Formation
The Beloved Community is partnering with our sending parish, The Church of the Nativity (Raleigh) to offer various opportunities for formation. Below are some helpful links to resources about the Episcopal Church, Inclusion, and Faith. If you would like to register for any of our upcoming formation opportunities or would like more information, please contact us.
​
It is our belief that no one should miss a formation opportunity due to a lack of resources. If you need assistance purchasing a book for any of our book studies, please let us know. If you would like to donate to help provide for those who may need assistance, you may do so through our financial donations page.
​
You can find information about our previously held formation opportunities here.
Upcoming Formation Opportunities at The Beloved Community
In the Margins: A Transgender Man's Journey with Scripture
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
October 1 - October 29, 2025
Led by Rev. Phillip Bass
Father Shannon Kearns is familiar with liminal spaces. He’s lived in them his whole life. And while his experience as a transgender man has often made it difficult for him to fit in—especially in the context of Christianity—it has also shaped his perspective in important ways on complicated, gender-transgressing aspects of theology and Scripture.
In the Margins weaves stories from Shannon’s life into reflections on well-known biblical narratives—such as Jacob wrestling with the divine, Rahab and the Israelite spies, Ezekiel and the dry bones, and the transfiguration of Jesus. In each chapter, Shannon shows how stories have helped him make sense of his own identity, and how those same stories can unlock the transformative power of faith for those willing to listen with an open mind and stand alongside him in the in-between.
An Altar in the World
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
November 5 - November 19, 2025
Led by Amanda Harrison
"An Altar in the World" by Barbara Brown Taylor is a book that encourages readers to discover the sacred in everyday life, arguing that even the most ordinary acts and experiences can be considered "altars" where we can encounter the divine; it encourages paying attention to the details of our daily lives and finding spiritual meaning in simple actions like walking, working, or interacting with others, essentially showing how to find God beyond the walls of a church by embracing the sacred in the natural world around us.
The Cost of Discipleship
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
January 7 - 28, 2026
Led by Rev. Phillip Bass
"Millions of readers worldwide have benefited from the profound insights presented in The Cost of Discipleship. In this remarkable work, 20th-century Christian theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer asserts that “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die”. Drawing from the Sermon on the Mount, Bonhoeffer offers a critical examination of the distinction between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." He describes "cheap grace" as self-bestowed, characterized by the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, baptism without church discipline, and communion without confession. According to Bonhoeffer, "cheap grace is grace without discipleship." Conversely, he defines "costly grace" as the gift that must be earnestly sought, symbolized by the door at which one must knock. It is costly because it demands a person's life, yet it is grace because it is given by God and provides a path to true life.
God Didn't Make Us to Hate Us
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
February 18 - April 1, 2026
Led by Eileen Morgan
​
Countless Christians are deconstructing the fear-based faith they were handed, but many don’t want to give up on God—they want to love and be loved by Jesus without hateful or abusive theology. If you’re one of these believers, this feminist, anti-racist, LGBTQ-affirming devotional will take you on a journey of spiritual reenchantment. Featuring 40 devotions on God’s radical and liberating salvation, it’s here to help you heal your church hurt, restore your sense of community, and embrace Jesus’s heart-healing forgiveness. Move beyond rigid religion and reconnect with the undeniable truth that predates and will outlive all the toxic theology in the world: God made you to love you.
Suicide and the Communion of Saints
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
April 8 - 29, 2026
Led by Rev. Phillip Bass
​
Rhonda Mawhood Lee is a priest, spiritual director, and daughter whose mother died by suicide. She knows about complicated grief. Having grown up in a family haunted by self-inflicted death for multiple generations, Rhonda has asked and re-asked the questions for which there are no easy answers. And she knows she’s not alone in her search for understanding.
Drawing on her vocational insights and personal experiences, Lee offers a compassionate vision for understanding and responding to suicide. With clarity and candor, she reflects on the unintended consequences of many traditional Christian teachings around suicide. In search of a better way, Lee turns to the communion of saints—a theologically rich concept that Christians can draw on to reframe their relationships with people who have died by suicide, and with those who are at risk of ending their own lives.
Womanist Midrash, Volume 1: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
May 6 - June 10, 2026
Led by Carolyn Kreuger & Amanda Harrison
​
Using her own translations, Wilda Gafney offers a midrashic interpretation of the biblical text that is rooted in the African American preaching tradition to tell the stories of a variety of female characters, many of whom are often overlooked and nameless. Gafney employs a solid understanding of womanist and feminist approaches to biblical interpretation and the sociohistorical culture of the ancient Near East. This unique and imaginative work is grounded in serious scholarship and will expand conversations about feminist and womanist biblical interpretation.
Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
July 1 - 29, 2026
Led by Rev. Deacon Dan Laird
​
First published posthumously in 1987, Pauli Murray’s Song in a Weary Throat was critically lauded, winning the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Lillian Smith Book Award among other distinctions. Yet Murray’s name and extraordinary influence receded from view in the intervening years; now they are once again entering the public discourse. At last, with the republication of this “beautifully crafted” memoir, Song in a Weary Throat takes its rightful place among the great civil rights autobiographies of the twentieth century.
Shameless: A Case for Not Feeling Bad About Feeling Good (About Sex)
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
August 5 - 26, 2026
Led by Rev. Phillip Bass
​
Negative messages about sex come from all corners of society: from the church, from the media, from our own families. As a result, countless people have suffered pain, guilt, and judgment. In this instant bestseller, Nadia Bolz-Weber unleashes her critical eye and her vulnerable yet hopeful soul on the harmful conversations about sex that have fed our shame.
Migrant God: A Christian Vision for Immigrant Justice
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
September 2- 30, 2026
Led by (To Be Determined)
​
From Tijuana, Mexico, to Douglas, Arizona, across North Carolina and beyond, Isaac Villegas cuts a new path through worn-out talking points and bears witness to loving solidarity among Christians—both with and without US citizenship. Along the way, he offers a theologically astute and politically rich vision of beloved community.
Wearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
October 7- 28, 2026
Led by Eileen Morgan
​
Lauren F. Winner—a leading writer at the crossroads of culture and spirituality and author of Still and Girl Meets God—joins the ranks of luminaries such as Anne Lamott and Barbara Brown Taylor with this exploration of little known—and, so, little used—biblical metaphors for God, metaphors which can open new doorways for our lives and spiritualities.
There are hundreds of metaphors for God, but the church only uses a few familiar images: creator, judge, savior, father. In Wearing God, Lauren Winner gathers a number of lesser-known tropes, reflecting on how they work biblically and culturally, and reveals how they can deepen our spiritual lives.
Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament
Zoom Book Study
Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM
November 4 - 25, 2026
Led by Rev. Phillip Bass
​
With sound scholarship and her own vivid translations from the Hebrew, Old Testament professor Ellen Davis teaches us a spiritually engaged method of reading scripture. Beginning with the psalms, whose frank prayers can be a model for our own, Davis reflects on the stories of the patriarchs and the pastoral wisdom of the book of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs in helping us cultivate those habits of the heart that lead to a rich relationship with God.
