Events

Are you interested in building bridges with ecumenical partners in your community? Are you looking to re-engage old partnerships or perhaps reach out to potential partners for the first time? 

The NC Conference Christian Unity & Interreligious Relationships (CUIR) committee, in partnership with the Center for Leadership Excellence, invites you to a in-person workshop focused on how we engage ecumenical partners in our communities in ways that are authentic and fruitful.

Join us and hear from a panel of ecumenical practitioners as they share their stories of success and struggle, and then enjoy lunch and further discussion around the table as you share your own experiences and ideas for seeking authentic connection with ecumenical partners in your community.  

Relational and Ecumenical Ministry…
Seeking Authentic Connection
Tuesday, September 27, 10:30am – 1:30pm
St. Paul’s UMC, Carolina Beach (map it)
$10/person (includes lunch)

About the Day:

Sometimes it takes a little nudge to reach out to a neighbor and start to build a relationship. The NC Conference CUIR committee and Center for Leadership Excellence seek to encourage church leaders to develop intentional ecumenical partnerships and Pan Methodist connections. We will spend time listening to pastors who have developed friendships with one another over time. They will share how they have worked through challenges and differences across race, culture, and denomination. Most importantly, we will hear about moments when God showed up. 

This event will be a mixture of presentation and Q&A, followed by lunchtime table discussions with others who aim for the same goals. Explore the possibilities of ecumenical connections and the benefits of working across differences. CUIR hopes you will leave inspired to form meaningful partnerships and friendships with other congregations so that you can serve alongside one another in ministry and mission.  

Our Presenters: 

• The Rev. Julian Pridgen (AMEZ) and the Rev. Matt Evans (UMC) will talk about Greater Heights UMC/AMEZ church becoming a Union Church.
• The Rev. LuAnn Charlton (UMC) and the Rev. Allen Waller (Episcopal) will share about the evolution and growth of their ecumenical clergy covenant group.
• The Rev. Jermaine Armour (AMEZ) and the Rev. Beth Hood (UMC) will share about the seasons of leadership change throughout their church partnership.

When communities experience heightened anxiety, effective leaders are especially important.

Join us for an in-person Day of Learning as we learn from Craig Gilliam (JustPeace) about how leaders can calm the storm, create space for vision, and lead congregations to a place of hope and expectation. 

Participants will:  

• Understand what chronic anxiety is and identify indicators of high anxiety in your congregational or personal life system.
• Identify emerging qualities and practices for effective leaders and leadership excellence, especially in times of high anxiety, change, difficult conversations, and discernment.
• Distinguish practices as leaders to help calm the system, quieten the noise, and slow things down (if needed), so people can think, hear, feel, pray, and respond at their best.
• Identify possible steps to help create open, safe space for listening and learning to maximize insights and wisdom and minimize the harm people can do to each other through reactive, destructive behaviors and conversations.

Leading During Anxious Times
October 20, 9:30am – 3pm (*doors open at 9am)
St. Andrews UMC, Raleigh (Map it)
$50/person, includes lunch
(20% discount for registering 3 or more)

Don’t delay! The deadline to register is October 15. Groups receiving the discount must register by October 10.

About the Day:

I believe that God, whose middle name is Surprise, shows up in the most unusual places, spaces, and faces, and is still at work in the midst of it all, including in anxiety and chaos.

High anxiety and reactivity are recurring themes in our congregations and the ecclesiastical system. When individuals and communities are highly anxious, they are not at their best. Congregations holding sustained high anxiety trend toward negativity, mistrust, reactivity, and a loss of purpose, resulting in ineffectiveness, disengagement, unhealthy conflict, and burn-out. The joy of ministry gets lost, as does motivation, engagement, and excellence. Also, high anxiety over time can take its toll on the leaders’ and community’s health, well-being, and soul.With the struggles going on in the church and systems in which it is nested, such as politics, a pandemic, social justice issues, and other complex influences, it is no surprise that anxiety is soaring. But to navigate a congregation through the winds of this time takes self-awareness on the part of leaders. Research shows that leadership excellence and self-awareness walk together and include ways of being (I-Thou) and doing. Both for lay and clergy, leadership is a skill to develop and art to cultivate. The artistry and impact are greatest for those who identify, embody, and work from their unique talents and strengths.

About W. Craig Gilliam:
Achiever | Learner | Adaptability | Maximizer | Relator

Dr. W. Craig Gilliam is the founder and owner of Gilliam & Associates, LLC and resides in Shreveport, LA. He is a member of the Louisiana Conference, UMC (elder). While he is part of the UMC, his work in religious congregations and other religious organizations have been with various faith traditions. Professionally, he works in the field of I/O psychology, is an organizational consultant and coach, Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Certified in Barrett’s Cultural Values Assessment and Master trainer and coach on The Predictive Index. Moreover, he is a facilitator, educator and works in areas of leadership development, change management, conflict transformation (both training and interventions), employee/membership engagement and motivation, and assists religious organizations, congregations, and businesses in creating strengths-based, engaged cultures for higher performance and improved outcomes. 

With over 25+ years of experience in leadership coaching, conflict transformation, and organizational consulting, he has served in various capacities. Some include faculty at a counseling and training center in New Orleans; adjunct instructor at SMU; director of a center for pastoral/leadership excellence for the LA Conference, UMC; on staff as a consultant for a mediation and conflict transformation center in Washington, D.C., (JustPeace), and as a senior consultant and conflict resolution specialist for an organization in Utah. Craig’s dissertation was on leadership and the effects of anxiety and conflict in organizational and congregational life.  

www.gilliamandassociates.com