This cohort will expose participants to tools, knowledge, inspiration, confidence and support to build and grow trustworthy and life-giving LGBTQ+ inclusive and affirming partnerships, families, and disciples within a faith-based context.
Session 1: Introduction. Self, congregation, and community; Experience and trepidation of serving in polarizing or non-agreeable spaces.
Session 2: Couples. Engaging, affirming, and identifying queer siblings and couples; Emerging wedding trends and language.
Session 3: Congregations. Policies, structures and behaviors that support queer relationships and participation; Addressing conflict and pathways to equity and justice.
Session 4: Communities. Alignment and contradictions between our faith traditions and public witness; Affirming all persons, relationships and family systems from a faith perspective.
Digital content created by and Cohort facilitated by Bishop Cedrick D. Bridgeforth, Ed.D.
Bishop Bridgeforth is assigned as the resident bishop of the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area of The United Methodist Church. Bridgeforth was elected to the episcopacy in November of 2022.
A native of Decatur, Alabama, Bridgeforth is a U.S. Air Force veteran who earned a bachelor’s degree in religion from Samford University, a Master of Divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology (CST), and an educational doctorate in organizational leadership from Pepperdine University. He is the author of Alabama Grandson: A Black, Gay Minister’s Passage Out of Hiding, Thoughts and Prayers, and 20/20 Leadership Lessons: Seeing Visions and Focusing on Reality.
Bridgeforth is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., a Harry Hoosier member of Black Methodists for Church Renewal, International Coaching Federation, and spiritual advisor for Strength for the Journey HIV Camp. Every June, he rides in the AIDS/LifeCycle, a 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Bridgeforth is married to Christopher Hucks-Ortiz. Hucks-Ortiz is a public health and research professional with demonstrated leadership in the U.S. domestic and global field of infectious disease focused on HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, STIs, and Hepatitis prevention and intervention.
6+ Makes a Cohort – Bring a friend!
Referral Reward- refer a friend to a Ministry Cohort, receive $25 toward your next cohort. No limit on the number of referral rewards you can earn per semester.
Completion of each Ministry Cohort provides 9 contact hours of continuing education, subject to approval by the participant's credentialing body.
Please share how you heard about the Ministry Cohorts by clicking this link. If someone referred you, this is the place to enter their name.
