FIND CURRENT AND ON-THE-WAY TOOLKITS FROM THE MINISTRY LAB AND OUR CREATIVE PARTNERS!

Not finding what you need?

The Ministry Lab will create a custom Toolkit for your congregation. Learn more here.

~~~

We are collaborating with the ELCA’s Indian Boarding School Truth Seeking and Truth Telling Initiative in creating a Day of Remembrance Worship & Learning Toolkit.

We’ll post the links here by August 14, 2026.

~~~

GRACEFUL CONVERSATIONS

Tired of divisiveness?

Eager for honest engagement?

Ready to contribute to social discourse – rather than wring your hands on the sidelines?

***

The Ministry Lab and Lutheran Advocacy – Minnesota are proud to share Graceful Conversations: Building Arcs across Divided Perspectives, a 5-part series of self-reflection and interpersonal growth to build safe(r) spaces for difficult discussions.

Objectives:

*Share the five-part series to create a strong core of trained facilitators.

*Strengthen congregational conversations.

*AND/OR engage the entire community for healthier conversations everywhere.

~~~

Each session includes:

  • ~25-40 minutes of video content
  • self-reflection
  • guided small and large group sharing
  • take-home spiritual practices

Find the full Toolkit here – with the Facilitator Guide, Participant Handouts, and Additional Resources

Find Sessions I-V videos bundled here.

***

Session 1: Identifying Self, Brokenness, & Community

~ Overview of Graceful Conversations’ Goals/Values, Toolbox, and Process

~Biblically Rooted Self-Reflection on Primary Identification & Group Norms

~Exploration of the Why’s of Disconnection – between Humans and between Humans and God

~Take-Home Breath Prayer: Prepare for Difficult Discussions

***

Session 2: Perceiving Values, the Inner-Polarizer, and the ‘Other’

~Why, How, and Where Polarization Shows up in Daily Life

~Polarization’s Five Characteristics

~Self-Reflection on Our Inner Polarizer

~Developing Core Values

~Take-Home Examen Practice: Living Daily into Core Values

***

Session 3: Creating Your Grace-Filled Toolbox

~Anticipatable Challenges of Difficult Discussions – with Loved Ones, Neighbors and New(er) Relationships

~Five Key Tools for Healthier Conversations and Resilience

~Take-Home Intercessory Practice: Pray for the ‘Other’

***

Session 4: Framing Graceful Conversations

~Effects of ‘Activation’ in Personal and Public Discourse

~’Framing’ Conversations: The Roles of Fear, Facts and Dualistic Thinking

~Practicing a Process of ‘Reframing’

~Take-Home Mindfulness Practice: Awareness of Self and Other

***

Session 5: Practicing Graceful Conversations

~’Challenging’ Others

~Emphasizing Connection: Build Relationships / Move toward Action

~Take-Home Practice: Engage in a Graceful Conversation

***

~~~

 

ALSO FROM THE MINISTRY LAB:

Six toolkits for engaging the whole congregation in re-imagining God’s preferred future, moving from the grip of fear to community action, re-learning the Israel & Palestine conflict, Creation Care, personal awareness, and Courageous Conversations:

~FROM ASH TO ACTION: EVEN THE STONES CRY OUT

CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH:

  • ISAIAH – shaping the Palm Sunday Path
  • WORKING PREACHER – organizing-focused text reflections
  • DAVID ‘AGAPE’ SCHERER – intergenerational embodied organizing skill-building practices
  • DN DR. DIANE JACOBSON – creation-centered text reflections & intergenerational discussion prompts
  • REV. EMILY MEYER – spiritual practices & liturgical elements
  • THE MINISTRY LAB – children’s book & music suggestions; bulletin announcements
  • ECOFAITH SUMMIT ORGANIZING TEAM

The Lenten path begins in ash, but ash is only the beginning, for from ash grows community.

In contrast to the dominant politics of hate, greed, and injustice, we walk the path – across Minnesota and the country – organizing, preparing to march, proclaiming God’s values, the Good News of Christ: feed the hungry, heal the sick, welcome the stranger, care for creation.

Let us ‘be Christ’s body now’ on behalf of the whole planet.

AVAILABLE HERE.

~~~

~FROM HATE TO HEARTH: HOME BY ANOTHER WAY – EPIPHANY, 2026

A six-week intergenerational faith formation series inviting visioning, collaborative creation, and resilience-building as we listen for, watch for, and work toward God’s preferred future.

Based on meditations by Diana Butler Bass and Rev. Cameron Trimble.

AVAILABLE HERE.

~~~

~Israel & Palestine: Learn, Pray, Advocate – With difficult discussion guidelines, age-appropriate prompts for Biblical and historical learning, worship tips & elements, guest speakers, tools to counter Antisemitism & Islamophobia, and more, this Toolkit opens a difficult topic to those ready to work for understanding and peace.

~~~

 

~Eco-Anxiety Toolkit – notice, name, and address climate-related mental health concerns

 

 

~~~

~Courageous Spaces: Congregations that Listen, Lament, & Repair – hone skills for difficult discussion, develop trust within diverse perspectives, and deepen belonging in God’s Beloved Community

~~~

~WaterThreads – connect local watersheds, Biblical narratives, and Indigenous Water Protectors

 

 

 

~~~

~Created for the ELCA’s Truth-Seeking & Truth-Telling Initiative on Indian Boarding Schools, which seeks to ensure that the truth is told and that learning happens, and strives to inspire learners to become sharers: at events, workshops, and within congregations.

~~~

In Progress:

In collaboration with Pacific Lutheran School of Theology and the Building a Moral Economy Project:

FROM FEAR TO FIRE: A RESURRECTION ROAD

‘When a caterpillar spins its chrysalis, its body starts to break down into this nutrient-rich group, and within that nutrient-rich group are what are called imaginal cells. Those cells have an imagination of what it could be that’s different from the caterpillar, and it’s so different that what’s left of the caterpillar’s immune system starts to attack these imaginal cells and to kill some of them. But many of these imaginal cells survive. They find each other and begin to clump, they begin to survive the attacks of the immune system. As they continue to clump and come together and recognize each other, they start to specialize into a wing, an antenna, an eye, and a leg until they emerge as a butterfly, a transformed creature…

We’re sort of like imaginal cells.’

~Emily Kawano, economist, educator, innovator; Moral Economy, pg. 136-137

***

From Fear to Fire invites congregations to imagine a future of God’s justice and abundance and be transformed as they live into that future.

Based on Building a Moral Economy (for adults), The Marrow Thieves (for teens), and theme-appropriate children’s books, the series includes intergenerational reading, worship, discussion, activities, spiritual practices, and justice work, through which congregations will explore the multitude of historical and ongoing injustices that have led to our current intersectional crises of climate change, racism, poverty, and political upheaval. Through progressive practices congregations are empowered and equipped to transform – from the inside out – into more just, equitable, and sustainable communities.