Liturgical Direct Action: A Discernment Retreat
With Bill Wylie-Kellermann, Naomi Washington-Leapheart and Nichola Torbett
November 14 - 16, 2025
How is direct action or civil disobedience altered when framed in prayerful worship? What dimensions of freedom are then embraced? When public witness tells the story of faith and marks a feast or season, what new depth of communication is opened? When nonviolence is practiced in sacramental forms, how is liturgy itself enhanced?
With examples from the freedom movement, antiwar movements, anti-imperial and decolonizing struggles, and more, this retreat will offer opportunities for the imaginative work of movement action from a Christian perspective.
Join practitioners in re-discerning your own local work. Come as a group to think it through together in story and silence, prayer and listening. Come on your own to connect with like-minded others and find inspiration for bringing folks together back home.
About the Leaders
Bill Wylie-Kellermann
Bill Wylie-Kellermann is a nonviolent community activist, writer, and United Methodist pastor living in Wawiatanong/Detroit. He is also is part of the Community at Kirkridge. Bill was a friend of William Stringfellow’s and has done several books on him, including A Keeper of the Word: Selected Writings of William Stringfellow (Eerdmans, 1994), William Stringfellow: Essential […]
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Naomi Washington-Leapheart
Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart is a Black queer preacher, teacher, movement strategist, and justice advocate. She is an adjunct professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University and Arcadia University, and was the Government Fellow for Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School from 2022 to 2024. Rev. Naomi also serves as the first-ever […]
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Nichola Torbett
Nichola Torbett is a white, queer, raised-working-class spiritual seeker, recovering addict, gospel preacher, racial justice podcaster, and nonviolent direct action trainer. She grew up in a sundown town in Ohio and had no consciousness of racism until she was nearly 25. She is grateful to the powerful BIPOC-led movements of Oakland and San Francisco, California, […]
Learn more about Nichola TorbettCategory : Retreat