Rural Faith Workshop Series: May - October 2026
As part of our Rural Faith Initiative, the Center for Rural Strategies is excited to offer a monthly training series for faith leaders and allies to gather, connect, share knowledge, and learn a variety of skills that can help guide your community through moments of challenge and change. We welcome leaders and allies from across faith traditions.
We'll explore strategies for sharing stories, building relationships, navigating conflicts, facing loss, connecting with neighbors in and outside of the congregation, and growing faith communities into centers of community life.
These trainings will happen monthly through October. You are welcome to join us for just one, or for all of them, and you are welcome to spread the word and share this opportunity with others. We look forward to gathering with you!
Workshops 4 & 5: Facilitation
Whether we're working through an interpersonal issue, planning a project or program, deciding on a direction for strategic growth, or studying a controversial passage of Scripture, many of us often find ourselves needing to go into a room — physical or virtual — and guide a group of people through a process.
Facilitation 101: Tuesday, September 8, 11:30am-1:00pm ET (register)
Facilitation 201: Tuesday, October 13, 11:30am-1:00pm ET (register)
This two-part, hands-on workshop will provide a foundation of basic principles, techniques, and tips for facilitation of all kinds, as well as practice implementing them in our own contexts. The first part, Facilitation 101 (September 8), will offer a basic framework for planning and executing an effective meeting or gathering.
The second, Facilitation 201 (October 13), will delve deeper into how to tackle tough topics and common challenges. Both workshops will be interactive, with lots of time for participants to share their own experiences and support each other in applying what we learn to our own communities and congregations.
We encourage participants to attend both sessions, however there will be a short recap of the first session at the beginning of the second session.
Previous Workshops
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Workshop 3: Ethical Storytelling
Aug. 11
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Stories have the power to build empathy, shape narratives, inspire action, and influence how we understand one another. But with that power comes real responsibility.
This workshop will explore the nuances of ethical storytelling, focusing on how to share stories—especially those involving grief, trauma, vulnerability, marginalized communities, or lived experience—with integrity and care. Participants will examine common ethical challenges, including consent, representation, power dynamics, narrative ownership, and the tension between impact and exploitation. Register here to join us on August 11 from 11:00-1:30!
This training is part of a monthly series offered by the Center for Rural Strategies as part of our Rural Faith Initiative, as an opportunity faith leaders and allies to gather, connect, share knowledge, and learn a variety of skills that can help guide your community through moments of challenge and change. We welcome leaders and allies from across faith traditions.
We'll explore strategies for sharing stories, building relationships, navigating conflicts, facing loss, connecting with neighbors in and outside of the congregation, and growing faith communities into centers of community life.
July break: Rural Assembly Everywhere
Join us for Rural Assembly Everywhere on July 23 to hear from leaders and community members in communities across the United States! This virtual gathering is produced by our partner organization, Rural Assembly, which is also a project of the Center for Rural Strategies. Register here!
Workshop 2: How to Tell Stories Effectively in Public: Me, Us, and Now
Tuesday, June 9th
11:30-1:30 ET
How can we tell stories that connect with our neighbors and move people to act, on the pulpit and off? This hands-on training will explore the public narrative framework, a simple and effective tool for sharing personal stories (the story of self) that connect with a group's shared interests (the story of us) and lead to action (the story of now). Participants will learn the framework, study examples, and get practice crafting their own public narrative, based on the challenges and opportunities we all face in our own communities and congregations.
This training is part of a monthly series offered by the Center for Rural Strategies as part of our Rural Faith Initiative, as an opportunity faith leaders and allies to gather, connect, share knowledge, and learn a variety of skills that can help guide your community through moments of challenge and change. We welcome leaders and allies from across faith traditions.
We'll explore strategies for sharing stories, building relationships, navigating conflicts, facing loss, connecting with neighbors in and outside of the congregation, and growing faith communities into centers of community life.
Workshop 1: Leading Faith Communities Amidst Change
Tuesday, May 12
11:30-1:30 ET
REGISTRATION NOW CLOSED
The faith landscape in the United States is changing in rapid and sometimes unsettling ways. Faith leaders across the country are facing a battery of challenges: how do we guide our communities through this larger cultural moment while at the same time dealing with fewer and fewer attendees at church and fewer dollars in the collection plate? We will explore strategies and tools for building a healthy community culture, navigating change, grieving what we may be leaving behind, and looking ahead to what might be next.