2023: Peacebuilding: Practicing the Peace the World Cannot Give
RESOURCES
Our speakers have generously provided manuscripts for their respective plenary talks for the 2023 Gathering.
“A Shared Hope in God’s Shalom: Past, Present and Future” (Phillip Kenneson)
“Jesus’ prophetic discipleship movement according to Matthew’s Gospel” (Bob Ekblad)
“Prophetic Revelation, Whistleblowing and Liberation” (Gracie Ekblad)
“A Great Cloud of Witnesses: Encountering Exemplars of the Gospel Practice(s) of Peace” (David C. Cramer)
WHEN/WHERE
July 6-8, 2023, Indianapolis, Indiana
Host community: Our friends from Englewood Christian Church.
REGISTRATION
Registration is on our Eventbrite page here: 2023 Registration
THEME
What can we learn from exemplars of peacebuilding?
God’s good shalom. The non-violent way of the Cross. These phrases have shaped the Ekklesia Project from its beginning. During Gathering 2023, we want to explore these commitments more deeply by engaging in conversations on the practice of peacebuilding.
The plenaries, preaching, and interwoven worship will ask: What can we learn from exemplars of peacebuilding? Can peacebuilders also be prophetic? What does peacebuilding mean when your (Black) body is a target of the political community – of the state—and how can faith-based people accompany such communities who are being harmed?
The workshops will focus on concrete, practical, on-the-ground peace-making skills: How do we respond to gun violence within our own churches? How do we de-escalate violent situations? How do we build peace with those with whom we find ourselves in conflict? Or with LBGTQ+ communities harmed by the church? How are attention to trauma, reconciliation ecology, and racialized economics crucial for peacebuilding that aims at shalom? And most importantly, what difference does it make when peacebuilding is shaped by Christ’s original gift to the church, the peace the world cannot give?
Through extraordinary gifts of the EP Gathered, we hope to encourage each other in the possibilities of ecclesial peacebuilding and connect attendees to resources to bring back to their congregational settings for further practice.
DETAILS
Plenary Speakers:
Dr. Phil Kenneson is Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Milligan University in East Tennessee where he has taught for over 30 years. He earned his Ph.D. in theology and ethics from Duke University and has been active in EP in various roles since its earliest days. He and his spouse, Kim, are blessed to have five adult children and recently their first grandchild. He enjoys cooking for family, running to clear his head, reading poetry to slow down, and hiking in the mountains to renew his sense of awe and wonder.
A Shared Hope in God’s Shalom: Past, Present, and Future
As a way of introducing and framing our Gathering on peace and peacebuilding, our opening plenary offers a brief overview of EP’s longstanding commitment to God’s shalom. This plenary gives voice to over 20 different people deeply involved with EP who were willing to reflect on the following three questions: 1) What has EP meant over the years by “shalom,” and what range of practices has been regarded as essential for embodying such an understanding? 2) How has EP’s understanding of shalom changed over the years and what differences have those shifts made in the range of practices that have been encouraged? 3) Where does EP currently sense that there remain inadequacies, tensions, and areas for growth in its understanding and practice of shalom?
Bob and Gracie Ekblad are founders and co-directors of Tierra Nueva (New Earth) in Burlington, Washington. Together they minister at Tierra Nueva and at their home-based retreat center New Earth Refuge in the Skagit Valley. They have three adult children. Bob is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He holds a ThD in Old Testament and is known internationally for his courses and workshops on reading the Bible. Gracie is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and holds a Masters in Theology. She pastors and teaches at Tierra Nueva and beyond, emphasizing discipleship, holistic healing and liberation.
