Our nation is in the midst of trying times. No doubt the 2024 election campaigns are weighing upon our communities and families. Your diocesan Evangelism Working Group took up the task of reviewing courses and offerings from various sources to encourage our communities to begin developing the capacity for civil discourse not only before and during the election, but afterwards. No matter your political background, we can all point to the need for increased capacity to hold civil conversations across differences. Below you will find three groups of resources.
The first are resources from The Episcopal Church and ChurchNext, These are great resources for developing civil conversation groups through an explicitly Episcopal context. Of note is The Episcopal Church’s Make Me An Instrument Of Peace series. Evangelism Working Group member, Sherri Bishop, noted that “if you are searching for a glimmer of hope and have time for only one class from these two offerings, I highly recommend Session 5 [of Make Me An Instrument Of Peace] “Sacred Space for Debate” led by Marcus Halley, who was called to a church heavily divided into political lines.[…] I have to share just one, “No fight or flight.k..lean in.” because I cannot count the number of times in the last few months I’ve done both-ran away AND fought.”
The second grouping is the Living Room Conversation resources. This platform was used by Church of the Ascension, Knoxville, for various groups to hold conversations around a variety of topics. Their resources are used by faith, school, civic, and workplace groups to hold conversations on different topics that may be difficult to approach, topics such as mental health, justice, health, environment, the American dream, race, and more. Combining their topics on the American Dream, Media and Entertainment, Polarization, Politics and Government, Social Connection, Values, and Women are of value to our communities in these times. While their Don’t forget to check out their free printables for groups!
Lastly, but not least, is The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Affairs Vote Faithfully campaign. Alan Yarborough of the Office of Government Affairs, has assembled these resources for engaging in healthy and faithful voter engagement from the Episcopal perspective along with bulletin resources, courses, a podcast, and ways to get involved. He has even made a handy video on Facebook on how to access and use these resources.
Free Courses through The Episcopal Church and DioET Access to ChurchNext
Through our diocesan access account with ChurchNext, all East Tennessee Episcopalians may access courses from ChurchNext. Canon Beverly Hurley Hill has compiled three courses specific to civil discourse:
- Make Me An Instrument of Peace: A Guide to Civil Discourse for Groups (Also available on The Episcopal Church website)
- Civil Conversations in Uncivil Times with Ray Suarez for Groups
- Seeing the Unseen: Lessons in Civil Discourse with Mark Beckwith for Groups
To access these courses, please contact Canon Beverly Hurley Hill for access or, in the case of “Make Me An Instrument of Peace”, visit The Episcopal Church website.
Living Room Conversations
Church of the Ascension recently used the Living Room Conversations platform to engage in meaningful conversations across a variety of topics. In light of the 2024 elections, they have launched their “Trust In Elections” tools in addition to their living room conversation topics. The best place to start with the Living Room Conversations platform is their Host Toolkit, designed to enable community leaders to gather groups intent on deep, brave, conversation. Then, explore the topics page to see all the various topics they have written guides for. Lastly, gather your group for roughly an hour and a half for meaningful, deep conversation on the topic.
Episcopal Church Resources for Vote Faithfully Campaign
Under the banner of their Vote Faithfully election engagement campaign, the Office of Government Relations of The Episcopal Church has released a number of resources and tools addressing different aspect of this year’s election. Included are:
- The “Vote Faithfully Toolkit 2024”
- Bulletin Inserts for Election Engagement including topics such as: National Voter Registration Day, Voter Education Week, Why Does Voting Matter?, Misinformation in Campaigns, Vote Early Day, and Vote Faithfully Sunday
- Information on the Episcopal Election Activators, a volunteer group for the Office of Government Relations
- The Episco-pols Podcast
- Information on Addressing Political Violence
- Civil Discourse Training
- Misinformation, Disinformation, Fake News: Why Do We Care?
Visit the Office of Government Relations Page