By Kim Shockley, Coordinator for Pathways of Spiritual Leadership
We all know that we are living in unprecedented times that are characterized by our diversity of opinion, interpretation of information, and melatonin. Because of the COVID pandemic we have been staying at home and much of our interaction with others, especially face to face conversation, has been minimized to the point where at best we can tolerate opposing views, and at worst, demonize each other. And the issues that fuel our conversations are becoming more diverse and difficult from day to day! How will we function when we can be together again?
The Grow, Equip, and Connect ministry areas of the Susquehanna Conference have realized that we have a great opportunity to create better ways of communicating with one another, and there is a tool available to us for this purpose at no cost to you or your congregation. Coming this winter, we are partnering with Discipleship Ministries to present Courageous Conversations, a four-session online course that will help us to gain confidence in how we have hard conversations. Our partnership with Discipleship Ministries will allow participants to use the course – a special edition that will be only available to the Susquehanna Conference – and offer CEU credits for taking it. Registration for the course will open in January – watch QuikLINK for more information.
The ultimate hope in providing this course is that clergy and lay people throughout the conference will have the skills and confidence to hold Courageous Conversations in their local areas. These types of conversations are a witness to our local communities that we can experience harmony of purpose even when we have different ways of understanding issues.
The instructor (and creator) of Courageous Conversations is Rev. Scott Hughes. Scott is the Director of Adult Discipleship and Executive Director of Congregational Vitality & Intentional Discipleship for Discipleship Ministries, an agency of the United Methodist Church. Scott and I created an informational video that you can watch here: tinyurl.com/ybbqfy6z
The course is organized in four sessions which include a video teaching from Scott, additional articles to read, and an opportunity to answer questions in a format that will allow you to interact with Scott and others taking the course. There is a downloadable booklet that accompanies the course. I found the course to be extremely helpful to me as I seek to understand before I expect to be understood. This material embodies the Fruit of the Spirit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control” in order to have Courageous Conversations! “Against such things there is no law!” (Gal 5:22-23)
