Religious Education Theory and Practice
2025-06-10 11:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Christian Education Certification Course instructed by Dr. Rebecca Davis: Religious Education Theory and Practice
Course Description:
Religious Education Theory and Practice provides Presbyterian Christian Educators an opportunity to think theologically about the teaching ministry of the church. It exposes educators to a variety of educational theories that informs pedagogical practices. Writing publishable, quality lesson plans, as well as choosing and evaluating curriculum are essential components of this course.

Meet the instructor
Rebecca L. Davis is a Minister of the Word and Sacrament and a Certified Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Before being appointed to the faculty of Union Presbyterian Seminary on the Charlotte Campus she served as Associate Professor of Religion and the Director of the Christian Education Program at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC.
Dr. Davis brings 25 years of congregational experience to her academic teaching. She has been both ordained and non-ordained ministry staff in small, medium and large congregations across the south. She was Director of Christian Education at Enslow Park Presbyterian in Huntington, WV, Associate Pastor at Central Presbyterian in Mobile, AL, Pastor of First Presbyterian in Monahans, TX and Executive Director of its child development center, Associate General Presbyter in Peace River Presbytery in FL and Associate Pastor at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.
Dates: May 13-June 17, 2025, with synchronous zoom meetings from 11am-2pm on 5/20, 5/27, 6/03, and 6/10
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on May 8. Late registration ends on May 16.
If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes

Book Club: Up Against a Crooked Gospel by Melanie Jones Quarles
2025-06-10 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-06-17 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-06-24 19:00 - 21:00
Up Against a Crooked Gospel: Black Women’s Bodies and the Politics of Redemption by Melanie Jones Quarles

Online meetings 7-9pm EST; June 3, 10, 17, 24
An essential text for students and scholars of womanist thought, ethics, biblical studies, and Black religion.
Drawing upon her grandmother’s personal struggles with physical “bendedness” and the narrative of the bent woman in Luke 13:10-17, Melanie Jones Quarles engages Black religious thought and cultural criticism to expose how the Black Church paradoxically nurtures Black women while also sustaining their oppression. Quarles mines the prophetic imaginations of influential womanist thinkers, crafting a liberating vision that resists serving as surrogate “saviors” in society and religion.
With insights into politics, Christology, and biblical interpretation, this book boldly calls Black women to unbend their bodies and reclaim their moral agency in the face of crooked systems that attempt to constrain their freedom.
Led by the Author, Rev. Dr. Melanie Jones Quarles

Registration is free for UPSem Faculty and Students. Contact Deborah Keyes to register if you are a student, faculty member, or registering ater 5/27/2025.

Special Course: Stranger No More
2025-06-10 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-06-17 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-06-24 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-07-01 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-07-08 19:00 - 21:00
A Special Course instructed by Dr. Safwat Marzouk: Stranger No More
Dates: June 3 – July 8, Tuesdays from 7-9pm via Zoom.

Dr. Safwat Marzouk is an associate professor of Old Testament. As a Christian Egyptian and migrant to the U.S., he interprets the Bible in ways that are interreligiously and interculturally sensitive seeking God’s shalom and justice for the vulnerable and the marginalized. Dr. Marzouk is author of Egypt as a Monster in the Book of Ezekiel and Intercultural Church: A Biblical Vision in an Age of Migration.
Course Description:
The experience of forced migration, being on the move, seeking refuge or asylum, displacement, and living in diaspora is a fundamental part of the human story. Throughout history and in many parts of the world, humans, individuals, or communities, because of wars, natural disasters, economic crises, have crossed domestic or national boundaries seeking safety and a better life. Given the recent waves of forced migration and internal displacement, and given the intensification of xenophobia in political discourse, the church, and communities of faith, are confronted with vital questions about their witness in these critical times. In this course, students will study closely diverse texts from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that have been shaped by the realities of migration, exodus, conquest, exile, and diaspora. As they engage these texts in their historical and literary contexts, students will reflect on how these texts wrestled with welcoming the stranger and how host and migrant communities negotiated cross-cultural relations. As future faith leaders in a polarized world, students will reflect on how to discern a faithful response to the issue of migration in light of the diverse biblical perspectives on the issue. Students will articulate a theological perspective that takes seriously the culture of fear of the other, that nurtures empathy towards the stranger, and that leads the church and the society to move beyond the politics of assimilation and segregation so that migrant and host communities experience God’s shalom.
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on May 29, 2025. Late registration ends on June 6, 2025.
If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.

