Our Shoulder to Shoulder staff team are excited to join ELCA Rostered Ministers for a mini-Faith Over Fear Workshop. Nina Fernando (our Executive Director), Cassandra Lawrence (our Director of Strategic Communications), and Becca Tyvoll (our Operations & Local Partnerships Manager), will lead the two hour workshop.

The ELCA was a founding member of The Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign and has provided leadership on the Executive and Steering Committees. In collaboration with ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, we propose a workshop based on our Faith Over Fear course, which was created to equip faith and community leaders to improve confidence and skills for speaking against anti-Muslim rhetoric, increase community discussions, and build stronger local multi-religious networks to effectively counter anti-Muslim discrimination.

The workshop will cover: grounding this work in Lutheran theology and Christian vocation, understanding and contextualizing anti-Muslim discrimination, messaging and communicating, and strategies for engagement and change. In the first 15 minutes, our facilitator will help participants identify values and ideals for this work grounded in their Lutheran faith. In the next hour, we will identify who American Muslims are and how discrimination is showing up in our communities. In the final hour and 20 minutes, we will teach ways that communication can build community and solidarity, and strengthen bonds across diverse communities, while sharing the strategies of those who are addressing this issue on the ground. This workshop will highlight the partnership between Shoulder to Shoulder and Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations in the Office of the Presiding Bishop, and uplift opportunities for ELCA rostered ministers to get involved in the Campaign.

Registration is open to all pastors and deacons who are on the roster of the ELCA.