Does talking to people who don’t agree with you feel like an exercise in futility? During FCNL’s June Quaker Changemaker event, we’ll discuss the value of engaging with differing views and present some techniques to have those conversations faithfully and effectively.
Register to join the conversation on June 23 at 6:30 p.m. EDT.
Drawing on theoretical, strategic, and spiritual frameworks from Quaker tradition, speakers Karen Tibbals and Val Liveoak will showcase new skills for communicating across political divides, seeing that of God in people we disagree with, and building relationships to make change in Congress and in our communities. FCNL’s Bobby Trice will moderate the conversation.
Speakers
Karen Tibbals is the former co-clerk of Rahway Plainfield Monthly Meeting in New Jersey and a graduate of the Earlham School of Religion. She holds a travel minute for this work from her meeting, and has been doing presentations at various Quaker meetings and regional gatherings.
She is also the author of two books, the most recent of which was endorsed by spiritual teacher Richard Rohr as a “helpful guide to understanding people in such a way that you can talk to them more productively.”
Val Liveoak is the emerita coordinator of Friends Peace Teams’ Peacebuilding en las Américas program, having retired after 12 years of active service. For 25 years, she has been an active Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) facilitator, and has co-facilitated workshops in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Ecuador, and many others.
With colleagues from Africa, Latin America and Asia, she has developed a Community Based Trauma Healing (AVP Advanced) workshop, that has been used with displaced people and former combatants in Colombia, victims of domestic violence in Latin America, and AVP facilitators and participants in the US.
Bobby Trice will moderate the event. As FCNL’s Quaker engagement associate, Bobby cultivates relationships with Friends and other FCNL constituents. He supports Quakers’ spirit-led advocacy on Capitol Hill and around the nation. A member of Friends Meeting of Washington, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Bobby carries a concern for drawing connections between Friends’ faith, history, community, and witness in the world and honoring that of God in each of us.