Learn more about Networking Sessions
National Conference Networking Sessions are opportunities for conference attendees to gather around the important issues we share. These sessions are not workshops; instead, their purpose is to create space for one or more of the following reasons:
- gathering with other National Conference attendees from the same location (state/regional)
- gathering around affinity groups such as CCDA church planting, academic institutions, leadership development programs, social issues, market solutions, etc.
Check out our offerings below for #ccdaReimagine! If you have any questions regarding networking sessions, email Christina at [email protected]
#ccdaReimagine Networking Sessions
| #transformED Networking Session | Join CCDA’s Education Equity network-#transformED- & get to know like-minded practitioners & help shape our national education equity agenda for all students. |
| AAPIs in CCD | A space for AAPI practitioners from every context to connect. This session will allow discussion around the unique strengths and needs of the AAPI community. The group will explore how AAPI cultural backgrounds can inform and embolden CCD work. |
| Affordable Housing | This networking session will gather CCDA practitioners who are working to address the growing local, regional, and national need for affordable housing. |
| Behavioral Health Professionals in the CCD World | This session will allow for sharing amongst those who either work in a CCD organization or who partner with one to talk about how to integrate professional services around mental health and/or addictions (substance use disorders) into CCD philosophy and efforts in our communities. This will also allow for connecting professionals beyond the CCDA conference to be able to network with each other and be resources for each other as needed throughout the year. |
| BGU Networking Session | Update on BGU, Networking for alumni, current students, and prospectives |
| Border Southwest Region | Gather with CCD practitioners from the Border Southwest Region of the US for networking and conversation about how to better connect and collaborate. |
| CCD Rural Practitioners | This networking session will serve as an opportunity to connect, get to know, and learn from rural practitioners all over CCDA |
| CCDA Gender Equity | Mutuality in leadership between women and men in churches and faith-based organizations is rarely easy but is critical to the empowerment and development of communities. Join us as we connect around gender equity. |
| CCDA Veterans (10+ years in CCDA) | Let’s network! Our commonality is involvement in Christian community development for ten years or more. Our goal is to grow relationships by establishing new connections or going deeper with existing relationships. |
| Church Forsaken: Practicing Place-based Presence | What does the CCD philosophy of being “church-based” mean when the church itself is losing ground? This networking session is an opportunity for church members to engage with Pastah J and his Cultivating Communities team to reflect on the places in which they find themselves. The conversation will be facilitated around a series of questions that get to the root (or lack thereof!) of church life. |
| Conexiones: Practitioners Working Within the Latino Community | This networking session will provide an opportunity for practitioners whose work centers on the Latino community to connect with one another and dialogue about best practices for developing and sustaining community-rooted partnerships. Participants will share their own experiences and learn what approaches – both successful and unsuccessful – others have utilized to build collaborative relationships with community stakeholders. Participants will leave feeling encouraged and motivated to start, continue, and/or strengthen work with the Latino community. |
| Digital Professionals Meet-up | Since the pandemic, many of our organizations have relied solely on the digital realm to run our programs, advocate, and organize. Join this networking group to support and encourage each other as digital professionals! New and veteran digital folks welcome. We’ll discuss successes and have time for those burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask a group of digital peers. You’ll have the opportunity to split into groups based on areas of digital work: emails, social media, advocacy, and websites. |
| Economic Empowerment | Bring your lunch and meet others who are working on the front lines of jobs training, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship. Hosted by Chalmers Center (creators of When Helping Hurts), come discuss how the pandemic has added new complexity to long-standing inequities. You’ll have the opportunity to share ideas and experiences in small groups as we examine time-tested and creative methods that ministries can use in this post-COVID economic landscape. Order lunch to go and bring your own. We’ll provide fruit and dessert. |
