You're Invited...

During the month of November we'd love to connect with you at one of these events:

November 5  – 2:00 pm US Eastern/ 8 pm Berlin Time
Gender 101: Your Gender is as Unique as Your Fingerprint

In this workshop, we will learn a tool for working with gender as a series of spectrums rather than a binary system. We will each chart our own unique gender identity. You may be surprised to discover how much diversity in gender expression there is within yourself and our community. If you are new to gender theory, this is an excellent starting place for beginning to explore your own gender more deeply. If you are a veteran at gender exploration, you will gain a new tool for talking about it with others. I hope you will come away with deeper self-awareness and an ability to better appreciate how gender affects, limits, and privileges you. Here is your link to register:  https://bit.ly/3zu0fei

Grant Helbley grew up a fifth-generation Seventh-day Adventist. They are an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and currently serve as Ministry Associate in the Metropolitan Community Church of Portland Oregon and as Chaplain Associate at the Mount Hood Center. Grant has presented dozens of workshops in both professional and community settings on topics of gender, power dynamics, sexual diversity, diverse relationship styles, and consent.

November 12 – 2:00 pm US Eastern/ 8:00 pm Berlin Time
De-Clobbering the Clobber Texts – Genesis, Sodom, Sexuality?

Millions of people who call themselves Christians weaponized the Bible against members of the “Alphabet Rainbow” community. Join us as we discuss the story of Sodom. We will contemplate the question “Do these behaviors have anything to do with loving relationships between same-sex people?”

Tom will look at the cultural context of the time, attitudes toward sex and rape, use of violence, the nature of hospitality and the character of Lot, his angelic visitors, and the citizens of the town. Here is your link to register: https://bit.ly/3sRuvff

Tom de Bruin was born in South Africa. He has been a pastor and church administrator in the Netherlands as well as a professor at Newbold College. He is a member of at least two Bible Societies. He has presented his Biblical research in several contexts. He loves having learning be a conversation.

November 17 – 7:30 pm Eastern Time

Kinship Community Meeting

Come join us to share your thoughts, questions, concerns, and wishes. We have someone who is already planning to bring recipes for their favorite cinnamon bread! You are welcome to share some of your recipes, too. If we have time, we’ll collect ideas about how to survive or celebrate the upcoming holidays. Here is your link to register:  https://bit.ly/3gLJnZW

November 20 – 2:00 pm US Eastern/8:00 pm Berlin Time
Nurturing Safe Communities:
Healing Injured Ones – Behaviors that Make a Community Embracing

In this discussion, we will find out at least five ways play nourishes a community. We will learn the power of appreciations and the Responsibility/Entitlement balance. We will strengthen our understanding of acknowledging the milestones of lives and creating a culture that allows both grief and celebration to be honored. We will go over three communication skills: the 5 Pillars, choice, and negotiating. If we have time, we will look at ways to use power for the benefit of others, the dangers of secrets, and the gift of building trust. Here is your link to register:  https://bit.ly/3UsnNsf

Catherine Taylor is a systemic therapist whose career has been working primarily with families of all kinds, victims of sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse, churches that are addressing these abuses, and PTSD in soldiers and its effect on their families. In the last 20 years, she has worked with community responses to people who are part of the Alphabet Rainbow.

She is a consultant and trainer: creating programming that helps caretaking and legal systems diminish the ways they can unintentionally replicate abuse. One of her primary goals is to promote resiliency.

She has presented at the World Conference on Trauma in Amsterdam, the European Conference on Trauma in Paris, the National Conference on Trauma in Washington D.C., family therapy conferences in the UK, Adventist camp meetings in the U.S., social work conferences, etc. Her work on Seventh-day Adventists and sexual abuse was published in Sexual Abuse in Nine North American Cultures. Ed. Fontes.