The Center for Leadership Excellence invites you to a Day of Learning, Sacred Resistance and Moving from Charity to Solidarity. 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.
Tuesday, October 29
Edenton Street UMC, Raleigh
Schedule: 9am- 3pm* (*9-9:30am is registration)
Registration: $50**, includes lunch
**Bring three or more from your church and receive 20% off your total registration. Coupon Code: BRINGYOURTEAM
About the 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 an 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.
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, D.C. 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 the Afternoon Session with Clayton Childers
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
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. 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.