April Forums at St. Luke's: 21st Century Parenting, Latin American Exchanges and Healing

Submitted by St. Luke Presbyterian Church. Have church news? E-mail Jay.Corn@patch.com.

April adult forums at St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Minnetonka include Project Minnesota Leon (social justice in Nicaragua); healing touch energy therapy; labor rights in Colombia; and parenting in the 21st Century—how to talk to your kids about sexuality, chemical use, cell phones, limits and boundaries.

St. Luke offers adult forums at 9:15 a.m. Sundays, in addition to periodic Prophet Speaker events featuring keynote speakers. “We’re not afraid at St. Luke to tackle difficult issues that intrigue and challenge us,” says St. Luke Pastor Gwin Pratt.  

• Sunday, April 7: Project Minnesota Leon: Project Minnesota Leon is a local organization that for almost 30 years has helped people, supported social justice, and promoted U.S.-Latin America cultural exchanges in the Leon region of Nicaragua. St. Luke has provided support to PML for many years, and last summer about a dozen St. Luke youth and adults journeyed there under the auspices of PML. They will talk about what their experiences and the new intergenerational trip planned for this summer.

Sunday, April 14: Healing Touch: Energy therapies: Reiki master practitioner and instructor Christina Gregory will discuss how energy therapies are being used in Twin Cities hospitals, hospices and chiropractic offices along with massage and other integrative treatments. Gregory will demonstrate and discuss how energy therapy balances the body, enabling it to heal more effectively. Gregory, who has been a master practitioner and instructor for eight years, volunteers for Fairview Hospice and U of M Fairview Hospital, where patient response is tracked and recorded for future analysis. It is a treatment you can do daily to maintain and balance your health.

• Sunday, April 21: Labor rights in Colombia: Elizabeth Cuero Badillo, a port workers’ labor organizer from Buenaventura, Colombia, will talk about the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and Buenaventura’s Afro-Colombian community and their struggle for basic rights. Colombia is one of the world’s most dangerous places to do labor organizing. Badillo is one of just two women in the country who are labor organizers for port workers.

Sunday, April 28: Parenting in the 21st Century:  How is life is different for our kids; how do we bring up tough topics and communicate about sexuality, chemical use, parties, cell phone use, establishing limits, and setting boundaries? Speaker Toni Flaherty has more than 30 years of experience as a therapist to adolescents, including working at myHealth (formally West Suburban Teen Clinic) for 28 years as a therapist and educator. Flaherty will engage parents about their own fears and challenges and incorporate those thoughts into her presentation.  

Child care is available during both adult forums at 9:15 a.m. and church service at 10:30 a.m. Everyone is welcome to attend all forums and services—you don’t have to be a member of St. Luke.

Please join us!

St. Luke is a joyful, inclusive, progressive and compassionate community on a spiritual journey, seeking to do justice, make peace, act mercifully, and walk humbly with God. The church is located at 3121 Groveland School Road in Minnetonka. Find out more about St. Luke at www.stluke.mn.