Trauma-informed Evangelism registration

Join Neighborhood Seminary for the 8-week course, Trauma-informed Evangelism: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers, facilitated by Charles Kiser and guest appearances by Elaine Heath.

Thursdays, April 27 through June 15, 2023, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST (USA/Canada).

OVERVIEW

An 8-week live virtual course for those who want to love well their neighbors who have religious trauma, using the book TRAUMA-INFORMED EVANGELISM: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers as a guide for exploration and discussion.

Instructors: Charles Kiser, with guest appearances from Elaine Heath

Class meets Thursday evenings beginning April 27 and concluding June 15, 7:30-9:00 pm EST / 6:30-8:00 pm CST / 5:30-7:00 pm MST / 4:30-6:00 pm PST.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

We live in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and an awakening in the white American church to its complicity in white supremacy and systemic racism; in the wake of riots at US Capitol fueled by Christian nationalism; in the wake of notable megachurch meltdowns; in the midst of significant decline in the American church; and in the midst of widespread faith deconstruction among folks who have been harmed by the church because of their gender, sexuality, race (or any number of other reasons). Many question if Christianity is worthy of participation, given the bad fruit it often bears.

If the Church is to faithfully bear witness to the good road of God’s kingdom in this context, it must reckon with the pain it has caused its neighbors, the spiritual abuse experienced in religious communities, and the resulting religious trauma neighbors carry in their bodies and minds. Christians who want to love these neighbors well must adopt trauma-informed postures in order to be sources of healing rather than harm.

Charles Kiser (joined on occasion by Elaine Heath) leads the course throughTRAUMA-INFORMED EVANGELISM: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers, equipping participants with an understanding of spiritual abuse and religious trauma, theological imagination about religious trauma and healing, and trauma-informed postures that help individuals and churches relate to their neighbors in loving and healing ways.

DETAILS

• 8 Thursdays beginning April 27 through June 15, 2023​
• Virtual Class via ZOOM, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EST (USA/Canada) 
• Class outline and reading assignments provided after class registration.
• Zoom link provided one week prior to start of class.

Each weekly session is 90 minutes long and includes:

• A trauma-informed centering practice
• Creative engagement with the focus chapters of the week from Kiser and Heath’s book
• Small group discussion in breakouts
• A “weekly adventure” - a suggested activity to put the course into practice that week

​​COST & REGISTRATION

$175 per person. Minimum registration fee: $50. 

1.5 CEUs: $10

Participants purchase a personal copy of Kiser and Heath's book in their preferred format:

• TRAUMA-INFORMED EVANGELISM: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers (Eerdmans, 2023). ISBN: 978-0802882356

Registration closes April 10, 2023 at 5 pm.

Cancellations must be made by April 10, 2023, at 5 pm. Registration fee minus $25 cancellation fee will be refunded.

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*If you have any questions, please contact Pansy Crumpler, office.manager@neighborhoodseminary.org.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS

Charles Kiser (D.Min., Northern Seminary) is a pastor and theologian with Storyline Christian Community in Dallas, Texas, a network of missional communities he helped to form. He is passionate about creative expressions of Christian community, contemplative spirituality, and healing spiritual trauma. Charles and his wife have three great kids and a Boston Terrier named Gus. He likes to watch good movies, play board games, and go to Camp Gladiator.

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Elaine Heath is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and has served as the McCreless Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, and as Dean and Professor of Missional and Pastoral Theology at Duke Divinity School, Duke University. She co-founded and now serves as Education Strategist for Neighborhood Seminary. She is the author of eleven books. Elaine lives at Spring Forest, a small farm and intentional new-monastic missional faith community near Hillsborough, North Carolina, with her husband Randall, where she serves as Abbess. They enjoy kayaking, hiking, camping, movies, and campfires, and spending time with their family and friends.