TCF Annual Conference: Gather | Practice | Witness: A Journey toward Hope

One premise of The Colossian Way is that engaging—rather than avoiding—conflict provides a productive context for practicing forbearance, patience, kindness, and love. But surfacing conflict can be risky and challenging. Based on a close study of one TCW group, this workshop discusses the communication patterns through which the group avoided conflicts. The workshop reports the findings of the study, which found that a central challenge facing TCW participants is imagining communication in the face of conflict outside of debate. The workshop will offer dialogic communication as an alternative communication practice for productively engaging conflict and will discuss dialogic questioning as one practice that can help Christians productively engage divisive issues in the church.