Events
The Church Narrative Project is coming to Arizona April 28-29! We are excited to welcome back to Arizona Rev. Terri Hord Owens and Rev. Yvonne Gilmore for this special event.
April 28 & April 29 at Foothills Christian Church
(3951 West Happy Valley Road Glendale, Arizona 85310)
This two day event will include dinner on Friday, lunch on Saturday, a storytelling event, and the Transformative Community Conference (TCC) led by Dr. David Anderson Hooker. You are welcome to show up for both days, or just one! Register here, or read additional information below.
What can I expect?
We are not inviting you to another boring church meeting. The Church Narrative Project is a two-day experience—a Friday night StoryHour, styled similarly to popular story slams such as The Moth, followed by the beginning of the TCC, and engagement on Saturday facilitated by Rev. Dr. David Anderson Hooker. You are welcome to attend on Friday only or join us for the whole experience on both days.
At StoryHour on Friday, we’re telling stories of epiphanies, large and small. The theme is “Eureka! Stories of seeing the light. Ah-ha!” Come hear true stories told live and share dinner with disciples from across the region, across geographical and generational lines, across theological lines, across red and blue and purple lines. Together let’s listen, learn, and shape the future in which God is calling us! Join us for this important work.
Schedule
Friday
5:00 to 6:00pm Dinner at church
6:00 to 7:30pm StoryHour – in person and online across the US and Canada
7:30 to 9:00pm Begin Transformative Community Conference (TCC) with Dr. David Anderson Hooker
Saturday
9:00am to 12noon – Transformative Community Conference (TCC) 12 to 12:30pm lunch
12:30 to 3pm TCC
What if I can’t make both days?
That’s okay! The registration form will let you indicate which you plan to attend. While we are hopeful many attend in the StoryHour in person, it will also be broadcast live via YouTube at https://youtube.com/christianchurchdoc.
Two Regions have already participated in the Church Narrative Project. You can watch each to get a sense of the StoryHour at the links below.
About the Church Narrative Project
Have you ever experienced a process that shifted your world? What would it look like for members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to hear storytellers and engage our narratives? And what kind of church might we have if we imagined a narrative of a shared future?
The Church Narrative Project aims to facilitate the collectively developed preferred narrative of the shared future of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Through StoryHour gatherings followed by an ongoing series of engagements in the Transforming Community Conferencing process, the whole church will participate in a shared process of transformation in person and online not just learn about transformation. Through a facilitated process of interaction and dialogue led by Rev. Dr. David Anderson Hooker, the Church Narrative Project will engage participants in difficult and faithful work towards that aim.
The preferred narrative of our shared future is about who God is calling us to be in light of who we have been, who we are, and how we imagine we might meet God in the future given those two realities. It’s about imagining a future by being honest about the stories that make us who we are as a church, and deciding together which stories to carry forward and which may not serve our shared future. The preferred narrative of the future will encompass the tenets of being anti-racist and pro-reconciling, and yet goes far beyond antiracism to state a positive and affirmative vision of the church as a result.
The process will answer a question of faithfulness: “When we as a church are manifesting the full power of our witness, which includes being a fully reconciling and fully anti-racist body, who/what will we then be?”
Read more at disciples.org or watch this 30 minute Imagine With Me video conversation hosted by General Minister and President, Rev. Terri Owens, featuring Rev. Dr. David Anderson Hooker.
About Transforming Community Conference (TCC)?
Transforming Community Conferencing (TCC) is a practical approach to dialogue developed by Rev. Dr. David Anderson Hooker to cultivate the power of narrative, storytelling, listening, and community action to shape a preferred narrative of a shared future. Participants in the Church Narrative Project will experience Transforming Community Conferencing following StoryHour on day one and on day two of the two-day gatherings in their region.
Read more about Rev. Dr. David Anderson Hooker.
You can also watch this 30 minute Imagine With Me video conversation hosted by General Minister and President, Rev. Terri Owens, featuring Rev. Dr. David Anderson Hooker.
This project is about expanding theological imagination and our capacity for transformation and action together as a whole church. Watch a short excerpt about the theology that informs Dr. Hookers work and leadership.
You may also read a copy of The Little Book of Transformative Community Conferencing: A Hopeful, Practical Approach to Dialogue by David Anderson Hooker.
How does the Church Narrative Project relate to the Covenant Project?
The Covenant Project is an initiative of the Governance Committee at the direction of the General Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to change how we gather and how we make decisions as church so that more people are included in shaping the priorities of the church. Included in these changes will be more frequent gatherings in which the church receives education, engages in dialogue and practices discernment. The Church Narrative Project aims to teach members of the church how to engage in dialogue and practice listening that can generate thoughtful and spiritual mature discernment. The Covenant Project and the Church Narrative Project are collaborative projects that share a vision for who we can be as a church in covenant, while equipping the church with the skills it needs to faithfully live into that future.
Register
If the registration page doesn’t open below, please click here to register.
