We find ourselves in uncertain times. How does our faith inform how we navigate uncertainty? How do uncertain times influence how our beliefs are shaped? How do we navigate uncertainty when it is about our beliefs themselves? Please join us for a dialogue where we will learn from one another about navigating unknowns.
Join us for a dialogue on grace. What is it? Why does it matter, if it does at all?
What does your belief system have to say about the notion of God having a plan in or for your life? Is this a comforting idea, an offensive one, or something else? Join us for a dialogue where we explore the relationship of our life-happenings and a deity’s plan.
Music is a profound universal language that spans traditions and cultures. Bring a sample of music that moves you, or a story of how music has moved you in a profound way. Join us for this group exploration of how our belief system is shaped and strengthened by music, or the way music itself shapes and strengthens us and our faith.
How has or does your belief system help you when you are at a crossroads? Join us for a dialogue that asks us to reflect on how our faith shapes or is shaped by the seasons in our lives that call for hard choices. Please note this dialogue is a mid-day Wednesday dialogue!
Dividing cultural lines these days can at times be drawn to geographic locales. Join us for a dialogue where we will harness the lens of our faith traditions, alongside our experience in a variety of geographies, to explore how geographic subcultures shape our lens of the world. We will consider together how this impacts how we relate from one area to the next. Hope to see you there!
Does your belief system say war is inevitable, sometimes good, always evil, something else? Join us for a dialogue where we explore and learn from one another how faith and war cross paths.
Join us for a dialogue where we explore our notion of "spirit” and how our lives have been guided, inspired, or even haunted by the notion or presence of spirit(s)!
Are you a people pleaser, or someone whose skin is extra thick when it comes to the possibility of not being liked? How does your belief system inform the way you value and/or navigate the way other humans perceive you? What about people you don’t know? What about people you love? Join us for a dialogue where we explore this tricky aspect of life and how we wrestle with it.
Join us for a dialogue on faith and substances. How is faith impacted by food and drink, and what it symbolizes in our faith traditions? What is the relationship between your belief system and potentially harmful or addictive substances? Come dialogue about the various dynamics between that which we ingest and what our beliefs have to say about that. Note: This is a Wednesday evening dialogue!
Join us for a dialogue about the thin veil, which is what some people call experiences or places where the space between the earthly realm and the realm of deity/deities is greatly diminished. Come learn and share with one another these powerful experiences that shape our faith, and that our faith helps to interpret.
Join us for a dialogue about how our belief systems create challenges and/or help for a time in our world in which gender norms are not always widely accepted in one way or another.
Join us for a dialogue - facilitated by Dash Kees! - to discuss the objects that are considered sacred to us and our traditions. We will talk about everything from rosaries to the Torah scrolls to Hamsa pendants, and more. Is it just “stuff” or is it sacred? And what role do sacred objects play in our spiritual life?
Join us for our classic Navigating Divisive Conversations workshop! If you have relationships in your life that have tension, or easily could, this workshop will help you with the building blocks of how to address potential or existing division in any sphere of our lives. Email carrie@thechurchlab.org for more info and to inquire about rates.
Is it just an empty phrase, or a powerful practice? Join us for a dialogue about what “thoughts and prayers” really means, where it comes from and where it takes us.
Who in your sacred texts, your faith, your life plays a significant support role? Why and how does that work, and what makes it so important? Join us for a dialogue where we learn about the steadfast support structures that have so often been the glue that hold together our faith traditions and communities.
Please join us for a volunteer opportunity at Casa Marianella. RSVP here!
Join us for a dialogue about the political stereotypes we wrestle with in our lives about “them.” How does your faith influence, help or challenge how you interface with those stereotypes?
Join us for a dialogue about a topic that resonates with the lives and loved ones of so many. How does our faith act as a lens for pain and illness?
Join us for our classic Facilitators’ Training. If you are an aspiring or experienced facilitator in any given environment, particularly where there exists a diversity of perspectives, join us to level up your skills and confidence! It’s a fun, interactive day that is dedicated to contextualizing your goals with the material we’ve gleaned from nearly 2 decades of facilitation. Email carrie@thechurchlab.org for more info and to learn about rates to attend.
Join in on a dialogue where we talk about the movies, shows, cartoons had a significant impact on our faith!
Join us for a dialogue about the relationship between our favorite sci-fi tales and the very real rise of A.I., and how our belief systems frame our understanding of both!
In uncertain, turbulent times, our belief system’s may inform how we approach/demand/question/embody courage. Join us for a dialogue where we share the way our faith traditions influence our relationship to courage.
