Truth in Love

Truth in Love is a special Synod initiative that began in the fall of 2022, focusing on healthy conflict management and intentional peace-building in congregations and communities throughout the Virginia Synod. Truth in Love fulfills its ministry through education, support, and accompaniment in two different avenues – the proactive avenue and the responsive avenue.

The proactive avenue is for congregations, communities, and individuals who would like to better equip themselves for when conflict arises, and for them to learn how to live into times of conflict with new tools and healthy boundaries. Stand-alone learning opportunities, as listed below, will be offered throughout the year where participants can learn and hone new concepts. Workshops are available in-person and via Zoom. Congregations can also work together to form Cohorts to participate in this work together – see below for more information about the Peninsulas Conference Cohort.

The second avenue of the Truth in Love Initiative is the responsive avenue. This is for congregations or communities that are currently in the midst of conflict. It is a contextual approach to the specific conflict that is occurring. During this one-on-one approach, intentional peace-building is the focus, facilitated by consultation, mediation, and education as needed.

As Truth in Love continues to grow, more education opportunities will be added, and a team of rostered ministers and lay leaders will receive training to assist congregations experiencing conflict. For more information about Truth in Love, or if you would like to be involved in this ministry, please contact Pr. Liz Radtke at radtke@vasynod.org.

Winter 2023 Learning Opportunities

Truth in Love Workshop: Introduction to Conflict Management

Focusing on the Normalization of Conflict, Mutuality, Active Listening, and Following & Responding

Conflict is a natural part of living in community; managing conflict in Christlike ways doesn’t always come naturally. The Truth in Love Initiative of the Virginia Synod invites you to the workshop “Introduction to Conflict Management” to provide you with some tools to healthily approach conflict management. Those tools include: Normalization of Conflict, Mutuality, Active Listening, and Following & Responding. The workshops will be led by the Virginia Synod Truth in Love Coordinator, Rev. Liz Radtke.

Three Introductory Workshops will be offered: Messiah Lutheran in Mechanicsville on Saturday, January 14, 2023; Grace Lutheran in Waynesboro on Saturday, January 21, 2023; and via Zoom on Sunday, January 22nd. The cost per person is $25. The workshops are open to rostered ministers and laypersons. If registering for an in-person workshop, bring your lunch. For questions, contact Pastor Liz Radtke at radtke@vasynod.org. To register go to: https://vasynod.org/events/ and select your workshop.

Truth in Love Workshop: Speaking in Love
Focusing on Nonviolent Communication and Emotional Intelligence

Living in community is based on making and maintaining authentic connections. And authentic connections are made through healthy communication. Whether a community is in the midst of conflict or is just going about its day-to-day business, it is important to communicate well and to speak in love. This workshop will begin with assisting participants to know themselves better, which will allow them to enter into “compassionate communication,” leading to the formation of authentic connections.

Being heard, understood, and accepted is one of the most powerful gifts that we can grant to others. This workshop will focus on the concepts of Nonviolent Communication and Emotional Intelligence to provide the tools participants need to speak to one another in love.
Three Workshops will be offered during the first two weeks in March: two in-person sessions and one digital session. The cost per person is $25. The workshops are open to rostered ministers and laypersons. If registering for an in-person workshop, bring your lunch. For questions, contact Pastor Liz Radtke at radtke@vasynod.org.

Truth in Love Workshop: Implicit Bias – What You Don’t Think You Think

Perhaps you’ve heard this term – “implicit bias.” This workshop will unpack the term and the effect it can have on conflict management and speaking in love. We will look at: 1) Recognizing Implicit Bias; 2) Questioning Implicit Bias; 3) Transforming Implicit Bias. More information will be available as the event dates get closer.

Three Workshops will be offered during the last two weeks in April: two in-person sessions, and one digital session. The cost per person is $25. The workshops are open to rostered ministers and laypersons. If registering for an in-person workshop, bring your lunch. For questions, contact Pastor Liz Radtke at radtke@vasynod.org.

2023 Peninsulas Conference Learning Cohort

Five congregations of the Peninsulas Conference will gather together from January to May 2023 to learn more in-depth concepts surrounding conflict management. They will cover the topics in the four workshops and go further with extended education on communication styles, managing change & conflict, mediation skills, reconciling skills, and creating a conflict flow chart. They will accompany each other, share resources, and grow together, as they will explore contextual applications of what they are learning. As the Cohort draws to a close this training will dovetail with the beginning phases of work related to congregational vitality.

If you would like to see a Cohort in your Conference please contact Pr. Liz Radtke at radtke@vasynod.org

Cohort Payment Link – https://secure.myvanco.com/L-YR1Z/campaign/C-13C7A

For those participating in the cohort, please use this link for the Conflict Management Survey.

Connections and Resources

  • Active Listening Techniques: 30 Practical Tools to Hone Your Communication Skills, Nixaly Lenonardo, LCSW, Rockridge Press.  com/nixaly-leonardo%2C-lcsw-1
    • From their website:
      • To listen actively is to listen with complete attention and an engaged mind and body. And, while it may come naturally to some, it’s also a skill that can be honed through practice. Active Listening Techniques will help you do just that, so you can ensure the people around you feel respected, understood, and heard.

