Nonviolence: Spirituality & Practice
for Personal & Social Change

Active nonviolence is at the core of your very being. It is a spiritually-grounded power for transforming daily life, a creative and liberating way of life, and a path toward personal, community, national, and global change. This workshop reveals how the fear of conflict and violence prevents you from finding security and keeps you from becoming your true self. It will deepen your understanding of barriers that keep people isolated and alone and how these barriers depend on stereotypes to divide “us” and “them.” As you step beyond these fears, you will be able to forge new connections with others. Faced with injustice or conflict, instead of accommodating violence, fleeing it, or fighting back, you will be able to respond with active nonviolence. Discover how to talk more openly with family and friends without avoiding sensitive topics, such as politics and sexuality. You’ll learn to relish this new-found sense of openness and adventure that allows you to grow personally and spiritually.

Ask yourself: What kind of world do you want for yourself? What kind of world do you want for the children of the future? A foundation in active nonviolence will provide the principles and tools to help you change the world. You are not powerless, you’re one of the people we’ve been waiting for! You can address injustice, oppression, and violence without becoming like the people you criticize. Active nonviolence is the way of life for people who already have changed the world: Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Helen Prejean, Nelson Mandela, and the Nobel Peace Laureates. As Dr. King declared, “It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence; it is a choice between nonviolence and nonexistence.”

In this workshop you will deepen in this workshop your understanding of violence, nonviolence, community-building, and successful social change. Reconnect to your own power and resources for active peacemaking. Learn principles and tools for nonviolent living. It is open to everyone. No matter what your previous training experience, or spiritual path, you will leave refreshed, inspired, and committed to transformative nonviolence as a way of life and a vehicle for social change.

Janet Chisholm is Coordinator of Nonviolence Training for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the oldest multi-faith peace organization in the United States. She developed a nationally recognized experiential program, Creating a Culture of Peace, that respects and builds upon the wisdom, experience, and knowledge of the participants. It provides history, stories, principles, skills, and resources to make active nonviolence a constructive response to violence and injustice. Janet has led dozens of trainings, including training nonviolence trainers in Palestine, and is a popular speaker and writer on active nonviolence. She was Executive Director of FOR from 2000 to 2002, is Chairperson of the national Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and serves on the boards of Creative Response to Conflict and the Nevada Desert Experience, a 25-year faith witness at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Janet has worked in religious education, college-level teacher training, anti-poverty urban day care, and social services, and we are honored to welcome her.

“This has been the most helpful training event of my career…the most relevant and most inspiring and efficiently presented. At several points this was exquisite.”
—Beth Turner

“A truly remarkable learning event. It was healing, empowering, and rich in educational content. I feel privileged to have participated and to be a part of this training network.”
—Don Christensen

“An eye-opener…I felt greatly motivated and better able to accept the challenge of nonviolent living.”
John Will