Strategic Consideration: Connecting Churches With Their Communities

With Rev. Derrill Blue & Dr. Dara Delgado The workshop will explore the legacy of the Black Church in the United States, focusing on the importance of community and its contributions to Black Americans' health, survival, and well-being. Together, the facilitators will use social-historical and practical approaches to examine the history of the community in the Black Church through the lens of civic and social engagement, leadership development, and digital discipleship in a post-pandemic/COVID age. The concept of community broadly will serve as a means for engaging where the Black Church has been, where it is, and where it is going.

With Fredrick Johnson and Marie Moy They will share about church partnering with the community in their contexts. Embedded in Christian Community Development, Fredrick and Marie will provide tools for engagement that are easily transferable to urban, suburban, or rural settings to connect churches with their surrounding neighbors.

With Elizabeth Gerhardt and Scott Sittig This workshop will present ideas to understand the role patriarchy has played historically, and presently, that undermine, devalue, or otherwise marginalize the voice and role of women in leadership in the church. How to recognize overt, and less obvious patterns, and offer some ideas for developing a plan to change it.

With Melvin Cross and Ashley Cross The Church’s engagement in the community should be a part of its missional value system. A church that’s present gives Christ-centered language to the community it’s called to serve and love. Melvin and Ashley will be discussing ways to engage the various spheres of society while providing resources and equipping the church to be Christ-centered solutionist.

With non-fiction author and seminary faculty member Marlena Graves This workshop provides an inside look on the power of both fiction and non-fiction to positively impact lives. Whether you feel called to write for the church or see yourself in genre-specific storytelling, you'll come away inspired to pursue your next project.

With fiction author Christopher Hopper This workshop provides an inside look on the power of both fiction and non-fiction to positively impact lives. Whether you feel called to write for the church or see yourself in genre-specific storytelling, you'll come away inspired to pursue your next project.

with Josef Sykora and Jae Newman At a time when the culture becomes less willing to associate with Christianity and simultaneously is increasingly less secular, the church needs to find a new way to communicate the truth it confesses. This workshop will aim to examine Jesus’s poetic language as a way to understand how parables, as poetic stories, can teach us how to present ideas in deep and meaningful ways.

With Rebecca Letterman and Todd Daningburg The United States of America is deeply divided, and American churches are not exempt from this division. Christians are divided across churches and within churches. What can you do to attend to the souls of congregants in ways that support their relationships within and beyond the walls of their churches? Come and experience some proven strategies to open people to scriptural guidance and ways of interacting with each other that make authentic dialog possible – and growth in respect, connection, and faithful discernment more probable. You can read more about the speakers at www.nes.edu/conflict

With Grace Douglass and Peter Englert We've oversimplified digital ministry. When new innovations come to the church we've operated out of hesitancy and skepticism. What if there was a third way to consider pastoring in the 21st Century? What if we could see ourselves incarnationally available online and in-person? In this workshop, we'll decipher and discern the best way to pastor people and be available to people in need. You can read more about the speakers at www.nes.edu/digitalspaces

The workshop will 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: benevolent paternalism, a cult of perfection, misuse of the healing narratives in Scripture, and judgment based on what is “lacking” rather than a view of alternative giftedness. The concept of healing will be addressed from a broader perspective than simply physical wellness for the individual, but what the Body of Christ experiences when ALL diversity is embraced and celebrated. You can read more about the speakers at www.nes.edu/disability