Mrs. Carroll Levien, standing committee member, died the first week of September. She was a long-time, active member of St. Dunstan’s, San Diego, and she participated fully in the following: Episcopal Community Services (ECS), Daughters of the King, Episcopal Church Women at the church-wide level, diocesan convention planning team, and the general convention deputation. She […]

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”  ~ II Corinthians 5:18 This workshop will help you understand . . . That conflict need not be bad, but is an opportunity for growth. The Biblical basis for conflict transformation. Your own style of responding […]

We live in a time of heightened disagreement and increasingly disagreeable modes of communication. Rarely have human societies managed effective and transparent conversations that are also kind. At times we are too concerned about how our words will be received to be sufficiently truthful; at other times we spew venom or circulate gossip without regard […]

This is an appropriate workshop for churches currently experiencing conflict – or those who simply want to work at preventing destructive conflict in the future. The facilitator is Richard Blackburn, Lombard Mennonite Peace Center executive director. Learn more here. Draft Agenda Friday 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.  Introduction: The Nature and Role of Conflict; Conflict in the New Testament: […]

Healthy Congregations is a workshop designed by Peter Steinke, author of the books How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems and Healthy Congregations: A Systems Approach. A key concept at the heart of Healthy Congregations is “self-differentiation,” people’s capacity to calmly articulate what they think and value, and to act on that […]

I recently read in the Gospel of John that the disciples followed Jesus into the ship, and when a storm arose and the waves crashed over the sides, they were frightened and called out to Jesus. Jesus calmed the storm. In these troubled times which seem to me a storm, I’ve decided to trust in […]