Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's QPCC Conference is cancelled. Please
stay tuned for information on next year's conference.
Early Bird Rate
(registrations before April 1st)
Covers program, lodging, and all meals
Double room:
$370
Single room: $400
Full Rate
(registrations that occur from April 1-16th)
Covers program, lodging, and all meals
Double Room: $400
Single Room: $440
Conference and Meals only:
$325 (no lodging)
Conference only: $175 (no meals and lodging)
Student: $50 (covers only Saturday program and lunch)
The 2020 conference begins on the evening of Thursday, April 16th and ends after lunch on Sunday, April 19th, and is held at Quaker Hill Conference Center in Richmond, Indiana. On-site check-in on Thursday begins at 4pm.
The Role of Ritual
Dimensions of Ritual
Rituals have been present in humanity since our inception. Ritual is generally considered any repetitive ceremonial activity with fixed rules, is applicable in religous and non-religious situations, and can be utilitzed individually or collectively. Why is ritual so important to us as humans? What is it that ritual provides that is unavailable to us in its absence?
Quakers and Ritual
The Religious Society of Friends was founded out of persecution. Early Quakers rejected elaborate religious cerenmonies, didn't have official clergy, and believed in spiritual equality for men and women. This foundation of our religious, of rejecting the rituals and cerenmonies of the Church of England, has long-lasting impact on our relationship with ritual. In modern times, many converted Friends come to Liberal Quakerism to heal from or transcend their childhood experiences with heavy ritual in their religious upbringing. What is ritual today for Friends?
The Role of Ritual in Pastoral Care
How does your relationship to ritual inform your pastoral care? How and when do you incorporate the rituals of the people you are serving in order to minister to them? How do you navigate ritual gone wrong: when a ritual is used inappropriately or when a ritual is steeped in fear?
When Your Theology Clashes with My Theology
What can compassionate care look like when your theology clashes with the theology of the people you are serving? Is it authentic for you to minster to someone with radically different spiritual and religious beliefs than your own? Is it in integrity to offer pastoral care to another without sharing your beliefs?
Emma M. Churchman, M.Div. is a spiritual director of conscious entrepreneurs. She is a catalyst for aligning business with soul, embodying faith, and refining mindset + energy + emotions to empower entrepreneurs to drop deeper into their purpose, expand their impact, and experience abundance. A 12th generation Friend, she is an endorsed Quaker minister and chaplain, and spent several years serving as a trauma chaplain, then home hospice chaplain. Churchman regularly speaks and writes on topics such as the practice of spiritual discernment, trauma in business, spiritual practices, and death and rebirth. She is currently in a PhD program for Mystical Research. Churchman is a member of Swannanoa Valley Friends Meeting, Black Mountain, NC (SAYMA).