What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light”: Stepping into Confession-grounded Prophecy
Isaiah, a religious insider who was qualified to engage in worship in the temple, had an encounter with God that enabled him to confess his equality with the most disqualified, and receive forgiveness by grace. This made him available to speak truth that exposed evil (as in Isaiah 26) and to call the blind and deaf to repentance. This repentance was not possible apart from the downfall of their system (Is 6:9-11). Isaiah's prophetic ministry as evident in Isaiah 1-39 is desperately needed in mainstream Western settings now, where idolatry and injustices abound (slaveholder religion). Those already experiencing devastation (enslaved people) need Isaiah’s prophetic message of comfort in Isaiah 40-55, best announced by those who’ve been through Isaiah-like baptismal death, resurrection, and mobilization. Jesus, following his submission to John's baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, launched a new prophetic movement. He mobilizes his disciples (Matthew 10) to be insurgents who announce and enact the Kingdom of God. His recruits were trained and empowered to both usher in the new realm of God's will 'on earth as in heaven' as well as to expose sins and injustices (Mt 10:26-27), in alignment with the pre-exilic tradition of Isaiah. As both the Hebrew Scriptures and Gospels show, the Spirit seeks spokespersons to uncover hidden sins and atrocities among the powerful, and comfort the downtrodden, in order for God's shalom to be recognized and received. This presentation draws on the scriptural witness as the grounding for recovering a confessional, repentance-grounded, liberatory, prophetic engagement as a prerequisite for healing and peace.
Dr. David Cramer is lead pastor of Keller Park (Mennonite) Church in South Bend and managing editor of the Institute of Mennonite Studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. He received his PhD in theology from Baylor University, where his research focused on twentieth-century Christian social ethics. David is co-author (with Myles Werntz) of A Field Guide to Christian Nonviolence: Key Thinkers, Activists, and Movements for the Gospel of Peace (Baker Academic, 2022). He lives on the St. Joseph River in South Bend with his spouse, Andrea; their children, Wesley and Liza; and their foul-mouthed dog, Stanley.
A Great Cloud of Witnesses: Encountering Exemplars of the Gospel Practice(s) of Peace
While peace is at the heart of the gospel message, there is more than one way to understand this message and put this peace into practice. In this session, David Cramer will invite participants to consider a variety of approaches to peacebuilding and nonviolence from recent Christian exemplars. Drawing from his book A Field Guide to Christian Nonviolence, David will present approaches ranging from nonviolence of Christian discipleship to realist and liberationist nonviolence. He will invite participants to discuss together which approaches might be most helpful in our contemporary contexts and how we, as Christians, might put them into practice in our churches and society.
Dr. Reggie Williams received his Ph.D. in Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2011. He earned a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller in 2006 and a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies from Westmont College in 1995. He is a member of the board of directors for the Society for Christian Ethics, as well as the International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society. Dr. Williams' book, Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance (Baylor University Press, 2014) was selected as a Choice Outstanding Title in 2015, in the field of religion. He is also a member of the American Academy of Religion and Society for the Study of Black Religion.
The Problem of the Human as an Obstacle to Peacebuilding: The Black Arts and Black Worship as Tools for Discerning Faithful Christian Life Together
The way we understand Christian faithfulness, for the individual and the community, is indebted to the way we think about what it means to be human. But the meaning of “human” has been a flashpoint for centuries, fueling protests and debate, about the meaning and the practice of good community. Black artists, intellectuals, and faith leaders have pointed out the problem of the human as a problem for sharing life together in the church, and society. They demonstrate for us, especially by use of black arts, that the problem of the human is a problem for Christian moral faithfulness, and as such, should be recognized as an obstacle to faithful Christian life together. This presentation examines the problem of the fundamental heresies that underlie our violences and finds tools for discerning life together in Christian communities within arts derived from black Christian worship.
Worship leaders:
Jonathan "Pastah J" Brooks is a lifelong resident of Chicago, IL and currently serves as Co-Lead Pastor at Lawndale Christian Community Church in the North Lawndale Neighborhood. His ministry focuses on youth development, holistic health, college scholarships, art and music training as well as restorative justice practices and care for the incarcerated and their families.
He has contributed to numerous blogs, articles and books and recently released the book Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods. Jonathan is married to Miche'al Newman-Brooks and has two beautiful children.
Nancy Varden is a lifelong Methodist. She is a graduate of William Peace University and North Carolina State University. Nancy married John G. Varden in May 1999 right after they both graduated Duke University (M.Div., 1999).
Nancy was ordained in 2008 and has served churches in both the North Carolina Conference and the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church. She has also served on the Executive Boards of the Board of Ordained Ministry and Reelfoot Rural Ministries. Nancy is a board member of the Ekklesia Project.
Christoph Reiners is thankful the church loved him before he discovered its flaws. He serves as pastor of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in Richmond, British Columbia. He is married to Jackie. They have three adult children.