Special Course: The Black Teaching Tradition and the Legacy of Proclamation in the Black Church
2025-06-10 19:00 - 21:00
Special Course instructed by Rev. Dr. Akosua Lesesne: The Black Teaching Tradition and the Legacy of Proclamation in the Black Church
Dates: May 6 – June 10, 2025 // Tuesdays, 7-9pm via Zoom
Course Description:
In this course, we will explore the relationship between the transformative legacy of Black teaching excellence and the powerful tradition of Black preaching. Participants will come away from this course with a new or renewed understanding of how the practices of proclamation in the Black Church and pedagogical genius in Black schoolhouses are aligned. The primary aim of this course of study is to reclaim and (re)member the liberatory power of Black teaching and Black preaching for greater impact in the pulpit and traditional learning settings alike. Study will be taken up through the lens of Sankofa: an African word from the Akan peoples in Ghana. The literal translation of the word and the Sankofa symbol is “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.”

Meet the instructor
Rev. Dr. Akosua Lesesne is an educational design leader and creator of the Black Teaching Tradition (BTT)®: Teacher Development Framework for Pedagogical Genius. She is the founder of The Lesesne Collective Corp (Lesesne Collective) dba Sisters in Education Circle (SIEC) and Lesesne Legacy Learning Village (Lesesne Learning). Prior to founding Lesesne Collective dba SIEC, Akosua’s commitment to upholding historic legacies of Black teaching excellence for justice and liberation defined fifteen years of work as a teacher then district leader in the sixth, fourth, and eight-largest school districts in the nation respectively and design consultant serving a wide array of educational organizations and initiatives across the United States–from preschool through higher education, including theological education. Akosua was licensed and ordained by the late and legendary Rev. Dr. Mack King Carter at New Mount Olive Baptist Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL and served under Dr. Carter as Interim Minister of Education. She is also an ordained elder, Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). Akosua earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Tufts University, and a Doctorate in Educational and Organizational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on May 2, 2025, at 8am. Late registration ends on May 9, 2025.
If you are UPSem faculty or staff you can register for free HERE. If you are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.

Special Telugu Course: Creeds and Confessions
2025-06-12 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-06-19 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-06-26 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-07-03 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-07-10 19:00 - 21:00
Course Description:
This course surveys and examines the historical and contemporary creeds and confessions of the Christian faith as the core theological compass and lenses to help understand, evaluate, and evolve current interpretations of the Christian faith.

Instructed by Rev. Dr. James Taneti
James is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in the USA and currently teaches World Christianity at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He directs the seminary’s Synghman Rhee Global Mission Center. Having completed his theological education at the United Theological College in India, he earned master’s degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, Western Theological Seminary, and Virginia Commonwealth University, and a doctorate from Union Presbyterian Seminary. He has authored three books on Christianity in South Asia, along with numerous essays and book reviews.
Dates: June 5 – July 10, 2025 / Thursdays from 7-9pm via Zoom
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.

CE: Reformed Theology
2025-08-05 00:00
Christian Education Certification Course instructed by Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty
Course Description:
Reformed Theology is designed to provide Presbyterian Christian educators with a clear understanding of the theology of the Reformed Tradition, especially as it is expressed in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of Confessions. Courses explore the content of those confessions, the historical contexts out of which they arose, and the contemporary significance those confessions have for the life of the church today. By means of varied teaching methods and learning activities (e.g., lectures, small group exercises, discussions, and personal research), students will be able to gain a personal understanding of the Reformed theological tradition. Courses will also allow participants to gain a balanced understanding of the broad landscape of Reformed theological understandings today.
View the Syllabus HERE
Meet the instructor

Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty is the J. Roy Davis Family Chair of Theology and History at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte. With over two decades of experience in higher education and social justice ministry, she is known for her leadership in academia, church, and advocacy work. Her research focuses on freedom in the U.S., poverty, and the intersection of theology with social inequality and disability justice. She is the author of Authentic Christian Freedom (2025) and The Problem of Wealth (2017), and has received several honors including a Fulbright Scholarship and a Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant. Outside of work, she enjoys running, beach walks, and time with her family.
Dates: 11am – 1:30pm EST, August 5 – September 2, 2025. View the syllabus above to see detailed meeting plans and times.
Registration closes 2 business days before the first class meeting on August 1, 2025.

Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary
UPSem faculty, staff, and students can register for this class for free. If you are a UPSem faculty, staff, or student, you can register here using your UPSem email address. If you are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes, subject line “CECERT: Financial Aid.

