JUSTICE NETWORK
FREE METHODIST CHURCH
2024 JUSTICE NETWORK SUMMIT
WORKSHOP OPTIONS
WORKSHOPS
Thursday Workshops
Estranged Pioneers: How Pastors of Color Navigate Heading Racaially and Ethnically Diverse Churches
Dr. Korie Little Edwards
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From Adversarial to Missional: Faithfully Navigating Changing Perspectives on Human Sexuality
Rev. Barbara Isaman-Bushart, Rev. Doug Cullum, Rev. Katie Sawade Hall
This session will present one FM congregation's thinking concerning the often-confusing broad range of perspectives on human sexuality in today's culture. The session seeks to nurture a culture of faithful discipleship through a posture of genuine hospitality and care.
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The Body of Christ Keeps The Score: Understanding Congregational Collective Trauma
Rev. Kayleigh Clark
We have a diagnostic problem in the American church today. Often churches who are struggling or in decline are labeled as "lacking mission and vision." Too often this diagnosis misses the actual cause of suffering and allows for churches who seem to be outwardle thriving to inwardly be deteriorating. A new diagnosis is needed. This workshop is designed for pastors and church leaders who desire to see the church flourish. Togehter we will uncover the ways in which collective congregational trauma may hold key insights to church health and provide a road map away from the story of trauma that is often defining the church today.
Creation Justice: Scaling Justice-Oriented Ministry to the Ecosystem Level
Jared Sittig
Don’t get sold on a gospel that is too small. God’s creative intention and restorative work are both oriented around union with and salvation for all of creation. Salvation is not just about people. It’s about the coming restoration of all things. This workshop will explore the practical implications of this bigger salvation paradigm for how we can do justice-oriented ministry more effectively when we realize the relationships (broken as they may be) we all have with the human and non-human creation around us. On this avenue, those who attend will hear some theology, will encounter new ministry partners in the creation-justice space via curated lists of not for profits and the many practical and theological resources they make available, and will work together to dream bigger about their ministries. The goal is to broaden visions for ministries by considering environmental root causes of injustice and holistic – ecosystem-scale –solutions. Come expand your picture of God’s transformational work!
friday Workshops
How Not to Lose Your Soul While Seeking Justice
Dr. Marlena Graves
Those of us who seek to live righteously/justly can end up becoming the kind of people we despise: those guilty of great harm and injustice. How does that happen? In this workshop, we will put the work of justice in perspective. To be healthy and whole we are to pursue justice in the way of Jesus. That is, as human beings, not superhumans. Webster's Dictionary defines 'superhuman' as: "exceeding normal human power, size, or capability." It's when we act like we are superhumans that everything begins to go downhill. We will learn about timeless postures and practices that help us counteract our obsession with saving the world.
Developing, Leading, and Sustaining Diverse Churches
Dr. Michael Traylor
Analyses of the lifecycle of multi-cultural, socially diverse churches reveal significant fragility due to multiple factors. One of the most significant contributors is a failure of leaders to have critical competencies that promote congregational solidarity. This workshop identifies 4 critical leadership capacities that help to promote solidarity and to develop into an authentically intercultural community. Participants will learn justice-informed capacities that seek to promote movement toward beloved community.
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Scattered and Shattered: Answering God's Call to Care for Those Wounded by the Church
Rev. Kayleigh Clark
Spiritual abuse, religious trauma, and church hurt are filling podcasts, documentaries, and our social media feeds. However, abuse at the hand of religious leaders is not new and our God has a plan of healing and restoration. In Jeremiah 23, in response to corrupt shepherds, God says he will rise up new shepherds. Will we be these new shepherds? This workshop will equip participants with trauma-informed ministry practices that they might gather those who have been scattered and bind up those who have been shattered.
Dismantling Barriers: Disability and Social Justice
Rev. Barbara Isaman-Bushart and David Carr
People with disabilities have suffered marginalization and oppression for millennia, and the church’s responses to these injustices have been a mix of helpful and harmful. This workshop will, therefore, explore the gifts that those living with disabilities can offer the Church and world-at-large, with a focus on the many ways that they have been prevented from exercising their God-given contributions.
Co-Laboring: Women and Men Working Together for an Egalitarian Church and World
Rev. Roberta Mosier-Peterson and Rev. Adam Stein
The aim of this workshop is to encourage and equip the church to address gender injustice by creating a co-laboring mindset in churches. Women and men can work together at all levels of church leadership. Using our wisdom, experience, and honesty we will offer tools to help you think through and build healthy and flourishing mixed gender spaces for the good of the church and for the sake of the world.