Portland Virtual Summit

Let’s talk! Sexual brokenness did not go away when COVID-19 hit. As you most likely know, pornography use went up 20% immediately and is likely even higher today. That's just what we can measure. Discussion around sexual brokenness is more relevant today than ever.

Portland Area Virtual Summit

WHAT

A summit with live discussion throughout
A collaborative effort to answer the difficult questions about sex facing the church today
Real questions about sexuality from Portland area churches
Presenting a framework to answering questions about sexuality
Small, live, breakout groups to discuss answers to real questions

WHO

Portland/Vancouver area pastors and church staff
Limited to 48 attendees
6 smaller breakout groups of 8 for better discussion

COST: $20

WHAT YOU GET

A framework to answer any question about sex and sexuality through.
A better understanding of the Biblical narrative on sexuality.
Free access to a recording of the summit for use with your staff and as a reference.
Great conversation with your peers here in the Northwest!

Questions We Will Answer Together

We asked you and you told us the questions and scenarios you would like more training to respond to well. Here are real scenarios from Portland churches that we will work together to find good responses to:

A guy & girl begin to attend church who are not married but living together. After a few sermons they ask you, “Does the Bible really say we aren’t supposed to live together before marriage? Why does that matter?” How is the best way to respond?
Where is the line about who is allowed to serve in what position at a church for a person living outside of the Biblical narrative on sexuality?
Woman comes to pastor saying she wants to come to church but before she does she wants to know if the pastor thinks being a lesbian is a sin. She says she will not come if the pastor says “yes.”
How do you respond to the statement, “I believe God would want us to all experience love and I’m attracted to the same sex, so God must approve of me being in a homosexual relationship.”
A gay couple, legally married, with a son who is the biological child of one in the couple start coming to your church. They become Christians at your church. What do you do as a pastor? What about the youth/children’s pastor in charge of care for the child?
The teacher in a Sunday School class for 10-year-olds tells the pastor that during class the teacher referred to a table as “you girls over here,” and the class all blurted out, “No, ‘so-and-so’ is a boy” when ‘so-and-so’ appears to be a girl in a dress. The teacher comes to the pastor and asks what to do.
How do we as a church hope parents/students navigate the Oregon public school sexual orientation curriculum?

Live, Interactive Training Topics

1. What We Believe: Blake Williams, Executive Director of Pure Life Alliance
We cannot talk about what we believe about sex until we talk about what we believe about God. What are the Christian beliefs about God that play directly into all the questions our culture is asking?

2. Sexual Brokenness: Brad Peterson (MAPS, LPC, LMHC) Pastor of Family & Care, Grace Chapel
In a world that celebrates problematic sexual behavior, we need a clear narrative on what sexual brokenness is. How do we talk about sexual brokenness in today’s culture?

3. Identity: Carolyn Lu (LPC, NCC) Pastor of Wholeness, Rolling Hills Community Church
What if Satan’s goal with the onslaught against sexuality is to ruing our connection & identity with God? How do we change the conversation surrounding identity from defensive to thought provoking?

4. What Sex is For: Nick Stumbo, Executive Director of Pure Desire Minstries
Church leader training rarely spends much time on what God created sex to be for beyond reproduction. We need to know how to clearly teach what sex is for before we talk about ways it becomes broken.

5. Narratives on Sexuality: John Fort (MST) Director of Training with Be Broken Ministries
Much of our anxiety and confusion about sex comes from trying to merge a faulty sexual narrative with our faith when they do not fit together. We will compare two common sexual narratives with a Biblical narrative that few have heard.

Discussion

This will be a zoom MEETING, not a webinar. You can be visible along with all other attendees and we will be able to hear you during discussions.
We will have breakout discussions in 6 “virtual table” groups to try to answer the questions listed above, as well as any others you want to discuss.
We will share each group’s responses with all attendees at the end.

Location
Live online summit