25-26 Pathways: Polity & Administration
2025-08-12 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-08-19 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-08-26 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-09-02 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-09-09 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-09-16 19:00 - 21:00
Course Description:
This course will examine the Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order, its underpinnings, and its implication for mission and ministry. As part of the course, participants will review administrative tasks which grow out of the Book of Order (e.g., session meetings, committee meetings, stewardship season, personnel matters and policies, financial matters, presbytery meetings, annual statistical reports).
Meet the Instructor

Rev. H. Carson Rhyne Jr. served as the general presbyter and stated clerk of the Presbytery of the James for over 21 years, retiring in 2019. Known for his visionary leadership, Carson established mentorship programs, stewardship and evangelism ministries, and a mission co-worker in Haiti. He is recognized for his deep knowledge of the Presbyterian Church’s polity and his ability to apply it with grace and humor. Carson’s dedication to the church and community is celebrated by colleagues and congregations alike. He holds degrees from Presbyterian College and Union Theological Seminary and has taught polity and practical theology at Union Presbyterian Seminary since 2005.
Dates: Tuesdays, 7-9pm EST, August 12 – September 16, 2025
Registration closes 2 days before the first class meeting on August 10, 2025.
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

If you are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes, subject line “PWPA:Financial Aid”.
UPSem faculty, staff, and students can register for this class for free. If you are a UPSem faculty, staff, or student, you can register here using your UPSem email address.

25-26 Pathways: Introduction to Pastoral Care
2025-08-28 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-09-04 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-09-11 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-09-18 19:00 - 21:00
Course Description:
An introduction to the theories of pastoral care and counseling. The course offers various theological and psychological perspectives and tools to help participants develop confidence in responding to circumstances of pastoral care and counseling in the context of parish ministry and other institutional settings. Topics include the art of listening, loss and grief, pastoral care with couples and families, and the pastoral function of worship and the sacraments.
Meet the Instructor

Dr. Joshua Morris is an ordained minister with the United Church of Christ and a Board-Certified Chaplain. He served in pediatric healthcare for 11 years, most recently as Assistant Director of Spiritual Services at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Dr. Morris has 15 years of experience as an army chaplain in the United States Army Reserve, including a deployment to Afghanistan. He has taught at Phillips Theological Seminary, Claremont School of Theology, and Saint Paul School of Theology. Dr. Morris is the author of “Moral Injury Among Returning Veterans” and numerous peer-reviewed articles. He speaks nationally and internationally on moral injury, reintegration, and spiritual care. Passionate about cultivating compassionate ministers, he integrates theory and practice to promote love for God and humanity.

Dates: Thursdays, 7-9pm EST, August 28 – October 2, 2025
Registration closes 2 days before the first class meeting on August 26, 2025.
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

If you are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes, subject line “PWIPC : Financial Aid”.
UPSem faculty, staff, and students can register for this class for free. If you are a UPSem faculty, staff, or student, you can register here using your UPSem email address.

25-26 WLI Course: Womanist Leadership & Innovation
2025-09-08 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-09-15 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-09-22 19:00 - 21:00
Course Description:
Join a transformative learning experience that blends womanist ethics, Afro-futurist imagination, and strategic innovation. This course centers Black women’s wisdom as a force for visionary leadership and sustainable change.
Featuring core texts by Alice Walker, Katie Cannon, and Renita Weems, participants will explore how to lead with purpose, resilience, and radical imagination in a rapidly changing world.

Ideal for professionals in ministry, nonprofits, education, entrepreneurship, and the arts.
Grounded in justice, creativity, and collective care.
Innovation redefined—not just tech, but systems of care and cultural visioning.

#WomanistLeadership #Innovation2025 #BlackWomenLead #ContinuingEducation #LeadershipDevelopment
Meet the Instructor

Rev. Dr. Gabby Cudjoe Wilkes is a pastor, public theologian, innovation strategist and author. She is the founding-co lead pastor of The Double Love Experience Church in Brooklyn, New York and The Inaugural Director of The Technology, Innovation & Digital Engagement Lab Fellowship at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Gabby has a heart for God’s people and prioritizes creating experiences of connection and love through the physical church, the digital space and local community engagement.
Her work has been featured in Essence, Forbes & The New York Times. She is the co-author of the best-selling book, Psalms for Black Lives: Reflections for the Work of Liberation. The book has sold over 10,000 books and counting. She is the recipient of numerous awards and citations including the 2024 National Action Network Woman of Excellence Award from Rev. Al Sharpton, the Guy R Brewer Religious Leadership Award from their Queens Democratic Club, The Yale University Charles S Mersick Preaching Prize as well as the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from The Yale Af-Am House.
Dr. Gabby’s voice echoes in the public square. In 2023 she was a featured guest in the HBO Max/Own Docu-Series, A Time of Essence. She and her church were featured in the 2024 GOSPEL documentary by Skip Gates on PBS & she was a guest speaker in the first documentary film of The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, GODTalk. She’s also a frequent guest on the nationally syndicated radio show: Get Up Mornings With Erica Campbell.
Dr. Gabby holds a doctorate from Duke University, a Masters of Divinity from Yale University, a Masters of Arts from NYU and a Bachelors from Hampton University. She is the current President of the Yale Divinity School Alumni Board and a member of the prestigious Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers.
Dr. Gabby is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and is committed to the work of love and justice. She resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, Rev. Dr. Andrew Wilkes.
Dates: Mondays, 7-9pm EST, September 8 – October 13, 2025
Registration closes 2 business days before the first class meeting on September 4, 2025
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