Others assisting in worship:
Terence Gadsden, aka DJ Rock On, is a Campus Co-Pastor and Athletic Chaplain at North Park University. He is also a professional DJ, Hip Hop educator, husband, father, pastor, and brother from NJ, SC, TN, to Chi-Town. And a lover of God and all people.
Emily Strand is an author, podcaster, teacher, speaker, award-winning singer-songwriter, and musician. She has published several peer-reviewed chapters and essays on the religious, symbolic and spiritual themes in popular fiction such as Harry Potter and Star Wars.
Eric T. Styles serves as the Rector of Carroll Hall, an intentional undergraduate residential community at the University of Notre Dame. A Chicago native, he holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Loyola University Chicago.
The foundation of Christian peacebuilding is worship. And at the heart of worship is, as Randy Cooper reminded us in his EP pamphlet Being Subject to One Another As We Sing, the joyous practice of congregational singing as prayer.
For this reason, at the summer 2023 EP Gathering—Peacebuilding: Practicing the Peace the World Cannot Give—attendees will be invited to participate in this means of God’s unifying grace through song and worship interwoven throughout our three days together.
Leading this essential component of the Gathering will be three remarkable liturgical musicians: Emily Strand, Eric T. Styles, and Terence Gadsen. Emily is an author, podcaster, teacher, speaker, award-winning singer-songwriter, and musician. Emily has served as a Catholic Church musician and consultant on liturgical music at parish, diocesan and national levels, ever advocating for the inclusion of Black sacred song in worship. Eric is a writer and liturgist. He serves as the Rector of Carroll Hall, an intentional undergraduate residential community at the University of Notre Dame. A Chicago native, he holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Loyola University Chicago. Terence, aka DJ Rock On, is a Campus Co-Pastor and Athletic Chaplain at North Park University. A graduate of Milligan University, he is also a professional DJ, Hip Hop educator, husband, father, pastor, and brother from NJ, SC, TN, to Chi-Town. And a lover of God and all people.
Eric and Emily co-host ‘Meet Father Rivers,’ a podcast that highlights the extraordinary work of the Black Catholic liturgical music pioneer, Father Clarence Joseph Rivers. Fr. Rivers was the first African American to be ordained and serve in the Cincinnati diocese, entering into what has historically been a mostly white space and, in an act of peacebuilding, brought to it “the gift of blackness to the Church through music, art, breaking open what it means to worship God in all God’s fullness.”
Eric and Emily will serve as liturgists and musicians throughout the Gathering, drawing from the Black Catholic Movement. On Friday night, Terence will join them and preacher Jonathan Brooks in leading the foot washing service, drawing from Hip Hop culture. We are particularly excited about their contributions insofar as Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove has reminded us:
“While sound teaching can enlighten the mind and powerful preaching can move the heart, song has a unique power to move our bodies, pulling us into the river that flowed before us and will continue long after we are gone. The gospel practices that free us from our racial habits are not a set of exercises that will transform in thirty minutes a day. They are, rather, a way of life wrapped up in song.”
Workshop Information:
Joel Balzer has done work in construction and as a pastor, volunteered for a year part-time at a homeless shelter, and interned at San Quentin prison with a CBO that sought to support inmates and their families. For the past 26 years he has served in student support at a San Francisco public high school.
Heat of the Moment: Stories of Violence De-escalation and Strategies That Sometimes Worked
In my role as a Dean in an urban public high school, I have received various trainings over the years in restorative justice and violence de-escalation. Some of the trainings were actually helpful. This workshop will present some basic principles, tools, and strategies, wrapped up in stories of personal experiences I have had that illustrate these principles and practices.
Peter Block is an author and citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops designed to build the skills outlined in his books. His books include Flawless Consulting, Stewardship, The Answer to How Is Yes, Community, The Abundant Community, and An Other Kingdom. Peter is a founder of the Common Good Collective, and is part of the Cincinnati Common Good Alliance. He served on the board of directors of LivePerson, a provider of online engagement solutions. His work is in the restoration of the common good and creating a world that reclaims our humanity from the onslaught of modernism.
Rebecca Bridges is associate rector for formation and outreach at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama. She attended the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, where she graduated with her MDiv in 2019, and was ordained a deacon and priest that same year. Prior to attending seminary, she was associate professor of Communication and Media Studies at Stetson University in Florida. She also holds degrees in English from Stetson (BA) and Clemson (MA) and Texas A&M (PhD in communication, specializing in rhetoric and public discourse).
