Faith

Register for ReConnecting Our Faith & Community Conference

May 11, 18, and 25

Faith Gatherings

Many faith leaders joined us for IEI’s final ReCONNECT for the Future Forum on February 15-18, 2021. You told us what you want to talk about more, dig into deeper, and what’s needed for your ministry, so every Tuesday and Thursday in March and April, we’re meeting to talk and practice.

On Tuesday mornings, we’ll meet from 10-11 a.m. with faith leaders and partners you asked for to discuss the pandemic, digital inclusion, food distribution and more.

On Thursdays from 12-1 p.m., you’re invited to join our Faith Leader Lunch Club. It’s an open space for check-ins where we talk about what’s working and what’s not working in your community that week.

Protective Factors Resources & Recordings

IEI’s Rural Faith team was so lucky to recently partner with Partners in Health & Wholeness and Prevent Child Abuse NC for a whole week focusing on faith leaders learning about the 5 Protective Factors for protecting and supporting children. For parents, caregivers, providers, and faith leaders, our resources and recorded sessions can help you navigate how to be there for kids in your life.

Rural Faith Communities Connecting in Crisis: COVID-19

The Rural Faith Communities team at IEI (Ellen, John, and Kylie) are trying to figure out ways to do something. Somedays that’s collecting stories from pastors, other days it’s listening to statewide leaders trying to figure out what the next week of the COVID-19 pandemic might look like for North Carolina. Let’s work together. Let’s not recreate the wheel. Let’s share what’s working. Let’s be honest when it’s not working. Contact Kylie Foley at kdfoley@ncsu.edu.

News

Want to be connected with faith leaders in rural NC?

Are you a faith leader in North Carolina? We’d love for you to join us next year as we tenderly and bravely walk in grief and hope together. Do you know faith leaders in your area doing incredible things? Faith communities that are struggling? Please connect us!

What Your Faith Community Can Do About Digital Inclusion Today

Connecting your congregation and community is possible for every faith community to try. Here are five digital inclusion (DI) practical steps to take right now.

MidSummer Liminality – What’s Our Job To Do?

The IEI team convened a Mid-Summer Zoom gathering of faith leaders (clergy and laity) and partners to discuss what’s going on within the network.

The Long Haul: Rest for Rural Faith Leaders?

This is the first in a series of blogs about how rural faith leaders across North Carolina are thinking of emerging issues around the coronavirus pandemic in their community.

What does “the best” look like for faith leaders right now?

Rural Faith Communities Program Manager Kylie Foley and Pastors Elizabeth and Jason Villegas share some of their “best” ways to cope and connect during COVID-19.

Allen Stanton: How the rural church can help during COVID-19

Our very own Allen Stanton (IEI’s first Rural Faith Fellow) wrote this article at the beginning of the COVID crisis for most of rural America. It’s a soft and firm reminder of how rural congregations can help their North Carolina communities.