This year, two of IAM’s most established and cherished programs united to form the “Knowledge Production Incubator.” Master’s students from Stellenbosch University’s Master of Divinity program and the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Master of Theology in Gender, Religion, and Health came together in this immersive experience. Supported by the ACT Church of Sweden, the initiative aimed not just to educate but to foster transformative dialogue and community engagement.
From March 12-14, 2025, scholars and students gathered at the Gender Unit Conference hosted by Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Theology. Here, they explored extensive research on gender, sexuality, and religion. This annual event served as a vibrant hub for local and international experts to exchange ideas and expand the boundaries of knowledge.
The following week, the two cohorts of Masters Students travelled to KwaZulu-Natal. This opportunity for exchange and encounter was anchored in a Contextual Bible Study at G2 Methodist Church in KwaMashu, Durban, led by Ujamaa Centre for Biblical and Theological Community Development and Research.
Central to the Incubator experience was the power of dialogue, as one participant reflected, “Through dialogue, healing, growth, and transformation become possible—both individually and collectively.”
In a world increasingly marked by polarization and division, initiatives like these remind us of the transformative potential when diverse voices come together in pursuit of justice and dignity.
The Knowledge Production Incubator proved to be a catalyst for forming new relationships across institutions, showcasing the power of collaboration and dialogue in advancing knowledge and understanding.
As we continue to navigate the complexities of gender, sexuality, and faith across the globe, collaborative engagement offers space for growth, empathy, and transformative learning. One participant’s experience encapsulates this: “Having journeyed with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and ages… it can build bridges – it can even rekindle humanity.”
One the final day, participants constructed a liturgy, drawing on the themes and shared experiences of the Knowledge Production Incubator:
Prayers of the People – Liturgy from the Knowledge Production Incubator
OPENING PRAYER
Fluid God,
Fear can make us demand definition from mystery.
We tell stories about your static nature to make the divine digestible to us. We condense and simplify our own stories to make them clear and resolved.
Since we were little, we’ve been dissected not with nuance and complexity, but by a zeitgeist that favors categories and binaries.
It feels like we must choose to be smart or pretty, to be angry or kind, to be masculine or feminine, to be well or wounded. Free us from this confinement.
Help us to remember we are not singular, that we are free to be more than one thing. Protect us from a world intent on narrowing our selfhoods.
Remind us that these binaries exist not so that we might be understood but so that we might be made small. Guide us as we honor the sacred spectrums within each of us, and within one another.
There is a multitude in us.
We will not be reduced.
(From Black Liturgies, by Cole Arthur Riley)
CREDO
One: I believe God is our creator, redeemer, and sustainer.
I believe the Word became flesh in us, with us, for us.
All: I believe you; I believe with you.
One: I believe that knowing myself I can know God.
I believe I am created in the image of our God.
I believe I am created in love, for love, to love.
All: I believe you; I believe with you.
One: I believe in the Holy Spirit, in us, with us, for us.
All: I believe you; I believe with you.
One: I believe God created this world for us to enjoy, to glorify God.
I believe we are called to live in creation, with creation, and for creation.
All: I believe you; I believe with you
PRAYER OF INTERCESSION:
One: We pray for those who find themselves unsafe within their own homes,
those who have lost their own homes,
and those who have no space to go home …
for just being themselves and daring to speak for the othered.
ALL: Sizwe Nkosi
One: For those who find themselves seeking vocabulary or words to express themselves, their experiences, their needs, their desires and those who question their why
ALL: Here, hoor ons gebede
One: For those who are grieving, in need of strength, searching for brave spaces or those who are tired, overwhelmed, disorientated, lacking hope
ALL: Lord hear our prayer
One: For those who keep the candle burning, and those who risk to the keep the flame of hope alive and those who courageously tell their stories to rekindle humanity
ALL: For we are completely dependent on your grace
Amen.
CONFESSION
Merciful and loving God, we acknowledge our shortcomings and seek to free our bondage from sin.
Here our prayer, merciful God.
Forgive us for the times where we did not act according to your will, where we did not love all bodies as you love.
Forgive us for where we witnesses and passed judgement and did not speak up, for weaponizing your Word to perpetuate injustices and discrimination
We seek forgiveness, through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Purify our hearts and reduce us so that You may increase within us.
Our Lord, we pray in Your name,
Amen
THANKSGIVING
Dear Fluid God
Today we come before you with gratitude for the opportunity to be here in this hotel and this space, and for the abundance of food we’ve been receiving.
Lord, thank you for the diversity of Your creation that we can see and have experienced here.
We are grateful for the knowledge and stories, for the dialogue we had in Your presence.
Thank you that you are blessing us with a spirit of discernment so that we may understand your Word though using tools like CBS,
Continue to teach us how to love and accept those around us by being affirming and inclusive.
Amen.
WE ARE TAKING HOME…
BENEDICTION
May the God who created you in love,
Who knows you by name
And delights in all that you are,
Go with you as you walk your journey of truth and courage.
May Christ, who breaks down all dividing walls, strengthen you in grace, and remind you that you are worthy, whole, and held.
May the spirit who moves freely (among all of you), inspire you to live boldly, to love freely, and to build a world where all are welcomed and celebrated.
Go in Peace beloved child of God.
Amen.