If you are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes, subject line “WLIWLI: Financial Aid”.
UPSem faculty, staff, and students can register for this class for free. If you are a UPSem faculty, staff, or student, you can register here using your UPSem email address.

Compassion Across Borders: A Call for Solidarity and Justice
2025-09-16 15:15 - 2025-09-18 12:00
The Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary invites you to Compassion Across Borders: A Call for Solidarity and Justice.
Click here to view schedule
Subject to change before September 1, 2025
Conference description:
Migration shapes world history and tests our capacity to respond with compassion or fear. People migrate due to colonialism, wars, climate disasters, persecution, and economic oppression, yet in current political discourse they are demonized, detained, and deported.
Faith communities are called to respond with ethics of compassion, hospitality, and empowerment. These times demand that we transform anger with oppressive systems into actions of love, inclusion, and generosity.
This conference brings together religious leaders, community organizers, biblical scholars, theologians, artists, and activists committed to migrant empowerment. We seek to connect networks of solidarity during these critical times.
The conference will feature plenary sessions exploring how biblical and theological discourse has been both misused to oppress migrants and used to inspire compassionate, just responses. Participants will learn about legal rights and processes to protect migrants, while workshops offer opportunities to share expertise and equip one another with knowledge and wisdom for faithful action.

Register below!

Lectures
Migrant God – Isaac Villegas
This lecture will center on immigrant justice activism as Christians put hope into action, bearing witness to the work of solidarity among people with and without US citizenship. Isaac’s biblical, theological, and political reflections help prod our imagination as we consider a holistic vision for life in solidarity with migrants.
This lecture will be livestreamed on September 16, 2025, from 4:45-5:45pm EST

Isaac Villegas is an ordained Mennonite minister and the author of Migrant God: A Christian Vision of Immigrant Justice. He has served as the president of the North Carolina Council of Churches and on the governing board of the Mennonite Church USA. He is also columnist and contributing editor for The Christian Century magazine.
Citizenship and the Book of Life – Yii-Jan Lin
American citizenship has a long and torturous history that is surprisingly linked to the heavenly citizenship described in the Book of Revelation. This lecture explores how the contradictions of U.S. citizenship echo those of the Book of Life and the Book of Deeds from Revelation.
This lecture will be livestreamed on September 17, 2025, from 3:30-4:30pm EST

Professor Yii-Jan Lin is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School. She holds a Ph.D. in New Testament and Religious Studies from Yale University, an M.A. in New Testament from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and an M.A. and B.A. in English Literature from the University of Chicago and Pomona College, respectively. She specializes in immigration, textual criticism, race and gender, and the revelation of John. Her publications include Immigration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immigration (Yale University Press, 2024) and The Erotic Life of Manuscripts (Oxford, 2016).

FAQs
Do I have to attend the whole conference?
If you cannot attend the whole conference, you can select the times you will attend on the registration form above.
Will anything be offered virtually?
Both lectures by Isaac Villegas and Dr. Yii-Jan Lin will be livestreamed, and four of our six workshops will be available virtually. You can register for the workshops a la carte on the registration form above. Please be sure to check the schedule of workshops on our schedule to check virtual availability and timing.
How will I receive the Zoom link to attend the workshops virtually?
You will receive a link to the workshop Zoom sessions during the first week of September. The link(s) will be sent to the email you use to register on the form above.
Are meals included?
All refreshments and meals are included in your registration.
I have dietary restrictions.
Please note your dietary restrictions in the appropriate section of the registration form.
I have questions about the schedule.
Here is a link to the schedule, subject to change before September 1, 2025. This schedule and this website will be kept up to date.
I need to cancel my registration.
Please email Deborah Keyes, Administrative Assistant at the Leadership Institute.
I have more questions about the conference.
More details will be released as they become available, and this website will be kept up to date.
