Crossnore Communities for Children’s Center for Trauma Resilient Communities and the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church have partnered on a new initiative called “Building Healing-Centered Faith Communities.” The new initiative has a goal of creating safe church communities to offer a stable path for hope, healing, and mutual care in Western North Carolina.
Created and developed by Crossnore using its renowned trauma-informed work in the service of children and families, the Center for Trauma Resilient Communities (CTRC) supports organizations using the science of trauma resilience to build healthy and healing environments for their staff, volunteers, and the children, families, and communities they serve.
During the last decade, the United Methodist Church has been greatly affected by adversity, including the effects of the COVID pandemic, disaffiliations, and most recently, a historic flood that affected a large portion of the conference. From Bishops to congregational members, all have felt the impact of numerous stressors.
“This chronic stress has taken a toll on our leadership and churches,” said Rev. Lory Beth Huffman, Appalachian District Superintendent and Director of Connectional Ministries for the Western North Carolina Conference. “Many are feeling uncertain and experiencing feelings of grief and loss. In addition to the specific hardship the UMC has faced, all of us are feeling the effects of general societal changes, like increased anxiety and depression, climate change, political unrest, and declining trust in institutions.
“Although the last years have presented serious challenges, there is also an opportunity to forge a healthy and hopeful church culture,” Rev. Huffman added. “This is the ideal time to build trauma-resilient and healing-centered churches.”
The long-term objective of the Building Healing-Centered Faith Communities initiative is to assist Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church leaders and congregations to develop internal capacity (knowledge, understanding, skills, practices, and leadership) in order to sustain a trauma-informed and trauma-resilient church culture.
The first year of the multi-year initiative, which is already underway, will focus on engaging key church leadership, including district superintendents, pastors, lay leaders, and members, to build a shared dialogue and a better understanding of the impact of adversity and trauma on individuals and organizations. The subsequent years will focus on deepening those skills and practices to intentionally embed them within the organizational culture of the church and to help the United Methodist Church create a sustainability plan for leading healing-centered faith communities.
“The initial stage of the Building Healing-Centered Faith Communities initiative is focused on building connections and relationships between Crossnore’s Center for Trauma Resilient Communities and key United Methodist Church stakeholders,” Crossnore CEO and Co-Founder of CTRC, Brett Loftis said. “There will also be an emphasis on building connections among church members themselves as they engage in visioning a trauma-informed, healing-centered community and what that means.
“This fall, we provided a half-day customized training for the church’s Extended WNCUMC Cabinet members. This training offered an overview of the Trauma Resilient Communities model and an opportunity for leadership to engage in providing feedback about the Healing-Centered Faith Community Initiative,” Loftis added. “In February 2025, we will convene a daylong conference, the ‘Healing and Resilience Learning Summit,’ as a pivotal gathering for the initial cohort of churches.”
The Building Healing-Centered Faith Communities initiative embodies a strategic and holistic approach toward fostering healing-centered faith communities within the Western Conference of the United Methodist Church. By progressing through a series of phases, the initiative hopes to create a resilient foundation upon which church congregations can thrive.
To date, Crossnore’s Center for Trauma Resilient Communities has worked with more than 330 partners across the country, ranging from small grassroots initiatives to large city-wide and national initiatives—all with the goal of helping people and organizations build trauma-responsive and trauma-resilient knowledge, skills, behaviors, and cultures that can lead to renewed wellness, energy, purpose, and hope. To learn more about the Center for Trauma Resilient Communities, please visit traumaresilient.org.
About Crossnore’s Center for Trauma Resilient Communities
Created by and in partnership with Crossnore Communities for Children—nationally renowned for its trauma-informed work in the service of children and families—CTRC helps small and large groups achieve healthier internal cultures as they become more safe and open to all voices. Applying creative resources and strategies, CTRC engages with individuals and organizations to embed and embody the science of trauma resilience into their individual and collective practice. In this way, CTRC and Crossnore are helping build healthier families and communities for all. For more information, visit traumaresilient.org.
About The Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church
The Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church (WNCC-UMC) is a connection of United Methodist congregations, fresh expressions of church, campus ministries, and outreach initiatives across the 44 westernmost counties of North Carolina. The WNCC-UMC exists to serve and equip United Methodist ministries, congregations, and clergypersons as we work together to fulfill the mission of The United Methodist Church, which is to follow Jesus, make disciples, and transform the world. Bishop Kenneth H. Carter, Jr. serves the resident bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference.