Your web browser is out of date. Update your browser for more security, speed and the best experience on this site.

Update your browser
Brite Divinity School Home Page Brite Divinity Logomark

Give Now

T1. Love Made Known: The Spiritual Heart of Mental Health Care

Dr. Trina Armstrong, LMFT

  • Caring for the psychological and spiritual well-being of others reflects the heart of God’s compassion for humanity. It is love that listens, stays, and provides comfort amid suffering. Mental health care is a sacred expression of love demonstrated through compassion, patience, and attentive care to human needs, recognizing persons in the fullness of their humanity. This workshop invites participants to deepen their awareness of how embodying this love more completely allows it to be expressed through their presence and practice, bringing renewed meaning and depth to the care they offer.

T2. Cultivating Communities of LGBTQIA+ Belonging and Justice

Rev. Dr. Cody Sanders

  • LGBTQIA+ rights are under attack across the country, and places of deep belonging and justice-seeking for and with LGBTQIA+ people are critical spaces for the wellbeing and flourishing of queer and trans people across their lifespans. This workshop will present an overview of concerns that impact the livability of life for LGBTQIA+ people at present, discuss the role of faith communities in cultivating communities of belonging for queer and trans people, and draw on the wisdom of queer and trans ancestors to help congregations imagine faith praxis and ministry leadership in times of turmoil. Participants will encounter trauma-informed care practices that attend to the spiritual woundedness many LGBTQIA+ people experience, and move along a continuum of what comes after the decision of a congregation to become affirming of LGBTQIA+ people to imagine how that commitment becomes integrated into the arts of ministry and the overall mission of a congregation.

W1. Blessed Minds: Celebrating Neurodiversity in the Church

Rev. Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund

  • As more and more people self-identify with the Neurodiversity movement, churches can embrace ways of designing inclusive and loving communities and spaces. Through storytelling, examples, and resources, we will learn how to make congregations more neuroinclusive. God loves all of us and we can celebrate the diversity of ways we think, learn, and experience the world through our blessed minds.

W2. Communion Behind the Curtain: Learning Christ-like Love in a Post-Christian World

Panel discussion including Dr. Leah Jordan, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Dr. Philip Butler – moderated by Rev. Dr. Gary F. Green II

  • We know that Christianity has never been the only religion in the United States. For a growing number of previously identified Christians, however, Christianity is no longer an option. Post-Christianity is a growing movement that is widening and raising new theological questions for Christian communities to confront: What should the relationship be between Christian morality, peace-making, and the work of justice? What new religious frameworks are being constructed among communities who have moved on from Christianity? How can we love like Jesus when “Christ” no longer captures our cultural imagination? Come join an esteemed panel conversation as Dr. Leah Jordan, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Dr. Philip Butler – moderated by Rev. Dr. Gary F. Green II – respond to these questions, and raise new ones about love and what it looks like behind the curtain.