Join us for a morning of volunteering at Casa Marianella in Austin!
RSVP here! Mon, Dec 15, 6-8PM CST
Join us for our last dialogue of the calendar year! You’re invited to share about, and even demonstrate a favorite exercise that is worshipful within your faith practice and/or community. Come share and learn about the beauty of one another’s traditions and what infuses them with meaning.
RSVP here! Mon, Dec 1, 6-8PM CST
Join us for a dialogue where we share why we are part of the belief system with which we identify. For those of us who have left a different tradition, we’ll reflect on what factors informed their movement away from that system and into either another one or an in-between place for this season. This makes for a vulnerable, deeply reflective and connective dialogue. Come on in!
RSVP here! Mon, Nov 17, 6-8PM CST - ZOOM ONLY
We live our lives surrounded by other-than-human animals, and our spiritual and philosophical traditions often have something to say about them and about our lives together. Join us, and our guest facilitator Dash Kees, as we explore how those traditions inform our relationship with the creatures that surround us.
SIGN UP here! Thurs, Nov 6, 6-8PM CST
Join us for our classic - and very timely! workshop. Learn more here! If you’re not available for this round, please email carrie@thechurchlab.org to let us know of your interest. We often schedule these on a rolling basis, and according to participants’ availability.
RSVP here! Mon, Nov 3, 6-8PM CST
Idolatry is a prominent theme in many faith traditions. Join us as we explore its importance in our traditions and in our lives, and how it gets expressed in our daily navigation of the world in a pluralistic society.
RSVP here! Mon, Oct 20th, 6-8PM CST
Join us for a dialogue about the purpose and influence of prophets and prophetic voices within and beyond our belief systems’ frameworks!
RSVP here! Mon 10/6, 6-8PM CST
A natural part of being human is co-existing with other humans with convictions that don’t always mesh well with our own. How does your belief system inform how you grapple with others whose beliefs may clash with your own, even as you seek to be a peacebuilder? Join us for this pivotal topic for a polarized season such as this.
Join us for our classic facilitators’ training! Check out more info here.
RSVP here! Mon, Sep 15, 6-8PM CST
Join us for a special spotlight dialogue from someone in our community we haven’t yet had an opportunity to learn more about! More info to come.
RSVP here! Thurs, Sep 11, 6-8PM CST
Join us for a night of nerding out about a particular theological topic! Topic TBA!
RSVP here! Mon, Sep 8, 6-8PM CST
What is Joy? What does it have to do with your belief system? Your daily life? How does it arrive and why does it go, if it does? Please join us as we explore how our theologies frame up our understanding and experience of JOY!
RSVP here! Mon, Aug 25th, 6-8PM CST
Join us as we kick off the fall together! If you’re local, please come IRL and be part of a potluck. If you’re on Zoom, please bring your own celebratory food! We’ll explore the purpose of movement, from kneeling to bowing to dancing, in our faith traditions.
RSVP here! WEDNESDAY, July 30th, 6-8PM CST
This is a special WEDNESDAY dialogue. We do this once a year, when our board of directors have driven and flown in and can join us in-person for this special session! Please join us, whether in-person or via Zoom!
For some of us, there is a Spirit among us. For some, there are many spirits. Perhaps there are angels and demons. Perhaps none of this exists for some. Join us as we explore our various belief systems around the spirit realm, its existence or not, its nature and purpose for being there or not.
RSVP here! Wed, July 23 6-8PM CST
Join us as we nerd out about a particular theological topic. The topic for this night is: Small Things, Big Difference. This will include concepts like the purpose of prayer and theology of the mundane, where seemingly small things hold bigger significance in our lives.
RSVP here! Mon, June 30th, 6-8pm CT
What does your belief system have to offer to the plight of the immigrant? How does this impact your engagement with the immigrant community, including if you yourself are an immigrant? How does this impact your civic engagement, or even participation in society? Come join us as we dig deep into our theological frameworks around this timely topic.
RSVP here! Mon, June 2, 6-8pm CT
Join us for a dialogue where we dive into a vulnerable question: What do I struggle with about my own belief system? What are the challenges I wrestle with, the parts of my faith tradition I don’t always like? What does it mean to continue to be a part of this belief system, even in the thick of this wrestling? What makes it worth it?
RSVP here! Mon, May 19, 6-8pm CT
Join us for a dialogue about the relationship of religion and culture. Are they friends, foes, both or neither? Come consider the various layers and angles of this inevitable, terrible, wonderful dynamic.
