Registration Summary and Fees Enclosed # Adults _____ @ $_________ = _________ #Youth and Young Adults _____ @ $150 = _________ # Children _____ @ $75 = _________ Total $_________ Priority/Early Bird Registration - Received by April 1, 2008 Adults (Over age 21) - $280 Youth & Young Adults (age 13-21) - $150 Children (age 4 - 12) - $75 Children under age 4 - registration is free, but there will be a charge for child care (if required) Registrations received between April 1 and May 1 Adults - $300 Other age groups unchanged. After May 1st Adults - $325 Other age groups unchanged. Make checks payable to Province VIII. Your registration is not complete until the conference registration fees have been received. You will receive confirmation via email of your completed registration. Please mail conference registration fees to: Province VIII Conference c/o Joanna Shreve 26750 Almaden Court Los Altos, CA 94022 Questions? Call 650-941-6436 or email JRShreve@aol.com. Breakouts/Workshops Session #1 — Friday, June 27, morning 1) Small Group Ministry (Covenant Groups) — Small group ministry has proven to be an excellent way of growing and strengthening congregations. They are places where participants can tell their stories and share in shaping their spiritual journeys. Small group ministry is much more than simply scheduling small groups with time to meet together A typical format can include a trained facilitator to lead a group in sharing their personal triumphs and trials, a short Bible study, a discussion about applying the learning from the Bible study to one's daily life, and praying for each other. Getting to know each other's stories becomes a powerful tool for evangelism and discipleship. (Julie Nelson, 2008 graduate of General Theological Seminary) 2) Lectio Divina an Ancient Practice on Reflecting on the Stories — The practice allows individuals to engage the story and reflect on its bearing on life today. Practitioners spend time in intercession, internalizing scripture, and in contemplation, sitting in God's presence. Lectio Divina is thriving in Base Communities in Latin America, African Bible Reflections from South Africa, and Gospel Based Discipleship, as reflected in "A Disciple's Prayer Book," here in the U.S. Learn how an ancient practice can serve your congregation today. (The Rev. Paul Colbert, Las Vegas, NV) 3) Knitting: Creating the Fabric of our Story — "Parallel activity" (busy hands as an accompaniment to story sharing) is a time-honored mechanism for promoting story telling with a group of people, men, women, and children of all ages, languages, and cultures. Knitters of all abilities - beginner to professional - AND non-knitters are most welcome. Bring your own project-in-process, learn to cast on and begin a simple project, OR just come and enjoy the textures, colors, and camaraderie. You will come away with ideas for how to engage people in a way that allows community. You will also learn why knitting is not about the stitches, but the spaces between and how knitting is both a spiritual practice and an act of stewardship. If you have not knitted before and want to try, please pre-register so that we can have sufficient materials available for you to begin. (Toni Marie Sutliff, Minister of Finance, Diocese of Utah) 4) Sacred Dance for All Generations. "When you dance, you tell your story to yourself so it can be clear to you. When you allow your body to move freely you reflect God's story..." Beyond Words, 15 Ways of Doing Prayers by Kristen Johnson Ingram. Come to explore and step into the history of sacred dance that flowed from early Christianity throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Learn such dances as the tripudium, a processional dance that was done in Europe for centuries. Through very simple steps and movements discover your own story and connect to this rich, little known tradition. People of all abilities are welcome!! (Jane Ricenbaugh, MA, dancer and choreographer) 5) Congregational Ministry in a Diverse World — Has the Pentecost community come to your town? Christians come in all sizes, colors, ages, languages, and cultural heritages. Creating congregational communities that can share the Gospel story (not to mention our own diverse stories) with each other and the world outside the church doors is challenging but offers some exciting possibilities. (The Rev. Patricia Sanchez Millard, Chaplain, St. Vincent Hospital, Portland, OR) 6) Spiritual Gifts, Stewardship and Story — The Spiritual Gifts or charismata we receive through our baptism, only have meaning and purpose when they are used within the context of our faith story. As we discover and strengthen our Spiritual Gifts, our participation in our faith story expands. As our participation expands, our faith deepens. As our faith deepens, we become better stewards and evangelists, eager to share our story with others. Together we will learn what spiritual gifts are and what they are not; what the New Testament tells us about the use of spiritual gifts; discover the spiritual gifts already in our congregations and explore a process for discerning our own spiritual gifts. (The Rev. Marcia Engblom, Diocese of Northern CA) 7) The Gospel in Four Directional Thinking: A Spirituality curriculum constructed from the Navajo (Dine') cosmology and a Scriptural, Theological and Episcopal conversation. This curriculum was prepared in anticipation of the needs for more indigenous perspective of our faith journey as Christians and Episcopalians. You are invited to review the curriculum and determine if you might use this resource in your ministry. Province VII Indigenous People's Ministry is involved in the development of several liturgical celebrations that reflect Native spirituality. This panel will speak about the development of these liturgical resources and their preparation for publication in a compilation. Coordinated by The Rev. Debbie Royals, Province VIII Missioner for Native American Ministry Development) Breakouts/Workshops Session #2 - Friday, June 27, afternoon 8) Quilting: Art as spiritual practice. Creating community, cultivating creativity, reaching out to others, exploring art as spiritual practice, teaching skills and continuing the intergenerational communication within your church community have all been the fruits of the ministry of St. Mary's Guild at Grace Memorial Episcopal Church. Now in the fifth year, this ministry has proven to be a meaningful place for women to gather, explore their talents and build new skills, to find fellowship while at the same time offering comfort and healing to those in need. It can also be a way to bridge cultural, language