Social Justice and Peacemaking Dialogue have been big themes in the church over the last decade.  But have they become integrated? Polarizing conversations in these challenging times have left people hungry for healthy models of dialogue. American society has experienced many pressures and backlashes to changes, highlighting which communities are losing power and which ones are gaining voice. Sometimes the church is on the sidelines, and sometimes it is smack in the middle of those transitions. Facilitators for this cohort will be pastors of local churches who are also already engaged in social justice work and advocacy. They will receive further training in Restorative Justice practices and theory, and learn skills to move hard conversations from the defensive head-zone to the open heart-zone.

Young adults and mentors who participate in this program:

• Will be introduced to restorative justice practices;
• Will network with peers as well as intergenerationally across the greater Seattle area;
• Will receive a stipend and create a deeper relationship with their mentor;
• Will have a clearer sense of how their commitment to justice and their faith are related and inform each other;
• Will have experiential learning opportunities to build listening-based facilitation skills.

Program Schedule
Program Kickoff Banquet: SEPTEMBER 30 2-8pm, Location TBD
Monthly evening meeting by Zoom (Each Facilitator will choose a different regular night, e.g. third Thursday 6-8)
Program Conclusion Banquet: APRIL 20 4-10pm, Location TBD

Daniel Kytonen is an artist, spiritual director, and stay-at-home dad based in Seattle, WA. With over a decade of experience in ministry, he is passionate about helping people connect to God's presence as they journey through various seasons of life. He enjoys listening to others' stories, making art that explores mystery and liminality, and eating delicious hotpot with friends.

• Daniel's group will meet on Third Thursdays (6-8pm):
  10/19, 11/16, 12/21, 1/18, 2/15, 3/21, 4/18, 5/16

Eunice Lin-Sawyer is the Seattle Area Convener for the Grounded Faith Initiative with Parish Collective through which she gets to meet with pastors, church leaders, and young adults to encourage their own neighborhood discernment, engagement, and new ventures. She also works alongside Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil to train and consult churches and Christian organizations in racial justice and reconciliation. Prior to moving to Seattle, she spent 7 years as a social worker before entering full-time ministry in her home church in Singapore where she led the young adult ministry and set up her church’s local outreach and justice ministry. She loves being able to pioneer new work, bridge differences, challenge the status quo, and be a tad subversive in all she does. She believes in rooting deeply despite feeling transient and being a foreigner in this country.

• Eunice's group will meet on Second Thursdays (6-8pm):
  10/12, 11/9, 12/14, 1/11, 2/8, 3/14, 4/11, 5/9

Aaron Cho joined the Quest staff in 2012, relocating to the Seattle area from Pasadena, California. In many ways, his journey to Quest serves as a homecoming of sorts, having been born and raised in the great Northwest (represent 253). After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Whitman College, he spent a year teaching English and serving at a church in South Korea. It was there he found his call for pastoral ministry and pursued further educational debt, aka a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary (little did he know he would meet Judith, his future wife, at Fuller). Through his experience growing up and serving in the Korean immigrant church and also serving as a pastor in a predominantly African-American, multiethnic/multicultural church, he strongly values racial reconciliation and the myriad of ways in which people connect with and worship the living God. He loves engaging life through sports, eating amazing food from every culture, reading, and beating his wife in Monopoly Deal.