  • The Friendly Style Profile: A Guide Through Calm and Storm. Susan K. Gilmore, Patrick W. Fraleigh. Friendly Press.  com
    • From their website:
      • The 20-item questionnaire and 38 page interpretation booklet (FSP) respectfully surveys personal style strengths and excesses in both calm and storm. Individuals working with a facilitator, or on their own, quickly understand that style strengths, left unchecked, become excessive and lead to trouble. The FSP emphasizes appreciating style diversity as well as accepting responsibility for oneself. Suggestions for managing oneself and bringing out the best in others help guide a person through the calm and storm that occur in every workplace.
  • Nonviolent Communication: A Language for Life (3rd Edition), Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD, Puddle Dancer Press.  com
    • From their website:
      • Nonviolent Communication, (NVC), is based on the principles of nonviolence– the natural state of compassion when no violence is present in the heart. NVC begins by assuming that we are all compassionate by nature and that violent strategies—whether verbal or physical—are learned behaviors taught and supported by the prevailing culture.
    • NVC also assumes that we all share the same, basic human needs, and that all actions are a strategy to meet one or more of these needs. People who practice NVC have found greater authenticity in their communication, Increased understanding, deepening connection and conflict resolution.

  • Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Mediation and Reconciliation Skills for the Church, Editor:  The Lutheran World Federation.  org
    • From their website:
      • In Blessed Are the Peacemakersscholars and theologians from the LWF Latin America and the Caribbean and North America offer churches their experience of “practical approaches to dialogue” for change and reconciliation in the church and its community. They discuss several topics including how God’s word inspires a vision of equity and inclusion that can help to prevent conflict. They also explore Christian responsibility for promoting peace in cities through politics and dialogue, and how welcoming communities and hospitality can be nurtured in spite of the fear of “the stranger.”
  • Mediation Skills Training Institute for Church Leaders. Lombard Mennonite Peace Center.  Comprehensive training for Peacemaking and Mediation.  org
    • From their website:
      • This 5-day event is designed to equip church leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to deal effectively with interpersonal, congregational, and other forms of group conflict. It also includes a component on congregational mediation and consultation, placed within the context of family systems theory. Although focused primarily on the church setting, the skills learned are directly transferable to other settings, including the business and academic worlds.
  • Promise and Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations, David R. Brubaker, An Alban Institute Book.  The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. Rowman.com
    • From their website:
      • In Promise and Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations, David Brubaker brings the tools of organizational theory and research to the task of understanding the deeper dynamics of congregational conflict. With a doctorate in sociology and more than twenty years working with congregational conflicts, Brubaker helps to explore the causes and effects of conflicts on a wide range of congregations. This book will help congregations avoid the pitfalls of conflict and instead head toward a healthy relationship between and among church staff and members.
  • Peace Skills: Manual for Community Mediators, Ronald S. Kraybill, A. Frazer Evans, Jossey-Bass Press. wiley.com
    • From their website:
      • Part of the Peace Skills Set…It covers conflict analysis, the role of mediation, the stages of mediation, communication skills, and working with group conflicts and in cross cultural settings.

  • Emotional Intelligence for Religious Leaders, John Lee West, Roy M. Oswald, Nadyne Guzmán, An Alban Institute Book. The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. com
    • From their website:
      • Religious leaders require tremendous skill in emotional intelligence, yet their training very rarely addresses how to develop the practical skills needed—from self-awareness to resilience. Emotional Intelligence Religious Leaders draws on the latest research in business, psychology, and theology to offer religious leaders the information and tools they need to increase their emotional intelligence and enhance their relationships, communication and conflict management skills, spirituality, and overall well-being.

  • Implicit Bias: What You Don’t Think You Thin Individual or Group On-line Course. Facilitated by Rev. Michelle Ledder. General Commission on Religion and Race, The United Methodist Church.  Gcorr.teachable.com
    • From their website:
      • This resource has been created for anyone who is interested in learning and teaching others about implicit bias…This course contains learning engagements organized into three overarching areas: 1. Recognizing Implicit Bias; 2.  Questioning Implicit Bias; and 3. Transforming Implicit Bias.
  • Tapestry: Racial Justice Maurice Gallimore, Rev. Harry Griffith, Rev. Kayla Keilholtz.  On-line Workshop from Midwinter Power in the Spirit 2022.  Virginia Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  https://vasynod.org/ministries/tapestry/. This website contains many resources pertaining to justice issues:  Racial Justice, LGBTQIA+, Care of Creation Justice, and Justice for Women.  The Tapestry Team also leads Unconscious Bias Trainings throughout the synod.
    • From their website:
      • Authorized by this Synod’s congregations in 2003, Tapestry’s mission is to empower congregations in the Virginia Synod to be boldly inclusive in matters of diversity and inclusion, walking with God, and guided by the Holy Spirit to bring healing, reconciliation, and justice.  Tapestry provides resources, facilitates conversations, and fosters networking across the Synod in order to advocate for God’s desire to weave a rich and diverse Body of Christ!

Coming Soon

The Rev. Liz Radtke

Email:  radtke@vasynod.org

Phone:  540-389-1000