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School for Ministry

Called Beyond Conflict: Your Church As Healing Witness in This World

By May 22, 2020June 18th, 2020No Comments

School for Ministry 2020 Summer Intensive Retreat Online

Healthy Congregations

 

June 22-24, 2020 Online Intensive Summer Workshops by Zoom Invitation

About the Workshop

The Healthy Congregations workshop uses the insights of family systems theory to help church leaders and all members become more effective stewards of their congregation’s health. The workshop was developed by Dr. Peter Steinke and is based on the work of Dr. Edwin Friedman, author of Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue.

Since the publication of Generation to Generation, many pastors have come to recognize the importance of understanding family systems theory as it relates to congregations. The Healthy Congregations workshop helps both leaders and all church members expand their insight into how churches function as emotional systems.

Friedman noted that in many congregations today negative, reactive forces are allowed to set the agenda for the church. What can be done to prevent anxiety from becoming a toxic force in your congregation? The Healthy Congregations workshop is designed to equip leaders to respond to the presence or potential threat of anxiety in a congregational system in ways that prevent destructive conflict and help the church stay focused on its unique mission and purpose.

…So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Romans 12:5)

Sponsored by

School for Ministry
Christian Church (DOC) in Illinois and Wisconsin
Led by staff of Lombard Mennonite Peace Center

This workshop will help you

  • Learn how you as a leader can influence the health of your congregation – how to detect and avoid unhealthy patterns of living together in
  • Learn how to keep anxiety from becoming
  • Gain confidence in responding to challenges and
  • Learn how to put limits on invasive behavior, manage reactivity, and overcome
  • Discover how leaders can function as the congregation’s immune
  • Learn to focus on strengths, resources, options, and the

Who Will Benefit

The workshop is designed for:

  • Pastors and other church staff, lay leaders, all congregation
  • Anyone interested in enhancing their capacity to manage self in a non-anxious and responsible way, whether in the church, the home, the workplace, or the community.

Workshop Leader:

Jay Wittmeyer is the executive director of the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center (LMPC) in Lombard, Ill. Jay is an organizational development consultant, educator and mediator with broad experience serving conflicted churches and organizations. Grounded in an Anabaptist peacebuilding tradition and working from a Bowen Family Systems perspective, LMPC works to transform conflict in a healthy manner.

Conflict in the Church: Entrusted with the Message of Reconciliation

June 24-25, 2020 Online Intensive Summer Workshops by Zoom Invitation

About the Workshop

Conflict is a normal part of life, even in the church. Understanding this can help church members realize that they should not be surprised or ashamed when they experience conflict in their faith communities. What is important is how the conflicts that inevitably arise are dealt with. The Conflict in the Church: Entrusted with the Message of Reconciliation workshop teaches some basic skills that will help participants manage conflicts within the congregation in a healthier manner.

The goal of the workshop is to help participants gain the understanding and the skills needed to prevent destructive conflicts in the future. We also want participants to see how church conflict can be transformed into an opportunity to learn something new about God’s will for their church.

The workshop was developed by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center (LMPC), a non-profit ministry whose mission is to “proclaim Christ’s good news, the gospel of peace and justice – and to be active in the sacred ministry of reconciliation.”

To learn more about LMPC resources see: www.LMPeaceCenter.org

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” — (2 Corinthians 5:18)

Sponsored by

School for Ministry
Christian Church (DOC) in Illinois and Wisconsin
Led by staff of Lombard Mennonite Peace Center

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 to conflict.
  • The communication skills necessary to resolve conflict peacefully.
  • Strategies for preventing destructive conflict in the church family.
  • A model for working at congregational decision-making in a win-win manner.

The workshop is designed for

  • Judicatory leaders, pastors, lay leaders.
  • Anyone interested in improving their ability to handle conflict effectively, whether in the church, the home, the workplace, or the community.

Workshop Leader

Jay Wittmeyer is the executive director of the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center (LMPC) in Lombard, Ill. Jay is an organizational development consultant, educator and mediator with broad experience serving conflicted churches and organizations. Grounded in an Anabaptist peacebuilding tradition and working from a Bowen Family Systems perspective, LMPC works to transform conflict in a healthy manner.

Register Online

Pay Online

Pay by Check

Please send a check to CCIW Disciples,
401 W Jefferson St. Bloomington IL, 61701.