| Emerging Voices of Color (Millennial/Gen Z) | BIPOC faith has been deeply formed by the experiences of their people. Their narratives and faith practices developed over generations are rooted in context, cultural values, and the struggle for justice. This is a session to learn from one another and develop a collective memory that leads to a prophetic imagination. This will help connect emerging BIPOC leaders who are integrating faith and CCD as a part of their leadership and vocation. This will be a space to discover shared interests and see how BIPOC leaders might collectively leverage their resources. |
| Foster Care Practitioners | Meet others that share the burden of foster care and want to partner to change the narrative. |
| Fuller Networking Session | A place for Fuller students, alumni, and prospective students to connect |
| Global Connections | Hear about CCD efforts in international settings as well as meet international practitioners. |
| Graduate Student Roundtable | Are you currently on the journey of completing graduate school? Are you curious how graduate-level education could help serve your sense of calling into Christian Community Development? If your answer is yes, come meet with other practitioners around writing, research, balancing life, ministry, and school, and all things pertaining to the beauty, challenges, and saga of being a graduate student. Come be supported and encouraged! |
| Gun Violence | Join CCDA practitioners who want to learn, organize and advocate against gun violence in their communities |
| Immigration Networking Session | Immigration has been one of the critical justice issues of CCDA. This session will gather those on the front lines of immigrant justice, share best practices, and inspire one another to continue the struggle. |
| Life Partners: Couples Creating and Leading Together | This is a networking session for couples who create and lead together as partners in the urban context. We will share together best practices, rhythms, and stories that help us have thriving and successful partnerships in a CCD context. |
| Living CCD as Lifestyle | A connection time for those not necessarily “on staff”, or those who might be at a church unfamiliar with CCDA concepts. Come meet with others choosing to integrate CCD principles into their everyday life. |
| Mass Incarceration | Join CCDA practitioners who want to see an end to mass incarceration |
| New and Interested CCDA Members | An opportunity to connect with folks new to CCD and learn how to leverage CCDA membership benefits to meet your goals. |
| Pivoting during COVID | This networking session will provide a time to lament all that our communities have lost in this season, process the ongoing challenges, and celebrate the ways God has continued to be faithful during COVID. |
| Planting Churches with Shalom in the Center | This affinity group session is intended to reach denominational leaders, church planters, or those considering planting churches. It is intended to stimulate dialogue, ideas, and best practices around cultivating church plants that have the practice of creating communities of shalom in their DNA. In the Bible, we see Shalom as a state of completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace. Biblical justice is God’s tool to create Shalom. Psalm 9:16 reminds us that “God is known by his acts of justice.” Justice is both God’s brand and signature. As Christ-followers, we are called to make God known. |
| Reimagining Church | A time for church leaders to openly and candidly talk about the challenges of leading a church during and after COVID-19. What does church look like post-pandemic? Is your church virtual, in-person, or a combination of the two? What challenges did your church face during COVID? What are some success stories? |
| Social Media & Podcasting in CCD Work | Come connect with practitioners who are using social media and podcasting as a way to influence their communities. We will connect with one another on social media, help you understand the difference between social media platforms, why podcasting is important, and collaborate with each other around social media. |
| Tikkun Olam – “Repair the World” Through the Arts | The aim is to influence the culture for the sake of the Gospel. How do we use Art to love our neighbor? Everyone is a created being and can use their creations of music, dance, writings, publications, poems, spoken word, or devotionals to go from trauma to triumph, sadness to joy, and hate to love. “All creation happens in community. (ex. Father, Son, Holy Spirit) because the embrace of community is in line with God’s design.” ~~ Jordan Raynor “The aim and final end of all music (arts) should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” ~~ Johann Sebastian Bach |
| Voter Engagement & Support | In a time that is so critical for us to civically engage, how can we best support our communities to engage, register, and vote? What can we do to organize and advocate for the voting rights of those in our communities as we see many laws being passed trying to suppress that right? If you are asking these questions, this session is for you! |
| Women of Color in CCD | A space for women of color CCDA practitioners to gather and share together. |
| Youth Ministry Workers | Youth ministry workers need each other! So often we face realities and create strategies that few understand–come have fellowship with people who connect with the challenging work of raising up the beloved young leaders our communities need. |