Leadership Commons Open House

Occurred on Thursday, February 23, 2023 

This winter, The BTS Center invited you to the next of our quarterly virtual Open Houses showcasing the offerings of our Leadership Commons

The Leadership Commons is a space where we are developing new content, and gathering materials adapted from past programs, to help equip faith leaders in the work of guiding communities of spiritual practice through the uncertainties of life on a changing planet. 

Our offerings continue to grow and expand under the guidance of our Leadership Commons Curator team, and the Open House will be an opportunity to learn more about how you and your congregation or community can access and make use of these vibrant resources. 

For our February Open House, we heard from Rev. Eileen Gebbie, one of our Leadership Commons Curators, who has developed a six-week course based around Healing Haunted Histories: A Settler Discipleship of Decolonization by Ched Myers and Elaine Enns. Some of you may remember Ched Myers as one of our Convocation speakers. Eileen’s course offers guidance for how to lead a group through this rich text while understanding and contextualizing the deep work of decolonizing our faith communities. 


Meet Rev. Eileen Gebbie

Eileen is living and working at the intersections of antiracism, queerness, climate change, and faith in Champaign County, Illinois. Eileen was the the first female and first queer senior pastor at two congregations in the United Church of Christ (a non-creedal Christian denomination pushing the boundaries of radical inclusion). Eileen now serves creation as a spiritual director, forest therapy guide, and as a contemplative practitioner for youth and young adults in an intensive outpatient mental health treatment program.