Living in Response to Gun Violence
On June 16, 2022, the parish where I serve as a priest, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, AL, was a site of gun violence. Three longtime parishioners died. Another 18 parishioners who were present that night continue to deal with the ongoing trauma of witnessing such violence. This workshop will share some of the ways that our clergy, staff, and parishioners have chosen to move forward together in God’s peace, which passes all understanding, as we seek to remember, to heal, and to be transformed. Rather than responding with hatred, the people of Saint Stephen’s have been enabled, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to respond with love, hope, and peace. The scripture that we have carried with us through this time of challenge is John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Bob and Gracie Ekblad are founders of Tierra Nueva and The People’s Seminary in Burlington, Washington. Bob holds a ThD in Old Testament and Gracie a MDiv from the Institut Protestant de Théologie, Montpellier, France. Bob and Gracie pastor at Tierra Nueva, and Bob teaches at Westminster Theological Centre (UK). Together they offer trainings around the world and online through The People's Seminary. Bob is author of Reading the Bible with the Damned, A New Christian Manifesto: Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God, and The Beautiful Gate: Enter Jesus’ Global Liberation Movement, Guerrilla Gospel: Reading the Bible for liberation in the power of the Spirit, and the four volume Guerrilla Bible Studies series.
Guerilla Bible Studies: Reading the Bible: Liberation and Peacebuilding at the Margins.
Gracie and Bob are interested in seeing a movement of grass-roots Bible study launched that could re-energize the church in America and around the world. Stringfellow's articulation of this rings so true today, and the partisan, liberal-conservative divide among people of faith can best be bridged by a return to Scripture, with Jesus as Teacher and the Spirit as Guide (from a place of solidarity with the excluded/poor).
Ashley Klesken graduated in 2020 with a masters degree in Theological Studies and Certificate in Pastoral Counseling from the University of Dayton, where she worked for three years as a graduate assistant in Campus Ministry. She now is a Trauma-Focused Neuro-Linguistic Programming Master Practitioner working to eliminate symptoms of trauma in people’s lives and help them to feel emotionally strong.
We Are Peaceful at Our Core: Practicing Parts Work for Inner Healing
This workshop will teach a practice in which difficult parts of ourselves can shift permanently into peaceful parts. “Parts work” is a modality that sees each of us as composed of many parts, and invites us to explore the parts we want to be different. Core Transformation is an incredibly simple method that can quickly be practiced at almost any time and learned by almost anyone. This tool for deep transformation is a game-changer for personal inner work and, at advanced levels, for healing trauma. It can be used by ministers, other helping professionals, or anyone who would like to have a practice to use with others when an angry or hateful part comes out. The workshop training will be very basic, yet even this can greatly impact a person. The applications for healing inner conflict, reactivity toward other people, and emotional instability are just a few that help us to create the peace of Christ all around us.
Kristyn Komarnicki is director of dialogue and convening at Christians for Social Action. The creator of CSA’s Oriented to Love dialogues about sexual/gender diversity in the church, Kristyn gathers Christians of different sexual orientations, gender identities, and theological convictions together so they can begin to know, understand, and love each other, in search of a unity that is deeper than agreement. Fascinated and encouraged by what happens when we approach our “other” in the posture of a learner—with vulnerability, bravery, curiosity and humility—Kristyn enjoys helping people have more generative conversations, reframing conflict not as something to be feared or avoided but as an opportunity for maturing in Christ. A xenophile who loves to travel and swap stories with people from around the world, Kristyn has studied and worked on three continents, having made a home in Paris, Toronto, and Hong Kong. Today she lives in Philadelphia with her husband of 35 years.
Oriented to Love: Peace-building with the LGBTQ+ Communities
Kristyn Komarnicki with Tim Otto and conversation partners. This workshop will be a “fishbowl dialogue” featuring 3-4 LGBTQ+ voices from diverse theological perspectives (along the affirming to traditionalist spectrum), allowing participants to listen in on an open, honest, vulnerable conversation among sexual and/or gender minorities about their experiences of harm in the church—and also to learn from them how the church might repair that harm and cease perpetuating more harm. After an initial conversation among the panelists, attendees would be encouraged to share their questions.
