8:30-9:00

Registration

9:00-10:30

Welcome and plenary session: "While we were doing that, I felt bad" - Stephanie Crumley-Effinger

While God has given people the potential to be guided, we need the support of community to develop this capacity, to help each other get clear, and to act on what we discern. Friends have a long heritage of linking individual and corporate discernment, a living tradition on which we can draw to respond to the situations in our lives.

10:30-11:00

Break

11:00-12:15

Workshop (choose one)

A: Ears to Hear and Eyes to See - Stephanie Crumley-Effinger

An opportunity to draw on one another's wisdom and prayerful discerning presence, this workshop will explore practices that deepen our capacity to see and hear God's guiding voice and to offer this in our communities. Not a spectator event; come ready to be involved.
Workshop Leader: A convinced Friend, Stephanie Crumley-Effinger is a faculty member at Earlham School of Religion, presiding clerk of West Richmond Monthly Meeting, and a recorded minister in Indiana Yearly Meeting. She teaches the ESR course "Discernment of Gifts and Calling for Ministry" in both its residential semester-long and ESR Access intensive versions.

B: Conflict Transformation and Discernment - Lonnie Valentine

How might a Meeting use practices of conflict resolution to discern a mission for the Meeting? This workshop will be a brief introduction to standard conflict resolution practices, based upon the work of Roger Fisher in "Getting to Yes." We will then discuss how Meetings might build on this approach for transformation, within the Meeting and for the Meeting's work in the world.
Workshop Leader: Lonnie Valentine has been Professor of Peace and Justice at the Earlham School of Religion since 1989. He has taught courses in world religions, including courses exploring religion and peace and war. He has published articles related to this topic in the Journal of Psychology and in the Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict. He is a 1983 Peace and Justice Studies graduate of ESR and received his doctorate from Emory University in Constructive Theology.

C: Group Discernment: Skills for Seeking a Sense of the Meeting – Lisa Lundeen Nagel

In this workshop we will explore communication and brainstorming strategies to help a group discern with integrity. We will address the importance of coming with heart and mind prepared, and what role prayer can play during a business or committee meeting. Together we will apply our developing skills to a sample Quaker conundrum! For seasoned members and new attenders alike.
Workshop Leader: Lisa Lundeen Nagel is a Guilford College and ESR graduate. Lisa served as a spiritual formation intern at First Friends Meeting in Richmond, Indiana.

12:15-1:15

Lunch on site

1:15-2:30

Workshop (choose one of above)

A B C

2:30-3:00

Wrap up