Pastoring in Polarizing Times
Find your footing again in a time of division. Gather online with us for this free, two-day summit designed for ministry leaders navigating divided times,
September 8 - 9, 2025
What you will learn
Learn to lead through conflict without losing yourself.
Restore connection with your calling and your people.
Receive practices for healing fractured communities.
You didn’t enter ministry to referee political battles.
You were called to preach good news and love people well.
But now, every sermon feels risky.
Speak up, and you're too political.
Stay quiet, and you're complicit.
Even community service feels controversial.
You’re not alone.
Leaders everywhere are carrying this tension—longing for a faithful, loving way forward.
We see you.
And we want to walk with you.
How it Works…
Who is the Summit for?
This summit is for ministry leaders who are navigating the complexities of leadership in a divided world.
Whether you’re a pastor, clergy member, or faith leader serving in congregations or communities, if you’ve found yourself asking:
- How do I lead with courage when everything feels so fragile?
- How do I speak truth without alienating people I love?
- Is there a way forward that honors both my calling and my community?
Then this space was created with you in mind.
How do I access the Virtual Summit?
Scroll down this page to register for this event. Once registered, you don’t have to do anything else! We will send you an email reminder the day before the event with a link to access the video sessions when they live.
Details about the Summit
The free pass is good for 48 hours!
Pastoring During Polarizing Times is a 2-day virtual experience. The six video sessions will be available during a short 48-hour time frame from September 8 – September 9th, 2025.
The videos will be released on a schedule, with three videos released for your viewing on Sept. 8th and 3 more on Sept. 9th.
Each day, you will have the opportunity to participate in a live Q&A session (on Zoom) with our hosts, Dr. Rose Madrid Swetman and Dr. Kate Rae Davis. The link and time for this Q&A will be available in the Summit Home after the event has started.
If you miss the event, it is ok! The video sessions will be available for purchase.
Is there a deadline to register?
To register for the free Summit experience, you must sign up before September 7th, 2025. The Summit sessions will be available for purchase at a later date.
Can I purchase the Summit to watch later?
After the Summit experience is complete, you will have the opportunity to purchase the video sessions and any downloadable materials that go with them.
Speakers & Session Information
Topic: “When the past and present are a mess, imagine a better future”
In times of stress and uncertainty, many long to return to what once felt familiar, even if that past is only imagined. But the biblical prophets call us forward, not backward, inviting us to envision a future shaped by justice, hope, and renewal.
This session explores the power of prophetic imagination to guide us beyond polarization and paralysis. Rather than reacting to the chaos of the present or idealizing the past, leaders are invited to cultivate a vision compelling enough to draw communities toward something new.
Especially in seasons when there’s no going back, this kind of faithful imagination helps us begin sowing the seeds of a better future, one rooted in courage, compassion, and shared purpose.
Rachael Clinton Chen
Topic: “Tending the Wounds: The Power of Lament in Fragmented Times”
Participants will explore how lament can be integrated into pastoral care and leadership to tend to both personal and collective wounds. Rooted in theological reflection and practical wisdom, this conversation offers hope for restoring trust and wholeness within fractured communities of faith.
Topic: “Using Storytelling for Connection”
Stories are more than illustrations; they’re how we make sense of the world, find belonging, and encounter grace in everyday life.
In this session, you’ll explore the power of storytelling as a tool for authentic connection in ministry. Learn why stories matter so deeply to us, how to craft stories that resonate, and what it means to hold someone else’s story with care and integrity.
For those who are preaching, pastoring, or simply trying to connect across differences, storytelling can help bridge the gap and remind us of our shared humanity.
Andi Soccoccio & Rebecca Walston
Rev. Andrea (Andi) Saccoccio
Website
Rebecca Wheeler Walston, MA, J.D.
Website
Topic: “A Call to Civic Discipleship”
This session explores how the church can faithfully respond to growing polarization in our political and cultural landscape. You’ll gain tools and language to help facilitate courageous conversations in your community and learn how to bridge divides without compromising your convictions.
Rooted in cross-denominational wisdom, this conversation invites clergy and Christian leaders to imagine a healthier relationship between faith and public life—one marked by truth, love, and collective flourishing.
Topic: “New Ways for a New World: Leadership Beyond Boxes, Binaries, and Borders”
In these unprecedented times, faith leaders won’t be able to think, strategize, or theologize our way to something new. We need new ways for this new world, and it starts with embodying more healthy and tangible practices personally and as communities that reflect our truest values, heal wounds, catalyze freedom, and cultivate community.
Topic: “Effective Storytelling for Preaching”
Solid stories help people be able to recognize their own lives in sermons as well as equipping them to recognize the in-breaking of God’s grace in everyday life when they see it.