Are you dismayed by deep differences in your congregation or its surrounding community, and the way we seem to speak “at” each other rather than “with” one another? Could you benefit from learning skills to have important conversations with people who believe, think, or vote differently than you? While we find ourselves either avoiding difficult conversations or remaining in our own silos and echo chambers, as Christians, we are called to live in unity, honoring diverse perspectives and unique gifts within the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-26) and loving our enemies (Mt. 5:44). UniteBoston is offering a free, brief, virtual workshop introducing dialogue skills for bridging divides that you can implement in your own context. This workshop will be led by Bob Stains, a worldwide leader in dialogue across difference and conflict transformation.

There is no cost to attend, and all donations will support UniteBoston’s bridge-building ministry.

Registration via Eventbrite is required – to register, click here. 

Bob Stains and Shelton Oakley Hersey are also leading a more in-depth, 2-day “Kingdom Conversations” training with UniteBoston this spring for Christian leaders in the Boston area on April 17 and May 1. Click here to apply for this more in depth 2-day training. Please join us and help to spread the word – Facebook Event Here!

Speaker Bio:

Bob Stains has been equipping clergy and lay leaders with the skill-sets and mind-sets of Reflective Structured Dialogue (RSD) for the past 26 years in the US, Europe and Asia, having trained more than 30,000 people world-wide. His workshops are highly rated by participants in both religious and secular settings and he continues to see their learning bear fruit in their communities of faith over many years. Bob heads his own firm and is a Senior Associate at Essential Partners in Cambridge, formerly the Public Conversations Project and home of RSD. He also brings 10 years of conversation design and facilitation work with the Episcopal Church of the USA and the Archbishop of Canterbury and has worked with many other Christian and Jewish communities small and large throughout his career as a consulting family therapist and as a dialogue practitioner. He is also a Visiting Researcher at the BUSTH Tom Porter Program on Religion and Conflict Transformation where he teaches dialogue to ministers in training, and adjunct faculty at the Dispute Resolution Institute of the Mitchell-Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, MN.