Right Relations Team

Per our covenant, we strive to, “ honor the divine in each of us, tend honestly and kindly to differences and tensions, and be accountable for collective care”.

One of the ways that New Brackett Church is honoring our covenant is to develop a Right Relations Team to help facilitate sensitive or difficult conversations between congregants and/or with members of church leadership.

To do this we seek to move from a culture of high support and low accountability, i.e., a permissive culture, to one of high support and high accountability.

A ‘High Support - High Accountability’ culture strives to

• Encourage Safety and Thriving of Members
• Set clear expectations of appropriate boundaries and behaviors
• Encourage the practice of deep listening and compassionate communication
• Offer to restore community and repair relationships when harm has occurred (when possible).
• Offer everyone a chance to tell their story, to learn from their mistakes, and to have a voice in finding a way forward.
• Create a community that continues to support both the one who has experienced harm and the one who has caused harm as they do the work of restoring right relationship.

Right Relations Teams are lay leaders entrusted to help the congregation practice faithful communication and creative conflict based on values of mutuality and consent. The NBC Right Relations Team is still new and in its own training and growth process, however longer term goals of the team include:

• Tending to the covenant by articulating and modeling its practice
• Providing training and other learning opportunities around the tensions needed for creativity in congregations
• Modeling and coaching communication processes that promote mutuality and consent (i.e. small group ministry, discernment circles)
• Modeling and coaching creative conflict
• In low level conflict, creating brave spaces where people can move from defensiveness toward resolution
• When conflict does become more heated, offering opportunities for deep listening and restorative processes
• Creating low-anxiety/high-learning experiences for the congregation around conflict and covenant

New Brackett Church policies and practices supporting Right Relations:

If you have questions or wish to ask for support, please contact a member of the Right Relations Team:

Buck Benedict - 207-766-2781
Betsey Remage-Healey, 207-622-2084
Tonya Guyton-Thompson, 207-361-7069
Stephanie Birdsall, 907-350-1234