Soul Care in African American Practice Introduction Welcome to Soul Care in African American Practice

Lesson 1, Activity 1

Welcome to Soul Care in African American Practice

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Throughout this course you will learn about African American spirituality and the ministry of prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care through the lenses of ten African American spiritual leaders. You will look at how prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care were essential to the lives of these spiritual leaders and how they used these disciplines to move through trying and difficult times. Many of these leaders depended on the disciplines to make change and impact in the African American community. The need for these disciplines dates back to the time of slavery when slaves were being brought over from their land with nothing but hope and prayer.

Learning outcomes

By completing this course, you will be able to:

Identify the disciplines of soul care, spiritual direction, and prayer.
Apply soul care practices for personal spiritual growth and direction.
Determine ways to implement soul care practices within your congregation.
Recognize the role of spiritual disciplines throughout African American history.

Select the headings of each lesson to read about the specific learning outcomes that you will achieve by working through the content of each lesson.

Lesson One: Introduction

In the introduction, Dr. Peacock discusses the hardships slaves had to endure, causing them to rely heavily on prayer, spiritual direction and soul care. The slaves depended on prayer and hope to help them cope with the horrific tragedies of slavery. The need experienced by the slaves for prayer, spiritual direction and soul care, is the same need historical African American leaders had, and is the same need the African American community still has today

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Describe the importance of prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care from an African American perspective.
Explain how slavery affected the way spirituality looks for African Americans.
Describe the historical impact of African American spiritual traditions.

Lesson Two: Prayer and Lectio Divina in African American Practice

In this lesson, Dr. Peacock discusses spiritual direction through the lives of Dr. Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This lesson journeys through the various components of spiritual direction, lectio divina, and prayer, providing practices for deeper soul care.

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Apply the ACTS model of prayer to your prayer life.
Define the steps of lectio divina.
Practice lectio divina on your own or in a group.

Lesson Three: Spiritual Direction and Soul Care in African American Practice

In this lesson, Dr. Peacock discusses prayer and spiritual direction through the lives of Dr. Darrell Griffin and Dr. Jessica Ingram. She shares the impact of spiritual direction and prayer in experiencing God’s presence and His will for our lives.

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Define spiritual direction and soul care.
Explain what you need from an aligned spiritual director.
Describe the language of spiritual direction and soul care.

Lesson Four: Soul Care in the Civil Rights Movement

In this lesson, Dr. Peacock reflects on the role of soul care in the lives of civil rights leaders. She explores how spiritual disciplines help us focus on drawing closer to God, taking a moment to speak to and hear from Him, and remaining firm in our resolve for change.

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Identify how prayer, meditation, and contemplation strengthen us internally and communally.
Demonstrate how the disciplines of soul care position us to advance social justice.
Practice meditation and contemplation on your own or in a spiritual group.

Lesson Five: Detachment and Attachment in the African American Practice

In this lesson, Dr. Peacock considers Dr. Renita Weems’ ideas on detachment and attachment in spiritual direction and formation. The second part of the lesson explores the generational spiritual foundation and the prayer traditions of African Americans through the writings of Dr. Harold Carter.

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain how to detach from the cares of the world.
Reflect on opportunities to deepen your personal and congregational prayer time with God.
Assess prayer traditions within your family and denomination/congregation.

Lesson Six: Prayer in the African American Practice

In this lesson, Dr.Peacock discusses prayer, rest, and suffering through the lives of African American trailblazers Dr. James Washington and Dr. Howard Thurman. This final lesson includes a summative activity to review what you have learned throughout the course.

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Demonstrate the role of rest in your daily routine.
Analyze the relationship between suffering and freedom.
Develop strategies to implement prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care in your congregational life.
Distinguish the spirituality of African American traditions from that of others.

Lesson Seven: Course Completion

When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Demonstrate the role of rest in your daily routine.
Analyze the relationship between suffering and freedom.
Develop strategies to implement prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care in your congregational life.
Distinguish the spirituality of African American traditions from that of others.

All Scripture quotations in this class, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

How to Maximize Your Learning from This Course

In order to maximize your learning through this online course, you are encouraged to make use of all the learning opportunities presented to you. To take full advantage of the wealth of knowledge presented in the course content, we recommend that you:

Read, watch or listen to all the lectures.
Reflect on the content and questions in your journal.
Complete all learning activities.
Share your ideas with your fellow classmates in the discussion.
Enrich your learning by reading the bonus material.

Online learning is an excellent way to bring large numbers of participants together to learn and share about God’s word. Although this course is asynchronous and therefore other participants may not complete the course at the same time as you, there are interactive opportunities to share your learning and to gain valuable, unique insights from individuals with a diverse range of backgrounds and life experiences.

What online course engagement means

Full engagement in this course further means:

Working through the lessons in the suggested order—they’ve been arranged for a reason and each course has been designed with a logical sequence. Jumping ahead without completing the previous lesson may give you a disjointed learning experience.
Reading and listening across a variety of learning activities—some of which are text-based, some with video. (Transcripts are provided with audio-visual resources for those learners who require or prefer the written format.)
Sharing your learnings with other course participants in discussion opportunities.

