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Leading With Love - The Virtual Community

The Sessions  

During this 12-month curriculum you will be engaging as a leader rooted in your context. That means not only will we be sharing the facilitation of the monthly virtual sessions, but also—vitally—you will be trying out these new practices and leading them in your own contexts and communities.  As a cohort, you will then have the opportunity to discuss, reflect on, and learn from your own and each other's experiences in context.  

The sessions will take place on the third Tuesday of each month from 6:00 - 8:00 pm (EST). The specific dates and content for the sessions are as follows: 

PURSUING JUSTICE 

  • November, 18, 2025: Pursuing Justice The Powers Practice
  • December, 16, 2025: Pursuing Justice Transforming Sacred Texts Practice
  • January, 20, 2026: Pursuing Justice Sharing Stories of Experiences in Context 
 HEALING THE WORLD 
  • February 17, 2026: Healing the World TBA
  • March 17, 2026: Healing the World   Theopoetics Practice  
  • April 21, 2026: Healing the World  

BUILDING COMMUNITY 

  • May 19, 2026: Building Community  Mirror and Window Practice
  • June 16, 2026: Building Community Texting Together Practice
  • July 21, 2026:  Building Community Sharing Stories of Experience with Practices in Context  

BRIDGING DIVIDES  

  • August 18, 2026: Bridging Divides Talking Circles Practice
  • September 15, 2026: Bridging Divides  Futuring Case Study
  • October 20, 2026: Bridging Divides Futuring Together to Bridge Divides 

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The attached calendar and sign-up sheet is designed to help you plan how you intend to participate in both the virtual sessions and apply the practices in your context. 

While a member of the Auburn Leadership Team will guide key elements of each session – with monthly recaps, framing and check-in, helping folks to dig deeper into the topic for each section, and setting participants up for the following session at the end of the two hours – the bulk of the leadership will be the responsibility of the cohort participants. 

A grounding and closing practice are included in each of the areas. These are leadership opportunities where members of the cohort get to practice anchoring the group during the opening and closing of each session.  

Unless otherwise indicated all practice sessions will take place in small breakout rooms. This means there should be a dedicated leader for each breakout. The leader acts as the overall facilitator for the given activity and is not a participant. All practice leaders will be provided with detailed instructions on how to lead the practice in advance of the session.  

 

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Did you miss a session? Do you want to revisit a conversation or insight from a member of your cohort? What about that great grounding or closing practice? Could their words inspire and equip you on your leadership journey? 

Come here to access video clips from past sessions. This content is meant to support your process as a healing centered leader by sharing the powerful sources of wisdom and knowledge emerging from the cohorts' reflective engagement with the practices and skills explored in each session and throughout the entire curriculum. 

Come here for additional resources related to each session.

Building Community - Lens to Mirror Practice

Video clips

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Additional Resources 

  • Peter Block, Community: The Structure
    of Belonging (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc) 2018.
  • adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy, (AK Press) 2017.
  • Kaitlin B. Curtice. Native Identity, Belonging and Rediscovering God. (Beacon Press), 2020.
  • bell hooks, Killing Rage: Ending Racism (Holt Paperbacks), 1996.

Texting Together

Video Clips:

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Bridging Divides--Talking Circles Practice

Here you will find worksheet, guides and instructions for the various practices we will engage throughout the program year.  These tools are designed to help you lead practices in your context. 

Building Community Practices

Overall Evaluation

Each virtual session will follow a similar structure, intentionally designed to facilitate learning and build community within the cohort. 

