Saint Philip’s in the Hills is pursuing training for the parish about how to talk across differences. The Vestry is looking for the best way to go about this very important work.
Whether it is pro-choice vs pro-life, or guns vs no guns, as Christians we need to be able to speak about these important matters of the day with civility and love. Below are some initial resources.
If you have links to material that you think will help the church’s goals, please submit to Dr Barbara Cone.
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/from-many-one/
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/video/from-many-one-video-channel/
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/office-government-relations/civil-discourse/
Five ways to engage:
1. Take the interactive course complete with videos and discussion boards on your own: Make Me an Instrument For Individuals
2. Take the interactive course as a group–the same material, but set up for facilitators to engage with a group. Make Me an Instrument For Groups
3. While the full curriculum experience is available on ChurchNext’s website in the previous links (with discussion forums, quizzes and supplemental material) you can access just the videos here.
4. Download the original PDF to use in your congregation or ministry. Each session includes specific instructions for group or forum leaders, and interactive components including prayers, discussion questions, and activities aimed at utilizing group settings for entering into deeper reflection on the primary themes. Supplemental materials include Voices from the Church and the Curriculum Appendix.
5. Point individuals and groups toward ongoing efforts that support learning and engagement across difference (such as Braver Angels, Civil Discourse, Love God-Love Neighbor, the Difference Course, Sacred Ground, PrayOnMLK, and the People’s Inauguration).
Additional Conversation and Dialogue Resources
Beloved Community StorySharing Guide
A simple guide with models for sharing stories and practicing reconciliation that can be used in congregations, one-on-ones, adult education, retreats, etc.Tenets for Civil Discourse
Brief summary of practical conversation guidelinesCivil Discourse Curriculum
A standalone resource for bridging partisan divides and learning from othersEngaging Others, Knowing Ourselves
A Lutheran guide to daily encounters with diversityFive Ways to Have Better Conversations Across Difference (berkeley.edu)
Called to Transformation
Episcopal learning for individuals and groups in communication about personal gifts and community needs“Where Does It Hurt?”
Krista Tippett’s interview with Ruby Sales from the On Being podcast“The Revolutionary Art of Listening”
Stephanie Spellers’ TEDx TalkNational Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD)
Engaging Differences Key Principles and Best Practices (arizona.edu)Conflict Transformation
An essay by John Paul Lederach on peacebuilding skills and turning conflict into conversationAmerica Inside Out Series 1–White Anxiety with Katie Couric
An episode of the series in which Katie Couric examines how anxiety in the white working class has impacted divides in AmericaA commentary from the series–America’s struggle for forgiveness
The Civics Academy (based in South Africa)
Abortion wasn't always controversial. In fact, in colonial America it would have been considered a fairly common practice—a private decision made by women, and aided mostly by midwives. But in the mid-1800s, a small group of physicians set out to change that. Obstetrics was a new field, and they wanted it to be their domain—meaning, the domain of men and medicine. Led by a zealous young doctor named Horatio Storer, they launched a campaign to make abortion illegal in every state, spreading a potent cloud of moral righteousness and racial panic that one historian later called "the physicians' crusade." And so began the century of criminalization.