Jason Evans 11 May 2009 Featured, Workshops 2,475 views 2 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

“How desperately we need peacemakers! We need them not only in places where wars are being fought or might be fought bu in each household, each church, each parish. Even the best and most vital parishes often suffer from deep divisions. And who is the needed peacemaker? Each of us.”
- Jim Forest in Transforming Violence: Linking Local and Global Peacemaking

From spousal abuse to wars, we live in a world wracked by violence. Yet, many of us are uncertain of how to respond to this violence without becoming violent ourselves. And there is always the sentiment heard that “nonviolence just doesn’t work.” For Christians, we follow a savior who resisted the use of violence even at the cost of his own life. What can we learn from our Scriptures about living nonviolently? What can we learn from history about nonviolence? Where do we participate in violence unknowingly? How can our faith communities be formed by nonviolence and form us as peacemakers?

On four Fridays in June and July, the Ecclesia Collective is sponsoring four workshops in which we intend to do our best to answer these questions and more. We invite you to join us.

Cost: Each workshop will cost $10 per person. If you can not afford this, please contact us and we will work something out. The costs for each of these is set to cover costs for refreshments, materials, and other expenses for our guest speakers.

Registration: Space is limited so please contact us as soon as possible at ecclesiasd@gmail.com to register.

Location: Workshops will be held in the South Park neighborhood contact us for details on location.

Time: 7-9pm

Promotion: Click on the image to the right for printable flyer

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June 12 – Theology of Nonviolence w/ Jeff Wright
Leaning on an Anabaptist perspective, this workshop will analyze the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as written about in the Gospels as key to understanding a theology of nonviolence. We will compare this to Old Testament passages related to violence and determine how to potentially read this passages in a different way. We will also discuss the classic “What would you do if… ” questions.

Guest speaker Jeff Wright
Jeff is the president of Shalom Ministries and pastor of the Riverside Brethren in Christ Church. He is an ordained Mennonite minister and former Southern California Regional Conference Minister in the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference. He holds M.Div and MBA degrees, and is completing a D.Min degree in urban spirituality & mission at Spurgeon’s College, London.

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June 19 – History of Nonviolence w/ Erik Olson Fernandez
This session gives participants a comprehensive introduction to Gandhi’s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, and Cesar Chavez’s philosophy, thinking, and strategy for Nonviolent social change. It includes a description of Dr. King’s Six Nonviolent Principles, an analysis of the Six Steps of Nonviolence, and a review of of some of the most important historic Nonviolent campaigns of the last century with a focus on their salient lessons for today. Interactive discussion, handouts, readings, exercises, and video/audio clips will be utilized.

Guest speaker Erik Olson Fernandez
Erik is the founder of the Invest-In Project and has several years of experience as a community & union organizer. He is trained as a lawyer but has instead focused on organizing communities for Nonviolent social change. He has received Nonviolence training under the leadership of Rev. James Lawson & Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr., both whom were close confidants and key strategists for Dr. King.

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June 26 – Privilege, Race and Violence w/ Valentina Satvedi
Together we will explore and converse about privilege – understanding and accepting privilege. We will examine the term race and racism. We will discern if privilege and racism are related and if they create/lead to subtle forms of violence in our everyday living. We will rely on biblical teachings, Anabaptist theology, community discernment, and the movement of the Holy Spirit to guide our time together.

Guest speaker Valentina Satvedi
Valentina has a Master of Divinity degree from Bethany Theological Seminary and is an ordained Church of the Brethren minister. She is the co-director of the MCC U.S. Anti-Racism Program. She is the former director of Urban Theological Formation for the Center for Anabaptist Leadership in Pasadena, Calif.

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July 3 – Becoming Communities of Nonviolence w/ missional community leaders panel This workshop will be rescheduled
This workshop will be a dialog amongst participants and leaders of local missional communities about what it looks like for faith communities to have nonviolence as a central value… practically! We will invite attendees to write out their own ideas for encouraging a value of nonviolence and participating in active nonviolence within their own community and discuss together how to actually see this actualized.