Healing Wounded Churches:

A Resource for Renewal

To introduce the process of healing wounded churches to church pastors, leaders, interim and transitional ministers, and seminarians (an ecumenical resource).

Every church has its own collection of stories, issues and legacies which either bless the church’s life and witness or puncture and prevent the church from being the church God has called it to be. This is why Jesus talks to churches as demonstrated in the book of Revelation and it is his audit of the church’s spiritual health. He challenges us to know our stories well and find life-giving ways to celebrate the good and heal the wounds that we carry as a faith community.

Topics will include:

Introduction on basic principles of Healing Wounded History

Why does Jesus speak to churches?

Identifying the angel of the church

Group Work:

Reflecting on the angel of your church

The powers that shape our stories

Group Work: Identifying your church stories

The significance of founding stories in the life of the church today

Representational Confession:

Taking ownership of what belongs to our church

Group Work: Applying Representational

Confession to our churches

Resources for healing the church:

The Christian Day of Atonement

The place of listening and blessing in healing church wounds

The Power of Listening in Healing

Group Work: Learning to Listen

Rediscovering the Ministry of Blessing

Group Work: Practicing how to bless churches

LEADER:

Rev. Dr. RUSS PARKER

Rev. Dr. Russ Parker was Director of the Acorn Christian Healing Foundation, Hampshire, UK, from 1995-2013. Russ’s contribution as Director was to teach, write, develop training materials and lead a dedicated staff of over 20 people. Russ is now Acorn's International Ambassador in which he is responsible for developing partnerships for listening and reconciliation

in 12 nations including Rwanda,

Burundi, Hong Kong and the United States.

Russ is the author of a number of books which include: Healing Dreams, Healing Death’s Wounds; Free to Fail, Forgiveness

is Healing, The Wild Spirit, Visions in the Night, Healing Wounded History, and an anthology of prayer poems for public and private use Wild Spirit of the Living God.

His latest book, published in February 2014, is Rediscovering the Ministry of Blessing.

Russ travels extensively around the UK and abroad, lecturing and teaching on issues connected with Christian Healing and Healthcare, Reconciliation and Church Transformation. He is currently the Project Director of Healing Wounded Churches; with a team he is developing a facilitator’s course and manual, targeted for publication in 2015.

Russ was a Baptist pastor from 1972 –77, ordained in the Church of England in 1981; Assistant Curate in Bolton (1981 –1985), Incumbent of Christ Church, Coalville (1985 – 1990), joined Acorn in 1990 and became Director of Acorn in 1995. Russ was the Co-founder and Director of Christian Care and Counsel, a Christian Counseling ministry based in the East Midlands.

Russ is also a co-founder of the Community of Aidan and Hilda, a dispersed, neo-monastic Celtic community whose mother house is situated on the holy island of Lindisfarne. He is also a founding member of the Fellowship of Christ the Healer (UK and USA) which exists to resource leaders of residential healing and healthcare initiatives.

He is co-founder of Wholecare, an initiative to support and resource Christian healthcare professionals within the National Health Service in the UK. He has a post graduate degree in Phenomenology and Theology from Nottingham University in which his thesis was entitled “Dreams as a Religious Phenomenon”.

Russ was awarded a Doctor of Divinity from Columbia Evangelical Seminary in the United States in recognition of the standard of scholarship in his book Healing Wounded History and his outstanding contributions to the Christian ministry of teaching and writing.

Russ is married to Roz and lives near Farnham, Surrey. His hobbies are photography and visiting Celtic holy places. He supports Liverpool Football Club, whether they are winning or losing!

HEALING WOUNDED CHURCHES

September 23-25, 2014

PLEASE PRINT and ENCLOSE DEPOSIT

Mr. Mrs. Ms. Miss Dr. The Rev.

Name: ______

Called by:______

(this is what will appear on your name tag)

Address:______

______

Phone:______

Email:______

Name of Ministry/Church:______

______

Dietary Needs:______

Deposit $75 each

$______enclosed

balance due at check-in

(cash or checks only)

Registration Payable to:

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (“Healing Wounded Churches” in the memo line)

Mail to:

The Rev. Sandi Kerner

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

2245 Huguenot Trail

Powhatan, VA 23139

Schedule:

9:15 AM – 3:30 PM Daily

Tuesday, September 23 –

Thursday, September 25

Lunch is included in the registration fee.

Registration: $150

(Discount can be arranged for students or seminarians.)

Participants are encouraged to research their church’s story prior to this seminar, including: its timeline, why and how it was founded, why it is located where it is, and significant historical milestones and current issues. It would be beneficial for more than one person from a church to attend for discussion purposes and group work. This seminar is the first in a two part offering to prepare those who will work with churches. The second part will center on Learning to Listen, the core of this healing process, and will be offered in 2015 for facilitators of this process and those who assist in listening to individual stories.

Parking at St. Philip’s is on-street parking.

For more information or questions, contact: Rev. Paula Owens Parker at or

Rev. Sandi Kerner at

; (804) 794-6953

Eternal God, we give thanks for this church: here we come to affirm your presence and declare your love;

here we come for healing and renewal;

here we come to dedicate ourselves to you.

May all who come here know this is a holy place, a presence-filled place and that you give yourself to them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Prayer by David Adam, Radiance of His Glory, Prayers for the Church Year

HEALING WOUNDED CHURCHES:

A RESOURCE FOR RENEWAL

September 23-25, 2014

9:15 – 3:30 PM each day

Led by:

The Rev. Dr. Russ Parker

at

St. Philip’s Episcopal Church

2900 Hanes Ave.

Richmond, Virginia 23222

Hosted by:

The Rev. Phoebe Roaf,

The Vestry, and Members of

St. Philip’s