ELCA Coaching is collaborating with Rev. Brenda Smith (ELCA), Deacon Tammy Devine (ELCA), and Rev. Candy Holmes (MCC) as we discern where Spirit might be collectively leading us as people of faith. We began gathering online with faith leaders in March of 2020 to wrestle together with Being Church in a global pandemic, which transitioned over the summer of 2021 to Courageous Leadership, as COVID revealed our perceptions and misconceptions about most things in life.
Jesus is our primary model as we move toward Creating Beloved Community: Healing Together, gathering the first Wednesday of each month for the next year as we learn together and experiment in community with a variety of spiritual practices and focus areas (such as circles of trust, liberation, decolonization, and much more), while also creating a template for faith leaders and communities to use in their own contexts.
We believe this is in attunement with our call as Christians from:
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To answer some commonly asked questions about these regular gatherings:
"Why are you still meeting?" "Don't become too familiar with loneliness. Community is a risk, but liberation depends on the collective. Who can you trust to hold you?" -- Cole Arthur Riley, author of Black Liturgies
"How can I prepare?" Beloved Community members pay attention and listen actively. We invite you to bring a spirit of curiosity and openness to these gatherings and to all aspects of your life. What are you noticing? Where is Spirit moving? How are you being invited to participate in the work God is already doing, especially outside the walls of the building where the church often gathers?
"What if I'm not a group person?" Beloved Community members take calculated risks. We invite you to take a small step outside your comfort zone and allow yourself to be seen and witnessed. We can almost guarantee that you will be pleasantly surprised by the loving, caring, and nurturing nature of community in this time together.
Recordings from prior gatherings can be found here: https://www.elcacoaching.org/podcasts/media
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CREATING BELOVED COMMUNITY: HEALING TOGETHER with ELCA Coaching
First Wednesdays -- 9:00am Hawaii | 10:00am Alaska | 11:00am Pacific | 12noon Mountain | 1:00pm Central | 2:00pm Eastern | 3:00pm Atlantic (Time zones may vary with Daylight Saving Time. We always begin at 1:00pm Central time.)
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