Facilitator: Betty Pries This workshop uses the two lenses of conflict drivers and conflict paradoxes and considers seemingly intractable conflicts and their transformation. Questions for consideration include the nature of intractability, de-escalation strategies, transforming intractable conflicts, and engaging emotions. This workshop builds on Understanding Conflict: Foundations. It is highly interactive, insightful, engaging, and critical for all …
View course details “Understanding Conflict Advanced”
Facilitator: Betty Pries There is no greater satisfaction than to see another person flourish and to know that one’s presence has helped a person come to this place. While conflict can cause people to struggle, a conflict coach partners with those in a conflict, empowering them to be at their best, to engage their conflict well, …
View course details “Conflict Coaching Skills”
The Covid pandemic has raised new questions about the future of Christian ministry in a changing world. This interactive one-day conference is an opportunity to explore strategies for adaptive change in a new environment. The focus will be on connecting congregations with their local contexts, building inter-cultural community, and responding to ministry environments marked by …
View course details “What Next for the Church?”
This event is brought to you by the TryTank Experimental Lab in the department of Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary What is the church of the future? Will church—as we know it—even exist? Author and noted futurist Bob Johansen, a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future, will join a small audience from around the church to …
View course details “Faith in the Future Talks”
AN ONLINE CLASS FOR GUIDING A CONGREGATION THROUGH CHANGE AND TRANSITION INSTRUCTORS Janet Nolting Carter and Paul Rhebergen DATES Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov. 3, 10, 17, 2022, 10:00 A.M..-1:30 P.M. ET (synchronous class time) via ZOOM OVERVIEW The Part 2 class is for pastors and religious leaders serving in a ministerial context characterized by transition …
View course details “THE ART OF TRANSITIONAL MINISTRY – PART 2”
Facilitators: Betty Pries This workshop is suitable for anyone involved in a leadership role in a congregation and is not limited to pastoral staff, in fact bringing some key lay leaders may be beneficial to some congregations. Frequently we hear that people resist change. Does this have to be true? Could we find ways of …
View course details “Leading The Church Through Transformation, Change and Renewal–ONLINE”
Facilitator: Marg Van Herk-Paradis While giving and receiving feedback is difficult in the workplace, it is even more challenging in the congregational context where the desire to be kind can outweigh a commitment to honesty and where most of those to whom feedback might be given or from whom feedback might be received are volunteers. …
View course details “Courageous Conversations: Speaking Truth in Love”
What does it mean to lead during a time of religious, sociocultural, and environmental upheaval? What can churches do differently to better reflect and nurture gospel values and God’s dream of a just, reconciled, Spirit-filled world? This course in missional leadership will ask these and related questions. We will explore concepts and experience practices of …
View course details “Changing Church: Missional Practices and/for Beloved Community”
For almost two decades, this cooperative program with Columbia Theology Seminary (Decatur, Ga.) has offered more than 600 laypersons and pastors the opportunity to enter more deeply into the life of the Spirit. Completion of this challenging program involves participation in an Immersion Experience, six elective courses, a practicum, and a pilgrimage. The Immersion class and electives …
View course details “Spiritual Formation Certificate Program”
The last 50 years have seen sweeping changes in technology, international travel, communication, and culture that have profoundly impacted how American Christians and their local congregations and parishes engage in God’s mission. In the decades leading up to the 1960s, denominational and mission agency executives conceptualized mission, assessed and prioritized needs, and made most of …
View course details “Graduate Certificate in Missional Leadership”
