Inspire

Inspire brings immigrant and established congregations together to cultivate deeper, healthier, and more mutual relationships across cultures. Through immersive learning experiences, storytelling, reflection, and dialogue, participants engage the Accents framework, including Ubuntu, 두레 (Dure), Mi Casa es Su Casa, and Sawubona, as theological and practical lenses for intercultural ministry.

Rather than asking one community to assimilate into another, Inspire invites all participants into a process of listening, learning, and mutual transformation. The program encourages relationships marked by cultural humility, shared leadership, reciprocity, and trust, where immigrant communities are recognized not merely as recipients of support but as essential partners whose voices, experiences, and leadership enrich the whole church. Together, participants imagine and embody a church where every community has something essential to contribute and all are invited to flourish together.

Inspire gatherings have brought immigrant and established congregations together in cities across the country, including Orange County, California; Cincinnati, Ohio; and New York City, each one hosted by a local congregation opening its doors to the wider Accents network. Many of these gatherings have been made possible in partnership with the PC(USA)'s 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement.

Inspire gatherings hosted by the Presbytery of Los Ranchos in Fullerton, California (April 2024) and the Presbytery of Cincinnati (August 22 to 24, 2024) offered travel scholarships of $500 per participant to widen who could attend. The Cincinnati gathering was hosted by the Presbyterian Church of Wyoming, Ohio, with music from the Korean Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, and convened in partnership with the Synod of the Covenant.

"We had a truly inspiring few days in Cincinnati, filled with joy and friendship among a diverse group," Rafael Viana said afterward. "The hospitality was exceptional, I really felt at mi casa." In Orange County, Rev. Dr. Alfredo Delgado of the Presbytery of Los Ranchos said the gathering "offered valuable insights into effective ministry practices," and Rev. Dr. Jorge Abdala, moderator of the National Portuguese Language Presbyterian Council, described feeling "a strong sense of connection" with fellow leaders.

The four concepts Inspire draws on, Ubuntu, Dure, Mi Casa es Su Casa, and Sawubona, trace back to the 2023 Secret Sauce Conference in Atlanta, where they were gathered into a 39-page resource guide published through the Presbyterian Mission Agency. "We all have accents, and really, an accent is nothing to be ashamed of but to be proud of, because accents are beautiful," Rafael Viana told that gathering.