See all the people: Ruby Payne brings insight on poverty

On March 15 in Moore, Ruby Payne herself will lead a free workshop about understanding poverty, following her company’s presentation last fall of “What Every Church Member Should Know About Poverty” that was well attended by Oklahoma United Methodists.
“A Day With Ruby Payne” will be held at Moore-First UMC, beginning with sign-in at 9:30 a.m. that Thursday. The church’s address is 201 W Main, less than two blocks from Interstate 35.
The workshop will provide information to increase participants’ knowledge about the culture of impoverished people and ways churches may take steps to minister to those who are poor.
Topics will include: the hidden rules of the middle class, language patterns and cognition, violence and conflict resolution, family and relationship building, and church participation.
A goal for the event is to help local churches that are considering “next steps” in relating to the poor, said Derrek Belase, who is the director of Discipleship for the Oklahoma Conference.
Participants will discuss how to invite and integrate the poorest of people in a community into the life of a local church.
The program is open to laity and clergy.
Lunch will not be served on site, but there will be a 1 1/2 hour lunch break. Continuing education credit is available.
Dr. Payne’s presentation is separate from the previous seminar, Rev. Belase explained. Attendance at the fall program is not a prerequisite.
“A Day With Ruby Payne” is sponsored by the Conference’s Discipleship Ministry Team, the Mission and Service Ministry Team, and the Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation.
For more information about Payne, go to the website for the aha! Process company that she founded.
Advance registration is helpful. The web link is https://okumc-reg.brtapp.com/ADayWithRubyPayne-March2018.