The Center for Leadership Excellence presents…
A Day of Learning with Ginger Gaines-Cirelli and Clayton Childers
Tuesday, October 29, 9am-3pm (9am-9:30am is registration)
Raleigh, NC (Edenton Street UMC, Raleigh)
Registration: $50*, includes lunch
Register three or more from your church and receive 20% off your total registration. Coupon Code: BRINGYOURTEAM
*Current Leadership Fellows and Partnering Congregations receive complimentary registration.
About the Day:
Spend the morning with Ginger Gaines-Cirelli and the afternoon with Clayton Childers as we learn how to follow Christ into lives of sacred resistance and solidarity with our neighbors.
Morning Session with Ginger Gaines-Cirelli:
What makes resistance “sacred”? As followers of Jesus, sacred resistance is at the heart of our being, not just our doing. It is a stance, a way of being in the world, and an ongoing orientation to the world.
In the morning session, we will explore the theological and biblical grounding for the daily practice of sacred resistance. We will consider how, as those formed in and by relationship with Christ, our very being is turned toward God and attuned to God’s wisdom and way—so that our inward posture centers on God and resists all that is not God. We will look at how this posture helps us live with integrity and courage during times of acute injustice, inequity, and crisis as well as in the ongoing context of empire.
Afternoon Session with Clayton Childers:
We give and give and give and it seems nothing ever changes. People are just as needy this year as they were last year. We must embrace a new model of caring that focuses on root causes and can actually change the broken systems that force people to live lives of perpetual poverty.
Poverty is a systemic problem; it requires systemic solutions.
People of faith can play a critical role in challenging the systems that perpetuate poverty. How can we build a model of caring ministries that move beyond Charity to include Mutuality, Advocacy, and Solidarity?
Expect to leave the afternoon session with:
- A keener sense of the downsides and dangers of charitable ministry
- A knowledge of the difference between ministries of mercy and ministries of justice
- An understanding of advocacy grounded in Scripture and our Wesleyan heritage
- Clarity about how to “go upstream” to address the root causes of poverty
- An opportunity to help build a movement of positive power that can make a real difference in the lives of the impoverished
About Ginger Gaines-Cirelli:
Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli is a life-long United Methodist who is passionate about sharing the good news of God’s liberating love in Jesus Christ. In 2014, she became the first woman to serve as Senior Pastor of historic Foundry UMC in Washington, DC. Since her appointment in 2014, in addition to continued advocacy for LGBTQ justice and inclusion, Foundry has re-energized its work for racial justice, become a founding member of the Sanctuary DMV movement, created a Sacred Resistance Ministry Team to mobilize consistent action in response to troubling current events, and exponentially multiplied discipleship opportunities for all ages.
Ginger has served a variety of congregations: small and large, urban and suburban. In all of these contexts, her ministry has encouraged spiritual growth and engaged discipleship—emphasizing radical hospitality, shared ministry, spiritual practices, and solidarity with the poor and oppressed. Her book, Sacred Resistance: A Practical Guide to Christian Witness and Dissent, was released in May 2018.
About Clayton Childers:
Clayton Childers is a Christian educator committed to connecting faith with positive social transformation. For seventeen years he has served as Director of Conference Relations for the Board of Church and Society, the international public policy and social action agency of the United Methodist Church. He holds degrees from Furman University, Southeastern Seminary, and Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Prior to coming to Washington, D.C., Clayton served for 11 years as a United Methodist pastor in South Carolina. In his current position, Clayton has traveled widely, leading training events in 45 of the 55 conferences in the United States and in 25 countries beyond the US.