Natural disasters and public violence are both a part of our current landscape. 
How can we respond to support and heal communities while also caring for ourselves?
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance disaster response training, sponsored by the Synod of the Trinity and its presbyteries, will be offered by two more presbyteries across the region to better serve you!
Click here for an event flyer.
Registration is $10 per person. Register by clicking the red “Register Now” button below.
Training open to friends and those beyond our boundaries.
EVENT SCHEDULE
9 a.m. – Registration
12:30 p.m. – Lunch included
3:30 p.m. – Closing remarks
- Oct. 15 – Presbytery of Philadelphia
- Valley Forge Presbyterian Church
191 Town Center Road
King of Prussia, PA 19406
Register by Oct. 8
- Oct. 17 – Pittsburgh Presbytery
- Crestfield Camp & Conference Center
195 Taggart Road
Slippery Rock, PA 16057
Register by Oct. 8
Each site will include these two training opportunities:
9:30 a.m. – Disaster Preparedness and Engagement
“Blessed to be a blessing.” This workshop will have a dual focus. Participants will gain valuable insight on how to prepare themselves and their congregations for a disaster. In addition, participants will discover ways to bring their God-given talent, time and resources to a response-and-recovery effort in their community.
1:30 p.m. Options
Human-Caused Disasters
“Nothing can separate us from the love of God.” Violence changes everything, and it requires different skills from responding to natural disasters. Participants will learn definitions and guidelines for human-caused disasters, trauma, clergy care, congregational care, worship and liturgy, media relations and long-term emotional and spiritual care. In addition, participants will be able to bring their learnings directly to their ministry context.
Immigration Issues
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Aid to refugees and displaced persons is PDA’s birth story. Many Presbyterians, however, are not familiar with PDA’s role in engaging Presbyterians in refugee ministries or our history in helping to establish refugee-serving organizations all over the United States. Participants with learn of the ways in which this ministry is carried out through ecumenical partnerships, related church agencies, middle governing bodies, and congregations.
