Have you ever had a burning desire to serve within your local community in some way, but really didn’t know how to get started? This workshop will provide practical insights for you to consider as you navigate your way forward to rewarding, impactful, and sustainable service. This workshop will discuss community networks, community systems, and community organizations that are present in every community—how they work, and how to connect with them. This workshop will also touch on how to see service to community as an exercise in real-time discipleship, and how this shapes and transforms our spirituality.
Pastor Gar Mickelson has been bridging the gap between the Church and local communities over the last 25 years of ministry. Street side, Gar has provided catalyst leadership for numerous local outreach initiatives in his local community including hands on work with at-risk youth, returning citizens from prison, isolated seniors, addicts, those stuck in cyclical poverty, and street homeless. Church side, Gar has provided training and discipleship to hundreds of volunteers in his local community, and throughout the Pacific Northwest, through his practical workshops and coaching.
Parenting is a vital ministry, but it’s often under-supported. Many Quaker parents long for nurture and community.
In this conversation-oriented workshop, we’ll first hear lessons learned from four different approaches to supporting parents: a Zoom-based mutual support group model, an integrated system of support in the context of a single pastoral meeting, a yearly-meeting-wide listening project focused on the needs of parents and families, and a community outreach approach that built community among parents in the church's neighborhood.
Then, we’ll have a chance to ask questions and delve deeper as a group: how can Quaker communities best support and nurture parents as they engage in the holy work of raising children?
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