Thank You!

We got a very nice thank you from the folks at Billings Forge Apartments. They were very grateful for our support of their Baclk to School BBQ. We hope to continue to build these relationships and connections with our neighbors!

"Hi Ben - I want to thank you so much with the partnership and the donations you gave to our residents in the BBQ and thanks for the extra mile you put in finding backpack donations from the Hispanic Health Council. We appreciate you!

Thanks to the volunteers that came from your church (Riverfront Family Church) they were awesome with our kids playing all those games.. I think they had more energy than the kids!! Say hi from me and many thanks for coming to the BBQ! 🙏 We really enjoyed having all of you at the BBQ with us!😊

Please let me know if you want to get involved with this community enagagement in the future. We are definitely looking for more opportunities!

You Are Invited...

Friends, you are invited to Healing Conversations.

Our training workshop for conducting Healing Conversations will take place on Saturday, September 10, from 9:00 to 4:00. We will meet in our RFC space at Immanuel. There is no cost for the workshop, and we will have lunch together. You will pay for your own lunch.

There is still space available for participants, please let me know if you would like to join us. Feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about the training event.

Here is a brief description of the day’s work.

The United States is in a precarious situation. The divide and hostility between those on the cultural and political “right” and those who are typically understood as “liberal” or “progressive” has reached a dangerous place. As Christians, we are all given the ministry of peacebuilding and reconciliation (e.g., Matthew 5.9; 38-48; 2 Corinthians 5.14-24). I have become convinced that it is now time to implement peacebuilding and conflict transformation methodologies that are used in conflict zones around the world (e.g., Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Columbia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The first set of training events were conducted in Utah in March of this year. I am now at work to disseminate them across the country.

The day will include information about the importance of our stories, trauma, values, identity, fears, needs, and more. We will discuss the meaning of violence, peace, democracy, conflict, systems, truth, justice, compassion, reconciliation, humility, courage, and moral imagination. I will do some teaching, but mostly the workshop will be a matter of discussion and participation in practices of conflict transformation. Techniques necessary to overcome toxic polarization will be learned and practiced. The training event will have a double, overlapping purpose: to train participants in the facilitation of such an encounter group, and to model the organization and process of such an event.

The skills learned and information gained will be useful for engagement in conflict of various kinds (at work, in the family, etc.) even though my purpose and focus is located in the political danger of our moment.

You are welcome to invite others to participate in this training session and persons need not identify as Christian to be involved. The workshop will not rely on theological language.

I hope to see you on the 10th! Please let me know if you are interested.

Grace and peace,

Michael

Michael Minch

Education for Global Peace

michaelminch2@gmail.com

801.651.5659

Vision Process Update

Friends,

The process of conversation and discernment we have used this summer to take an inventory of where we are as a church, and where we want to go, who we are, and who we want to be—is not over!

We have been in a time of reflection and anticipation, waiting for Pastor Michael to join us. Now that he is one of our pastors and settling in, it is time to revisit the journey we’ve been on, as we have revisited our identity, purpose, mission, and vision.

Here, we restate the summary of our conversations, but we will also add some ideas about mission and leadership generated by our pastors and the board.

As a community, Riverfront Family Church

• Values diversity and inclusivity of many kinds, from the differences of racial identity to theological and spiritual to neurodiversity.

• Welcomes and embraces children and youth.

• Commits to healing, wellbeing, and social justice.

• Intends to be a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community.

• Encourages engagement in deconstruction, seeking, and belief in whatever swirling and fluid combination they are at, at any given time.

• Aspires to be a powerful force of ministry in the Hartford area.

• Commits to anti-racism and building peace and reconciliation.

• Engages the problematic [sic recommend change to ‘challenges”] of climate change.

• Commits to helping others encounter Jesus and become more like him, that spiritual

• growth and discipleship is integral to our purpose and Mission.

We are an “experiment” of sorts, and “quirky”! We affirm that we want to be available to one another, building up our church “bearing one another’s burdens” and caring for one another with love.

For the past several weeks, the board and our pastors have discussed a new model of leadership and ministry that we believe fits well with the vision summarized above. We did not “roll out” this model and language because we waited for Pastor Michael to join us and give his input.

The idea is that there will be six “Action Teams” (in our now tentative language) in the church, each with leadership from someone not on the board, and each with a board member who is a liaison to that Action Team. They are the:

• Worship Action Team

• Fellowship (about ministry to and with members of RFC) Action Team

• Community Engagement (about ministry beyond RFC) Action Team

• Spiritual Growth Action Team

• Justice Action Team

• Children and Youth Action Team

Realising that stewardship is critically important to all that we do, we have discussed the merits of a Stewardship Action Team or rather, making sure we keep focused on stewardship in all the Action Teams.

You will recall that early this summer you received a message about the possible adoption of a Purpose Statement or Mission Statement (noting that our church simply does not have one). This idea is still alive. We (your pastors and board) will suggest a Statement in the weeks ahead.

We will present a campaign and process of transition from these ideas and commitments to the embodiment of them. That is, as a church, we believe we are now ready to move from conversation and discernment about our identity, purpose, and mission, toward the structures that will incarnate our vision, fellowship, and ministry. All church members will have the explicit opportunity to volunteer for ministry in a number of different ways.

Please look for, and pray for, the beginning of this transition on Sunday, September 18. Please join us in a season of anticipation.