In the spring of 2026, The Rev. Kelly Ramer Moody brought together communities in Tennessee and Washington State for a series of film screenings and theological conversations centered on the South African documentary A Piece of Ground. Through this project, Moody invited participants to explore how faith, justice, memory, and physical space shape human experience—and how the Gospel calls Christians into deeper practices of accompaniment, reconciliation, and transformation.
Supported by a grant from the Episcopal Evangelism Society, the project emerged from Moody’s conviction that evangelism is not only proclamation, but also listening deeply to the lived experiences of others. Drawing on relationships with theologians, church leaders, and filmmakers in South Africa, Moody envisioned a form of “reverse evangelism,” in which Christians in the United States could receive fresh theological insight from voices in the Global South.
At the center of the project was A Piece of Ground, a South African film created by filmmaker Sesihle Manzini. Combining documentary storytelling, theology, and social reflection, the film explores the lingering realities of apartheid, spatial injustice, and the ways communities continue to navigate questions of belonging, displacement, and identity.
As part of the grant project, Manzini traveled from South Africa to participate in a week-long series of screenings and discussions across five communities in Sewanee, Nashville, and Seattle. Gatherings took place in churches, nonprofit settings, and even a Seattle public high school classroom. Approximately twenty participants attended each screening event, with additional students participating through school programming.
Following each screening, Moody and local partners facilitated conversations using the praxis cycle, a theological framework that encourages participants to move from lived experience into reflection, social analysis, theological imagination, and action. In some settings, discussions focused explicitly on theology and discipleship; in others, the film itself became the catalyst for conversations about justice, memory, race, and belonging.
One of the project’s most significant discoveries was the power of contextual evangelism. Moody reflected that different communities required different approaches to conversation and reflection, and that authentic evangelism must remain attentive to the particular realities and needs of each community. Rather than imposing a single model, the project adapted organically to each audience and setting.
Participants consistently reported that the film opened new ways of thinking about space, community, and discipleship. By hearing stories from South Africa, many found themselves reflecting more honestly on their own neighborhoods, churches, histories, and relationships. The distance of another cultural context paradoxically created space for deeper self-examination and theological reflection.
The project also fostered meaningful global relationships between Episcopalians in the United States and Christian leaders in South Africa. Partnerships developed among churches, diocesan leaders, educators, and justice ministries, creating opportunities for continued collaboration and future conversations around theology, justice, and public life.
For Moody, the experience deepened her understanding of evangelism as something profoundly embodied and contextual. In her final reflection, she wrote that the Good News people long for must speak to the concrete realities of their lives. She became increasingly interested in how theology can help people see Jesus present within the spaces they inhabit and the systems that shape human movement, belonging, and exclusion.
The project also sparked new imagination for future ministry. Moody hopes the film and accompanying theological framework may eventually become part of wider Episcopal Church formation resources, helping congregations engage questions of justice, land, race, and discipleship in transformative ways.
At its heart, the project invited participants to ask how the kingdom of God might reshape the spaces we inhabit together. Through storytelling, theological reflection, and honest conversation, A Piece of Ground offered a vision of evangelism rooted in listening, accompaniment, and the hope of reconciliation.