Ted Lewis is a Restorative Justice consultant and trainer for the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, University of Minnesota, Duluth. Since 1996 he has been a practitioner and trainer in the fields of conflict resolution and restorative justice. For the past 20 years, he has provided workshops and facilitation services for church communities; in 2016 he founded the Restorative Church project. Ted runs the Agape Peace Center in Duluth, a ministry initiative of Central Plains Mennonite Conference. Ted has presented several times at EP in past years.
Where Two or Three Are Gathered: Communication and Facilitation Skills for Church Communities
Church communities are increasingly being challenged by anxious times and polarizing issues. Stresses and strains cause conflicts that result in patterns of avoidance and mistrust. Can the Matthew 18 framework of bringing two or three (or more) people together apply to such tensions? Through the lens of restorative practices and biblical narratives, this workshop provides practical skills and models for addressing lower-level conflicts, harms and divisions in church settings. The power of people telling their own stories and being well heard is vital to help “shift happen” so people can better co-exist. Are you feeling called to hold facilitated spaces in your church for hard but healing conversations in the heart-zone?
Toby and Johanna Mommsen are members of the Bruderhof community.
Speaking Truth in Love: a Peace-building Practice
From our context of a committed Christian intentional community in the Bruderhof, we’ll share personal and collective experiences around the practice of speaking truth in love. Throughout our community’s 103 years, our faithfulness (or failure) in practicing open speaking to resolve conflicts has been make-or-break for the survival of fellowship. Based on Matthew 18:15-16, we often say this “the Law of Love” is the only “rule” of our community. On entering membership we promise to give and to accept admonition in a spirit of love. Since it was written in 1925 in Germany, this “rule” has been posted in our homes and workplaces as a reminder to practice open speaking with each other. Other fellowships have similar practices for the same purpose; we’d like to learn from each other.
Ragan Sutterfield is the author, most recently, of Wendell Berry and the Given Life. His book, The Art of Being a Creature: Meditations on Humus and Humility is forthcoming from Cascade. Ragan is an Episcopal priest in his native Arkansas where he regularly leads worship services in the woods. An amateur native plant gardener, Ragan has worked with his wife and daughters to practice reconciliation ecology in their urban yard and is at work on a project to help Arkansas churches become certified bird-friendly.
Landscaping for the Peace of Wild Things
The landscape designer Benjamin Vogt describes his work turning yards into prairies as “reconciliation ecology.” From a theological perspective, this work is both peacemaking with the land to which we have done violence and a recovery of the original human vocation given in Genesis 2:15 to “serve (avad) and preserve (shamar) the garden.” This workshop will move from the theological to the practical, providing participants with concrete next steps for working where they live to make peace with the land. We’ll identify local resources for understanding the ecology of our place, sourcing native plants, and a rough design schema for how a church could install a native plant landscape over a year’s time.
More about the Gathering:
The plenaries, preaching, and interwoven worship will ask: What can we learn from exemplars of peacebuilding? Can peacebuilders also be prophetic? What does peacebuilding mean when your (Black) body is a target of the political community – of the state—and how can faith-based people accompany such communities who are being harmed?
The workshops will focus on concrete, practical, on-the-ground peace-making skills: How do we respond to gun violence within our own churches? How do we de-escalate violent situations? How do we build peace with those with whom we find ourselves in conflict? Or with LBGTQ+ communities harmed by the church? How are attention to trauma, reconciliation ecology, and racialized economics crucial for peacebuilding that aims at shalom? And most importantly, what difference does it make when peacebuilding is shaped by Christ’s original gift to the church, the peace the world cannot give?
Through extraordinary gifts of the EP Gathered, we hope to encourage each other in the possibilities of ecclesial peacebuilding and connect attendees to resources to bring back to their congregational settings for further practice.
Children at the Gathering
Parents are welcome to bring their children. Childcare will be available at Englewood this summer for infants, toddlers, elementary-aged, and middle school children during the plenary sessions and the workshops.
There will also be child-friendly spaces on-site at Englewood Christian Church throughout the Gathering.
If you are bringing your children, please contact the Gathering Facilitator, Jaimee Ryan, at epfacilitator@gmail.com. Jaimee will connect you with our Childcare Coordinator, Faith Sochay, so she can provide more details about the program for kids during the Gathering.