GFM National Staff Conference 2014 Audio Files

Welcome to Our Table: Growing Together in Cross-Cultural Hospitality

Kathy Cooper and the GFM Leadership Team welcomed GFM Staff to the Graduate and Faculty Ministries National Staff Conference, held March 18 - 20, 2014 in Mundelein, IL. The conference planning committee, (comprised of Alice Brown-Collins, Rob Howe, Kathy Tuan-MacLean, Nancy Pedulla, Lorrey Thabet, and Kathy Cooper) prayed that our staff would experience the hospitality of Jesus and grow in our capacity to extend God’s welcome to students and faculty of all ethnicities and cultures.

The learning goals for our meeting were:

  1. to grow in our reliance on God and commitment to prayer for strong cross-cultural relationships, teams, and ministries in GFM.
  2. to strengthen a culture of cross-cultural hospitality in GFM by learning to see ourselves as hosts and guests, and learning to welcome others who are different.  We want to grow in our understanding of God’s hospitality and love for all peoples and nations, and ground our multi-ethnic learning and practices in the hospitality of Jesus.
  3. to increase our cross-cultural competency in GFM by learning to build trust, and by learning and practicing cross-cultural communication skills (such as: listening, dialogue, asking questions, storytelling, and navigating differences) that will strengthen our teams and ministries on campus.
  4. to grow in awareness of our own ethnic identity and the ethnic/cultural identities of our neighbors through the process of sharing and hearing our stories.We all want to grow in our reliance on God and commitment to prayer for strong cross-cultural relationships, teams, and ministries in GFM.

Together we learned from scripture (Acts 6 and 8), from one another and from cross-cultural training. The following speakers were recorded during plenary sessions and two of our five seminar presentations:

  1. Bobby Gross, Welcome to Our Table (3.18.2014)
  2. Nancy Pedulla, Update from the GFM Multiethnic Task Force (3.19.2014)
  3. Nancy Pedulla, Exposition of Acts 8 (3.20.2014)
  4. Orlando Crespo, Seminar on A Theological Basis for Multiethnicity (3.20.2014)
  5. Charles Yu, Seminar on Ethnic Identity Development (3.20.2014)

We hope the sharing of these resources will allow all GFM staff to learn and grow in our cross-cultural mindset of ministry, welcoming all who draw near.

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