Learning a New Approach to Conflict Transformation

November 28, 2022
The Rev. Tony Tian-Ren Lin, PhD
An Asian woman is in conversation with a White man and Asian Man. She has dark hair and is wearing a black cardigan, black lace-lined blouse, and red skirt. The White man has white hair and is wearing a dark grey suit. The Asian man wears glasses, a navy suit, and is holding a white coffee cup.

After spending a week together in early September, the first cohort of the Trinity Leadership Fellows returned home to their respective ministries and continued to meet online weekly for their third course, Narrative Approaches to Conflict Transformation with Dr. David Hooker.

The course offered a practical framework in which Fellows learned to apply narrative theories to transform the conflicting ideas present in their communities.   

“I was excited to learn that Dr. David Hooker, former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia, would be leading our course on conflict transformation,” said Trinity Leadership Fellow Chiseche Mibenge, who trained as a lawyer and has experience in international war crime tribunals. “Dr. Hooker’s mediation of political conflict in Southern Sudan, Somaliland, and Zimbabwe was evident in his expansive and culturally rich framing of ‘engaging conflict using narrative perspectives.'”  

Trinity Leadership Fellows Katy Shedlock and Christopher Schwenk converse on day one of the program

"I got some great tools to get through the log jams of typical church conflicts I’ve experienced in my ministry. I’m already applying it in my work!” exclaimed Fellow Katy Shedlock.

Fellow Katy Shedlock, a poet and church planter based in Spokane, Washington said, “I got some great tools to get through the log jams of typical church conflicts I’ve experienced in my ministry. I’m already applying it in my work!”

Fellow Mawethu Ncaca shared similar sentiments. “I wish had this course 7 years ago when I was trying to resolve a conflict related to housing. We employed mediation and restorative justice practices but the strategies I learned in this course would have really helped us move forward.”  

Chiseche, currently the Director of Gender Initiatives at Episcopal Relief & Development, said “I am already applying Dr. Hooker’s real-world teachings to the previously volatile no go conflict zones in my professional life, and feeling braver about provoking (transformative) conflict.”  

Trinity Leadership Fellow Chiseche Mibenge

“I was excited to learn that Dr. David Hooker, former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia, would be leading our course on conflict transformation,” said Trinity Leadership Fellow Chiseche Mibenge, who trained as a lawyer.

Building upon this framework, the next course the cohort will take online will be Change Management and Organizational Development with the Rev. Dr. Elise Brown. This course will help Fellows become better equipped to effectively lead through change with confidence and integrity.  

Interested in bolstering your own professional development? We’ve just opened applications for the second cohort of the Trinity Leadership Fellows program! Apply by January 31, 2023, for the chance to join a group of emerging leaders on a two-year journey of faith-inspired, values-driven, and community-oriented learning and mentorship. Learn more at trinitywallstreet.org/TLFellows.