Each month will include the follow elements:  

  • Framing, recap - Auburn team led overview of the monthly session and recap of where we have been on our learning journey
  • Community check-in - This is our "what's up" moment
  • Grounding ritual  - Cohort-led opportunity to center our community of practice with resources informed by our religious/spiritual traditions
  • Digging Deeper - Auburn team-led opportunity to add depth to the theme and practice of the month, through focused conversation, resource sharing and reflection
  • The Practices - cohort-led opportunities to lead practices and methodologies on building community, bridging divides and pursuing justice introduced during the intensive in preparation for sharing them in your context
  • Report Back - Highlights and insights from small groups for the good of the whole 
  • Wrap- Up  - Auburn team led "housekeeping," in preparation for upcoming session 
  • Closing ritual  - cohort-facilitated session closing that, like the grounding at the beginning, sends us forth with a word from our traditions.

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Auburn Emerging Leaders Program Fall 2025

Partner Auburn
Learning Pillar Contemplative Activism
Rigor Level Low

Learning Objectives

This curriculum will help you...

learning outcomes

 

Course Components

Introduction

  • Welcome and Introduction

    Screenshot 2025-03-25 at 10.14.49 AM
    10 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Pursuing Justice

  • Pursuing Justice The Powers Practice

    Pursuing Justice
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked
  • Pursuing Justice Transforming Sacred Texts

    Pursuing Justice
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked
  • Pursuing Justice Sharing Stories of Practices in Context

    Pursuing Justice
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Healing The World

  • Healing the World Session TBA

    Auburn_shape4
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked
  • Healing the World Theopoetic Practice

    Auburn_shape4
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked
  • Healing the World

    Auburn_shape4
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Building Community

  • Building Community from Lens to Mirror and Window Practice

    Build Community
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked
  • Building Community Texting Together Practice

    Build Community
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked
  • Building Community Sharing Stories of Experience of Practices in Context

    Build Community
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Bridging Divides

  • Bridging Divides Circle Practice

    Bridge Divides
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked
  • Bridging Divides Futuring Case Studies

    Bridge Divides
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked
  • Bridging Divides Futuring Together to Bridge Divides

    future communities intergenerational and solving climate change-1
    120 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Features and Benefits

The 12-month virtual curriculum provides a sustained learning experience while cohort members are rooted in their community contexts. This enables participants to take learning from the Intensive and practice it in context, with ongoing opportunities for reflection, discussion, and support as you build your leadership skills.  

How This Equips Faith Leaders

Auburn's Emerging Leaders Curriculum begins with an in-person multi-day Intensive followed by 12 monthly virtual sessions. The virtual curriculum is designed to deepen and extend learning from the intensive, provide opportunities for cohort members to learn through facilitating practices with each other, and discuss and reflect on experiences of using the practices in community contexts. Through the year-long curriculum, Emerging Leader cohorts deepen their grounding in faith traditions and a multifaith community of learners; become better equipped with vocational practices and tools to sustain their work long-term and intergenerationally, and connect with other leaders who are committed to healing the world with peers across religious and cultural difference.

Auburn Emerging Leaders Program Fall 2025

Taught by Rev. Dr. Shannon Daley-Harris and Auburn Team

This 12-month virtual journey strengthens emerging faith leaders to integrate love, justice, and community-building within their ministry contexts—bridging divides through spiritually grounded leadership and reflective practice.

Rev. Dr. Shannon Daley-Harris and Auburn Team

Meet Your Instructor,
Rev. Dr. Shannon Daley-Harris and Auburn Team

The Rev. Dr. Shannon Daley-Harris is the Associate Dean of Auburn Theological Seminary, where she guides Auburn's Emerging Leaders program and other leadership development programs. Shannon is grounded in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament and grateful for more than 35 years' participation in Jewish community life through her husband Sam. Shannon comes to the work equipped through three decades of guiding multifaith engagement in the Children's Defense Fund's child advocacy efforts. She holds a D.Min. from Drew Theological School, and M.Div. form Wesley Theological Seminary, and a B.A. with a concentration in Religious Studies from Brown University. She is the author of Hope for the Future: Answering God's Call to Justice for our Children and co-author of The Just Love Story Bible, along numerous other publications. 

Meet the Instructor

Instructor Bio here

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