Coinciding with Pope Francis' visit today, the Episcopal Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America bishops are meeting in Washington, DC. The conference theme is Deliberative Discipleship – Deliberative Democracy. Groups are deliberating today using the National Issues Forums (NIF) issue guide, America's Energy Future: How Can We Take Charge?
An issue guide titled Gender-Based Violence: What Steps Should The Church Take? is available as a free download. The 8-page issue guide was written by Rev. R. Gregg Kaufman, Th.M., who is a retired Lutheran pastor and university professor, and a Kettering Foundation research associate and National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) member.
America's Energy Future: How Can We Take Charge? is a new "starter video" preview that is now available to watch online at the National Issues Forums (NIF) YouTube channel. This two-and-a-half-minute video gives an overview of the material presented in the NIF issue guide of the same title, and makes a great introduction to the issue for groups participating in a deliberative forum.
In this post, Gregg Kaufman describes some present and future projects in which some faith communities will be exploring the use of National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) materials to help people talk about difficult and important public issues.
Watch this eight-minute video about a collaboration between Windsor Middle School students and teachers; and State University of New York (SUNY), Broome, that introduced 7th and 8th graders to the practice of deliberating events in U.S. history as difficult choices among several possible approaches. The video was published to YouTube on June 24, 2015.
When I was thirteen I had a dream. In the dream I was given a challenge; if I could “find” civilization, my life –and everyone else’s life- would be longer and better.
