Sign up for our newsletter
Thanks for joining us. We look forward to staying connected.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Political polarization has created frictions and fractures in churches and larger organizational structures. Pastors and church communities often wish to model healthy engagement across divides, but feel ill-equipped to do so. Many end up shying away from important moral and political issues for fear of controversy, tension, and rocking the boat.
RTT programs also support pastors and Christian leaders to share their own moral voices and concerns while addressing charged issues with a spirit of partnership in their communities.
We work with a range of Christian institutions and denominations—from conservative evangelical to historic Black church to mainline Protestant, and from local churches to denominational bodies, Christian colleges, and national organizations across the country.
Lynchburg, VA and Liberty University
In Lynchburg, VA—home to Liberty University and one of the epicenters of religious conservative life in the U.S.—we offered a training for ideologically diverse pastors throughout the Lynchburg area.
We opened up new dialogue across political differences at an evangelical church that is home to many Liberty University affiliates; and broke new ground with a skill-building training for faculty and administrators at Liberty University.
Greater Buffalo, NY
In the wake of violence and tragedy in Buffalo, RTT is building local relational infrastructure across strong ideological and racial divides.
Before bringing everyone together, we began with intra-group training enabling leaders to investigate internal differences constructively, including: workshops for conservative evangelical pastors; workshops for ELCA, United Methodist, Presbyterian, Muslim, and Jewish clergy & leaders; and workshops consisting primarily of historic Black church and BIPOC+ community leaders.
Synod of the Sun
We offered a multi-session training to leaders and pastors affiliated with Synod of the Sun, a convening body serving Presbyterians from 11 Presbyteries, 700 congregations, and 150,000 community members in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
The training provided actionable techniques to navigate and defuse communal conflict, build healthy communication across divisions, and integrate tools into congregations and religious institutions.
Resetting the Table is a paradigm-shifting training. It forces you to hit pause on everything you think you know about communication, and reevaluate the most effective ways of facilitating challenging conversations. It teaches that avoiding conflict is not the answer, but with the right tools, the right posture, and a willingness to engage, conflict can be transformative. It provides a way to discuss topics previously thought untouchable. I look forward to seeing how those conversations help my community grow and transform.”
RTT encourages and equips participants to have the most difficult discussions, which are also the most important conversations for the health and sustainability of our democratic society. We need to learn how to live and cooperate with people who are most unlike us. The opportunity to grow more aware of my own biases and patterns of conflict management was amazing. A main goal of mine is to authentically love my neighbor, and the skills RTT teaches enable love for our neighbor. I believe Christ compels us to seek the greatest good of our communities. As the lead minister of a largely morally conservative faith community that often feels discredited, RTT offers an opportunity to be heard and understood, as well as to hear and understand. I am very grateful.”
This process modeled effective communication that is both practical AND duplicatable. I truly valued the modeling of these skills by the coaches—it gave me the confidence to be able to use these tools. Coming out of this workshop, I feel like this can be replicated immediately in all aspects of my work and life!”
This is the best training on listening I've had… This program took me from a place of knowing my conflict avoidance style was not the best way to having the tools to know how to move forward in a different way. I'd always heard how important it is to allow conflict to exist, but no one has ever been so clear as to how to do that in ways that feel life-giving more than threatening… This has the potential to be life changing for a community. But only if done with skill. Looking back on 30 years of parish leadership, I see now that opening up more conversation on difficult issues would have been possible and healthy.”
Who would have thought that in so short a time you could help us bridge these divides! This program made me more confident and so much more hopeful that I can have difficult conversations on issues that can be so divisive. I realize how fearful I have been. And as a result, I was missing out on the opportunity for deeper connection as well as a greater understanding of others.”
