Contributors ~ Schedule ~ FAQ
We’re all living a new story right now
Even before the events of this past year, we sensed the need to exchange our cultural addiction to separation, selfishness, and scapegoating for a new story in which each of us finds our place, our needs our met, our gifts shared, and connection, creativity, and beauty become the most obvious characteristics of our lives.
That’s why in 2020 we transitioned from planning an in-person festival to a 7-month online course instead that we called the New Story Journey.
Here’s what it was all about…
The time for a New Story is NOW
In the midst of this strange new reality, many of us are asking similar questions:
How do we find hope and resiliency in the midst of so much anxiety and uncertainty?
How do we nurture connection when loving our neighbor literally depends on remaining physically separate?
How do we seize this moment of historic opportunity to imagine a new and better story for the world, and then begin to create it together?
Arundhati Roy suggests that this pandemic is actually a portal, a pathway into a new and potentially better reality—if only we have the courage to step through it.
We are offering a chance to explore that new reality together in two ways:
CLICK ABOVE to join the New Story Community!
1 - The New Story Community
An online space for conversation, connection, and helpful resources, AND the digital hub for all of our New Story Journey events (see below). There’s no cost and it takes less than 30 seconds to sign up - just click here to get started.
2 - The New Story Journey
An ongoing online learning community to help build the kind of resilience, connection, and inspiration we so desperately need right now. Through monthly online events with guest speakers & musicians, small group gatherings, and more, we will ready ourselves to create a more hopeful and life-giving story for the post-pandemic world.
We Need A New Story for our New Reality
On this Journey, we delved into the destructive “shadow” stories that have shaped our lives and our world, and then pushed beyond them toward healthier and more hopeful stories for better lives and a better world:
From Domination => Servant Leadership
From Revenge => Restorative Justice
From Isolation => Contemplative Action
From Purification => Compassion & a Shared Future
From Victimization=> Empowerment & Healing
From Accumulation => Appreciation & Generosity
Ultimately seeking a New Story defined by compassionate action for collective liberation and radical reconciliation.
The new story journey included:
We’ve invited wise guides and talented artists to help guide us along the way, including:
“It was meaningful, enriched me spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and intellectually, nourished my soul and brought me joy during this pandemic. ”
— New Story Online Retreat attendee
Linda Sarsour, Palestinian American co-founder of the Women’s March on Washington
Pádraig Ó Tuama, Irish poet & peace activist, host of On Being’s Poetry Unbound
Brian McLaren, activist, speaker, and co-author of The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence
Peggy Flanagan, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota and member of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, neo-monastic pioneer, spiritual writer, and social activist.
Bishop Yvette Flunder, founder of the Fellowship of Reconciling Ministries
Micky ScottBey Jones, the Justice Doula, founder of The People’s Supper
Melvin Bray, Emmy® award-winning storyteller, principal consultant of collabyrinth consulting, and designer of the 12-Steps Toward Beloved Community.
Special musical guests including David Wilcox, Jennifer Knapp, Denison Witmer, Phoebe Hunt, Nikki Lerner, Vince Anderson, & K Stellar Dutcher,
And dozens more!
Click here to see the full line-up of New Story Journey contributors
YOU CAN still ACCESS THE ENTIRE NEW STORY JOURNEY by purchasing a pass to our new story video library.
Recordings from ALL past Journey events are available at no extra cost with an $80 Video Library pass, or you can purchase individual sessions for $4 each in our Video Store.
all the details
When is it?
The New Story Journey happened from May through November 2020. Feel free to join at any time!
Live online Conversations were on the first or second Tuesday of each month, from 7-8:30pm Central.
Half-day Mini-Retreats happened the last Saturday of each month, from Noon-5pm Central.
All sessions were recorded and made available free to Journey subscribers in our Video Library, or for sale in our Video Store.
Click here for the complete schedule
“I learned so much from participating in the New Story’s online retreat. I left with a renewed sense of hope and inspiration after meeting so many others also working to support a more cooperative and caring way of life for all living things.” — Bruce K.
CAN I JOIN THE ONLINE COMMUNITY WITHOUT SUBSCRIBING TO THE JOURNEY?
Yes! The New Story Community social network is open and free to anyone who wants to join! Certain features of the network (groups, events, etc.) are behind paywalls that unlock when you subscribe to the New Story Journey or purchase passes to individual events.
What other benefits Were included with the journey subscription?
Members of our New Story team are freely sharing items and services that will be made available throughout our Journey together. These benefits included:
Free e-book of The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence by Brian McLaren and New Story Festival co-founder Gareth Higgins.
Video recordings from past New Story events, including the 2019 New Story Festival.
Free movies and music downloads (specific titles TBD).
Free year-long subscription to The Porch Magazine, offering up to three new articles a week.
Free services from our New Story organizing team and Healing Artists - e.g. a free hour of event consulting, editing advice, spiritual direction, faith coaching, energy work, etc.
First-to-know updates regarding the future of the in-person festival & other gatherings, and a thank-you discount to the next festival.
What’s the Schedule?
Click here for the complete schedule of our 2020 Journey.
Join us on THE Journey
Engage with some of the most provocative and creative thinkers of the day, gather in small circles for your own personal growth, participate in monthly half-day retreats to go deeper into courage, creativity, and the common good, and gain access to written, musical, and visual resources to guide and fuel your journey along the way. Participate at whatever frequency works for you: join the online events live or watch the recordings later at your own pace!
By the end of this Journey, our lives were changed for the better, and we learned how to live more of the new story of compassionate action, collective liberation, and reconciliation together - with more joy, courage, hope and connection than we previously knew was possible - no matter what else the future holds.
Gareth Higgins, co-founder of the New Story, reflects on the grief of the current moment and offers an invitation to the New Story Journey.