Join the growing list of committed Lutherans who are working together across North America to foster the expansion of the welcoming church movement!
Training Calendar
|
Ohio Welcoming Church Program Training August 7–10, 2008 Lord of Life Lutheran Church Columbus OH |
   |
|
Milwaukee Welcoming Church Program Training August 21–24, 2008 Martin Luther Lutheran Church Milwaukee WI |
|
The Video
Do you want to know how to make a difference in your life by making a difference in the lives of others? Do you want to learn how to help create the changes you and we seek? This video will help you understand how RIC Leadership Training will help you do that. Come, Learn, Do, Create.
Watch the RIC Leadership Training video. The video is directly playable in two formats/sizes and will open in a new window.
| Windows Media | Quicktime |
|---|---|
| Small | Small |
| Large | Large |
Get Windows Media Player for PC or Mac |
|
The Plan
In order to increase the number of faith-based communities which openly welcome people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, this training supports the formation of Core Teams for action throughout as many denominations and geographic areas as possible.
Who should come?
Lutherans and others interested in supporting the expansion of the welcoming church movement are encouraged to participate. Space is limited, so register early.
What to expect?
- One of the most action packed and intense trainings around
- Laughter, tears, excitement, comfort and agitation
- Spiritual enrichment in a welcoming community
- Working hard each day
- Stretching mind and heart
- Growing commitment to action
What is it?
RIC Training is an intense 3+ day hands-on workshop intended to give participants the tools and knowledge base to build local or regional teams equipped to work effectively to foster the expansion of the RIC Program or other denominational welcoming church programs within area congregations.
Training areas of focus:
- Faith Based Community Organizing:
Build skills to organize people and organize money; the process for building an advocacy team. - Biblical Self-Defense and Bible Bullets:
"Bible bullets" — texts used to validate bigotry and discrimination against LGBT people in the church. - The Implications Wheel®:
The I-Wheel takes the emotion out of the conversation — an introduction to the process. - I Love to Tell the Story:
Learn skills to tell your personal story effectively and efficiently for the greatest impact. - Education on Bisexual and Transgender:
Gain understanding of and learn how to advocate for the often misunderstood B&T of "LGBT". - Discernment Processes and Resources:
Learn how to use a variety of resources for facilitating a successful process of discernment. - Anti-Racism:
LC/NA is committed to anti-racism as an organization, so all aspects of this training attempt to incorporate these concepts.
What to bring?
- Well rested body, mind and spirit
- Your favorite writing implement
- Casual clothing and one church-going outfit
- A little extra cash or check book for buying additional resources
Recommended Reading
Each participant is requested to obtain and read a copy of Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing by Dennis A Jacobsen. This book, available on line for about $14 from Amazon, will enable you to understand more quickly the organizing concepts used in the training.
The Trainers
Emily Eastwood is the Executive Director of Lutherans Concerned / North America and the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Program. She is a lifelong Lutheran, would-be pastor, story-teller, organizer and sometime stand up comic. She and her partner, Jan Bailey, are members of the first RIC congregation. Emily is a graduate of Texas Lutheran College and attended both Gettysburg and Luther Seminaries before choosing a career in business to support her church habit. For the next 18 years, Emily worked as a volunteer in ministry with and on behalf of GLBT people, their families and friends. In May of 2002, Emily was hired to run the Reconciling in Christ Program. In September of 2002, she returned to seminary. In July of 2004, Emily was named Executive Director of LC/NA. Emily travels throughout North America working to promote the mission of the organization and the need for all of God's children to be welcome in their church. Using the principles of faith based community organizing she is building and training teams to foster the expansion of the RIC program in the Lutheran church.
Rev Troy G Plummer has served as the Executive Director of the Reconciling Ministries Network of the United Methodist Church since November 2003. During that time he has traveled coast-to-coast organizing and bringing an inclusive Gospel message. Prior to RMN, Troy served 13 years on the pastoral staff of Bering Memorial United Methodist Church – a reconciling congregation in Houston, Texas. Circumventing the church's refusal to honor God's call to ministry of openly gay clergy in loving relationships, Troy was ordained at Bering Memorial UMC by the Orthodox Catholic Church in 1991 and has served the UMC since. As a psychotherapist, he directed Bering's on-site counseling center and support network for those affected by HIV/AIDS their families and friends. Just outside Bering's sanctuary, he performed a "street wedding" for a lesbian couple celebrating 25 years together and facilitated Bering's equal treatment of all couples policy. Facing a bomb threat with 50 other couples, Troy and his partner Walter, shared promises and rings on Freedom To Marry Day 2003 for their 5th anniversary.
Dr Michael J Adee, National Field Organizer for More Light Presbyterians, is an openly gay Elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Michael has been working in the LGBT & HIV-AIDS community since 1988. A human rights activist and educator, he earned his PhD at Louisiana State University. Having served as a college professor in Louisiana, Kentucky and Ohio, he has also been a hospital and hospice chaplain, bereavement counselor, campus minister, diversity consultant, tennis coach and a teacher / relief worker in Zimbabwe, Africa. A welcoming congregation in Cincinnati loved Michael back to church and enabled him to reclaim faith as a gay man. He became involved in the welcoming church movement as a volunteer in 1991, and as National Field Organizer with More Light Presbyterians in 1999. As an out gay athlete he competed in tennis at the 1st World Outgames in Montreal winning a bronze medal and in the last four Gay Games winning a Silver Medal in Chicago. He recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as a benefit for equality.
Rev Rebecca Voelkel, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, is the Executive Officer for the Institute for Welcoming Resources, a national, ecumenical collaboration of the Welcoming Church Movement. Before coming to IWR, she served as Interim National Coordinator for the UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns, as pastor of Spirit of the Lakes UCC and as Program Staff for the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence. Rev Voelkel is the author of Preventing Sexual Abuse: A Course of Study for Teenagers (Pilgrim Press, 1996) as well as numerous articles and sermons which have appeared in such journals as Spirit Currents, The Journal of Religion and Abuse, and Parenting for Peace and Justice. She is a graduate of Earlham College and Yale Divinity School and is currently working towards a Doctor of Ministry at United Theological Seminary in the Twin Cities. Rev Voelkel has devoted her life's ministry to following Jesus' command to minister to "the least of these," ones whom society has deemed outcast, unclean or unworthy. As a way to balance her spiritual life, Rebecca is also a runner, hiker, biker and avid community-builder, spending time with her friends and family as often as she can.
Jerry Vagts is the Grassroots Organizing Coordinator for LC/NA and the RIC Program. He works closely with the participants as they prepare to take the skills learned back home and into the field. He will also periodically follow-up with participants for linking with other teams and/or members and to provide updates on available resources and activities. Jerry is based in the LC/NA office in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
More information
If you have questions, please contact Jerry Vagts, LC/NA Grassroots Organizing Coordinator, 651-665-0861, grassroots@lcna.org.
