of the answers. Others chimed in. "And you’re not there to change them. But you provide the place to change them, you know to change.”
Other topics include making the events more family friendly and increasing attendance.
This was Jim Bailey's first time at the gathering.
Bailey said he believes this monthly potluck is needed in DeKalb.
“Well, we had some incidents with police involved with pedestrians," he said. "Someone got stopped and he was choked and he was tased at the same time. Things like that.”
The incident he spoke of was the arrest of Elonte McDowell. The arrest happened in August. McDowell is African-American. The police officers involved are white.
Northern Illinois University police officer Alan Smith was at the recent gathering. He said the department wants hear the voice of the community.
“Just to see people’s concerns and comments of what’s going well in the community," he said, "or any concerns that they have that we can be a part of and help address.”
Steve Kapitan attends the potlucks each month. He said he likes the idea that people who don’t normally get together are able to do so. Kapitan said the community is still working on involving people who have different viewpoints.
“We had reached out to try and include conservative white evangelical churches,” he said.
But that means overcoming some differences in outlook. For instance, Kapitan said, the Beloved Community is inclusive with regard to members of the queer community.
“Because we have been embracing of the LGBT community," he said, "that’s a division point.”
Kapitan said political issues can also be divisive.
“Immigration," he said. "People here from other countries and immigrants -- regardless of their legal status -- that I think has been another issue divide in the political spectrum.”
And after five years of lively conversations, organizers and participants feel there are plenty more topics to tackle around the dinner table.