When engaging in social learning activities, such as sharing ideas or commenting on other learners’ ideas in discussions, be mindful of how you express yourself in writing. In written communication, we do not have the advantages of interpersonal cues (e.g., facial expressions, voice tone, and gestures), so it can be difficult to express intended meaning. Remember that other course participants may have different perspectives, opinions, and life experiences than you. Therefore, when communicating online, it’s important to assume the best intentions of others and use polite and respectful language.

Technology requirements

Engaging with the materials in this course requires minimal technological skills or equipment:

An electronic device such as a computer, tablet or smartphone capable of running a web browser and playing video and audio.
Internet access capable of streaming videos, loading webpages, and downloading files.
A PDF reader (optional) for working with downloadable PDF files. Though most browsers allow PDFs to be viewed within the browser, we recommend downloading and saving them to your device so that you can save your work.

For premium subscribers, the ODBU app is available in Google Play and the App Store. In addition to providing full functionality of all course features, the app also allows you to download courses for offline study.

Have a question?

We have made every effort to make this course accessible for all learning styles and abilities. If you have a question or need assistance, please email us at support@odbu.org.

What Activities to Expect

Each lesson will guide you through a series of activities. Select the headings below to read a brief description and instructions for completing each activity. Activities with a “lock” symbol 🔒 are available to premium subscribers only.

Overview and Objectives

This activity offers a brief introduction to the lesson and informs you of the lesson’s objectives.

Viewing this activity is required for course completion.

Videos

These activities provide the main teaching content for the lesson. You may choose to read the transcript or watch the video. Closed captioning is also provided for any video segments. In each case the content is the same.

This activity is required for course completion.

Reflect

This activity asks you to reflect on your own experiences related to the course topic.

Instructions for reflection

Get and use a hard copy journal or an e-note-taking tool such as Notion, OneNote, or Apple Notes.
Spend time reflecting on the questions provided in the activity. Make it a time of prayer by sharing your thoughts and reflections with God.
Write down your answers, thoughts, and other revelatory ideas in your journal that God reveals during your time of prayerful reflection.

For reflective journaling activities such as this one, find a quiet place in which you will not be disturbed by other people, noises, or other distractions. Silence e-devices and quiet your mind by reading Bible passages or praying before attempting the activity.

Check Your Understanding

This quiz activity checks your understanding of the concepts learned so far. It is not a timed activity, and the quiz can be attempted as many times as needed.

Earning a quiz score of 70% or better is required for course completion.

Lectio Divina

This activity allows you to practice intentional biblical reflection. You will spend some time carefully reading the Scripture passage provided in the activity, utilizing Dr. Peacock’s method of lectio divina.

For each lesson, please take time to read the passage provided. After you’ve read the passages, you will be prompted to reflect, sit in silence, and journal to engage more deeply with the text. Write your answers in your personal reflection journal.

For reflective journaling activities such as this one, find a quiet place in which you will not be disturbed by other people, noises, or other distractions. Silence e-devices and quiet your mind by reading Bible passages or praying before attempting the activity.

Make a Plan

This discussion activity is designed to help you consider how to put your learning to use in your own context. It may also help you collect ideas from other course participants. Since this course is asynchronous (i.e., other learners complete the course at different times), you may not see many discussion submissions or receive replies to your posts. Therefore, consider your submissions to this discussion forum as a way to share your insights about what you have learned to inspire or challenge others in their learning journey, and to enable others to do the same for you.

While other learners may not see or respond to your comments in the short term, encouraging others and engaging with others enhances your learning experience.

This activity is required for course completion.

Recommended Reading

Soul Care in African American Practice is a companion course to the book Soul Care in African American Practice by Barbara Peacock. Each Recommended Reading features a chapter from the book that expounds upon Dr. Peacock’s teaching in the lesson. Information about purchasing this book is provided below. Purchase of the book is not required for course completion.

Soul care director Barbara Peacock illustrates a journey of prayer, spiritual direction, and soul care from an African American perspective. She reflects on how these disciplines are woven into the African American culture and lived out in the rich heritage of its faith community. Using examples of ten significant men and women―Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Darrell Griffin, Renita Weems, Harold Carter, Jessica Ingram, Coretta Scott King, James Washington, and Howard Thurman―Barbara offers us the opportunity to engage in practices of soul care as we learn from these spiritual leaders.

Click here to purchase Soul Care in African American Practice.

This activity is not required for course completion.

Lesson Summary

This activity sums up the concepts learned in each lesson and looks ahead to what comes next.

Summative Activity

This activity appears in the course wrap-up section at the end of the course. It asks you to think back on the course and decide what new knowledge or perspectives you will take with you moving forward.

This activity is required for course completion.

Course Completion Requirements

To successfully earn a Completion Award for this course you will need to engage with all of the pages in every lesson, view all of the lectures, contribute towards the discussion boards, and complete the Course Evaluation. All other activities are recommended but not required for course completion.