SARAH BUTLER BERLIN
Contemplative Compassion: Creating a Culture of Care in Faith Communities
Workshop Track Details
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Synopsis
The culture needs the Church more than ever to manifest the love of Jesus Christ through the increasingly rare commodities of compassion, contemplation, and community. Our life in God does make a difference and the Church is the logical place to cultivate authentic compassionate communities. Christians already have the spiritual tools and Sarah will talk about some very practical ways we can strengthen our faith, our knowledge, and our care for one another and for our hurting world.
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Session 1: The Contemplative Approach
Before we begin to minister to others we need to be rooted in our own faith and relationship with Christ. This relationship is enriched and deepened by cultivating the contemplative dimension.
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Session 2: Listening—The Minister’s Best Gift
If you think you are a good listener, listen to this. We will use life examples to dig a little deeper into the power and effectiveness of listening.
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Session 3: Creating Safe and Trusting Environments
Hurting people experience so much healing when they are able to share their feelings without judgment or dismissal. We will examine ways of inviting feelings and simply letting them be.
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Session 4: Compassion—A Sign of Holiness
Using Jesus as the model of compassion we will look at how the practice of compassion creates community with those who are in pain. The working example of grief will help us go to the place in the heart where God shares our aches. |