and ethnic differences in a non-threatening way while learning more about the fiber arts of other cultures. There will be a chance to explore your creativity with paper and fabric to build a collective piecing to be enjoyed by participants of the conference and then to be taken home as a sample of what can be done. (Ann L. Schneider and Mariann Koop-McMahon, members of Grace Memorial Episcopal Church, Portland, OR) 9) Word Show — Telling the story with drama. This workshop takes participants through a process of birthing a story and giving it a form that invites the audience to connect. You need not be an actor to enjoy this session. The ultimate presentation is potentially richer if the writer, director, actor, set builder, costumer etc. are all aware of and involved in the whole process of telling the story. (Mark Turner, Horizon Gate Productions, a community of writers, filmmakers and performing arts which draws people to God, Julian, CA) 10) Web Design — The Web — and consequently your website - is about communication. Focusing on good/artistic design is important but it is also about good information design,"Evangelistic Listening." Join him and hear tips on how to shape your web site to be a strong communication of your parish's information and vision as well as a dynamic tool for your members. (J. T. Quanbeck, Graphic/Information Designer with 25 years of experience, Portland, OR) 11) Telling Our Story — Learn how to tell your story of your own faith journey in a succinct and meaningful way. This is an essential step in letting you story shape your life and becoming able to share that story in the way that Jesus asks us to do. (The Rev. Canon Britt Olson, Canon to the Ordinary, Diocese of Northern CA) 12) Celebrating and Caring for Creation. This workshop will provide a theological basis and tools for making congregations and individuals more aware of God's gift of Creation and our role as active participants in caring for Creation. The workshop will include theological reflection, discussion of examples of greening actions congregations can take. Resources for participants will include the Catechism of Creation and checklists for energy use, conservation, and food security. (The Rev. Deacon Phina Borgeson and Dr. Jim Jordan, officers of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council Committee on Science, Technology, and Faith) 13) That We All May Be One, All Cultures — A panel discussion. We come from different places, speak different languages, and have different favorite foods, different customs, and different experiences of the presence of God. But we claim to share one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism in a world where religion has become the most destructive, divisive force in our time. In the gospel of John, Jesus says, "The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17: 22-23) Come for a discussion of strategies for overcoming our own divisions and reclaiming the multi-voiced joy of Pentecost. We may not have the final answers, but we can be part of the struggle to love beyond ourselves and be one as Jesus hoped. Breakouts/Workshops Session #3 - Saturday, June 28, morning 14) The Celtic Faith and Story Telling — The Celtic Christian tradition was notable for its use of images rather than intellectual concept to express the truths of faith, and stories rather than dogmas to convey the love of Christ to a people who already loved stores and honored storytellers highly. Doing church in the post-modern age asks that we own and tell our own stories with passion, and invite others to see their stories of their own journeys, their own and their family's history, and the 'alternative stories' of our churches and culture as sacred places of encountering God. (The Rev. Kurt Neilson, Rector of Sts. Peter and Paul Episcopal Church in Portland and founder of The Columbia Center for Celtic Christian Mission, author of Urban Iona) 15) The Heart Has Its Reason — A conversation on how and why stories matter so much. Three hundred years ago Blaise Pascal wrote: The heart has its reason whereof Reason knows nothing. This is not the thinking that captured the imagination of the Western world. In fact, Descartes framed a different conversation with the statement: "I think, therefore I am." It is this statement that carried us through these last centuries. But we have discovered that Pascal may have been more right than we could have ever imagined. In this workshop we will explore current thinking in the areas of linguistics, neuroscience, developmental psychology and social intelligence, and discover the power of story and its place in the heart. All of these disciplines have an impact on the theology of childhood and our understanding of how the spiritual energy of the child within is released. We will reclaim the reason of the heart and, in so doing, find new ways of "reasoning" our way out of life's challenges. (The Very Rev. Rebecca L. McClain, Executive Director, Godly Play Foundation) 16) The Life-Changing Power of the Stewardship Story — Stewardship is best defined as using the gifts God has given us to do the work God is calling us to do. Can there be a richer story? We'll start with God's instruction about offering, move on to a few things Jesus had to say, and finish with our own stories. Along the way, we'll share strategies fro getting the story out in our various congregations. We'll talk about time, and talent, and maybe even, money. (Terry Parsons, Staff Officer for Stewardship, ECUSA) 17) Congregational Ministry in a Diverse World — Has the Pentecost community come to your town? Christians come in all sizes, colors, ages, languages, and cultural heritages. Creating congregational communities that can share the Gospel story (not to mention our own diverse stories) with each other and the world outside the church doors is challenging but offers some exciting possibilities. (The Rev. Patricia Sanchez Millard, Chaplain, St. Vincent Hospital, Portland, OR) 18) Photo language — Telling Stories Through Images — We live in a visual world. Sometimes words are not sufficient to assist us in telling our stories especially when we are invite to tell of experience that might be emotional and difficult to describe. In this workshop, we will experience a process in which we are invited to share our stories through the use of photographs. Based on this experience, we will also explore how to use other kinds of media to enable people to share their personal stories, community stories and stories of faith. (The Rev. Eric H. F. Law, Director, Kaleidoscope Institute for Competent Leadership in a Diverse and Changing World) |