EDUCATION

Documentary and Study Guide Available

From the Human Rights Campaign: "For The Bible Tells Me So: A Study Guide and Advocacy Training Curriculum" by Rev. Chris Glaser. Created to accompany the film For the Bible Tells Me So, this user- friendly guide will enable anyone to facilitate a moving conversation about the Bible, the church and LGBT people. It will empower you and participants to take these conversations to the next level and help create communities that move beyond acceptance to advocacy. The film can also be ordered through HRC.

EVENTS ARCHIVE

Helping Church Leaders Move from Fear to Hospitality
May 9, 2009 - Rev. Steve Clapp will share some of the significant learnings from the research project conducted by his church members about lgbt inclusion. That research has identified some of the fears and other attitudes that are barriers to these church leaders working openly and intentionally for full lgbt inclusion. Then he will share the successful strategies that have been utilized in pilot congregations around the country in overcoming those fears and creating greater hospitality.

Rev. Clapp is the president of Christian Community and the author or coauthor of over 30 books on congregational life. He has an M.Div. from Garrett Theological Seminary and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University. He serves as a volunteer minister at Lincolnshire Church of the Brethren in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

All God’s Children: Teaching Children and Youth About Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity
February 14, 2009 - We have young people all around us -- daughters, sons, nephews, nieces, other family members, pupils, neighbors, parishioners -- and although we want them to develop affirming attitudes about sexual orientation and gender difference, we often do not know how to guide them in this process. We worry about what impact we have on young people. This workshop will help adults relate to children and youth around issues of sexual orientation and gender diversity. It will include practical ideas of how to model affirming attitudes about sexual orientation and gender difference with young people.

Workshop leader: A lifelong United Methodist, Melany Burrill has a master’s degree in religious education, was Director of Christian Education in a local church for 16 years, and has led comprehensive sexuality education workshops in churches for young people and their parents for more than 25 years. She has written a book to be published in 2009 on the theme of this workshop.

EXTREME CHURCH -- EXTREME HOSPITALITY
2008 BWARM Conference - Oct. 4

• Rev. Dr. Youtha Hardman-Cromwell gave the keynote address, on "Biblical Perspectives"
• Opening & Closing Worship (closing worship pictured above)
• Two sessions of concurrent workshops gave particpants information to take back to their churches on topics including the language of hospitality, talking to children and teens about sexual orientation and gender diversity, inviting young adults back to the church, inclusive worship, talking to persons with whom you disagree, and assessing whether your church extends as wide a welcome as you think.

March 3, 2008 Monthly Meeting - Ministry with Young Adults
Is there a link between the United Methodist Church’s policies and practices toward LGBT persons and the decline of young adults in our churches? What are the issues facing ministry to both demographics? How can our churches engage in meaningful outreach to both populations at the same time? How would these ministries be different (or similar) than the ways we are already doing ministry? The presentation was led by Chett Pritchett: view his Power Point Presentation and another document with some additional resources.

Retreat - Creating a Culture of Peace
Jan 19-21, 2008 at Manidokan Conference Center - Sponsored by BWARM

B-WARM presented a three-day interactive, experiential workshop designed to train participants in the ethics, practice and techniques of using nonviolence to bring about personal and social change. This workshop is a national, spiritually-grounded program which has been adopted by The Methodist Federation for Social Action, Veterans for Peace, and other national and regional organizations. It is coordinated by Janet Chisholm at Kirkridge Retreat Center in PA.

In the workshop participants explored the nature of violence and nonviolence, how social change occurs, and how to build communities of trust. We learned about the spirituality and practice of peacemaking and plan concrete actions and peacemaking projects. This training is applicable to many areas of conflict: domestic violence, LGBT, racial and other forms of discrimination, community and school violence, environmental concerns, and other controversial issues.

Reconciling Convocation
The ninth national reconciling convocation took place at Vanderbilt University from August 2-5, 2007. Visit the Reconciling Ministries Network for highlights.

Hearts on Fire: Continuing the Journey
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Jimmy Creech gave the keynote address and there were ten workshops in this one day conference. View the conference brochure for more information.