Symposium 2025: “Triage and Transformation”

Symposium 2025

For the third year, we continue our experiment in offering multi-locational, hybrid education, structuring a program that supports the full participation of persons who may gather either in person or online. The program will feature a variety of contributing presenters and workshop leaders, rather than a single Honored Teacher.

The program is still in development and details will be added to this page as they are confirmed.

Triage and Transformation: Spiritual Leadership and Organizing Amidst a Polycrisis

Join us for the 13th annual Starr King Symposium as we explore the shape of religious and social leadership amidst a polycrisis of sociopolitical, cultural, economic, and climatic disruption. Because we cannot wait for government or business to enact responsible change, we must cultivate and organize our own capacities of spiritual grounding, resilience, and mutual care. Gathering together in hybrid community, we will find guidance and inspiration in expert teachers, practitioners, and one another, and will begin to develop action plans to meet the challenges ahead.

Our program will focus on community self-organizing to build resilience and the roles to be played by congregational ministers, chaplains, and social-change leaders. Topics and skill areas may include spiritual grounding, conflict resolution, solidarity creation, and other rituals and practices that will be vital in challenging times.

Two Attendance Options

Symposium participants will have two options for program attendance:

1. Online via Zoom: This will include online-specific community sessions as well as hybrid engagement with cross-modality sessions. We are planning for some elements of the program to be asynchronous to help accommodate working schedules.
2. In Person: This year we are returning to Mercy Center in Burlingame, California. This retreat center provides full service for Symposium as a single location for programming, dining, and lodging. Mercy Center is a short distance from San Francisco International Airport and accessible by public transit.

Schedule

The Symposium schedule will begin with program sessions on the afternoon/evening of Monday, August 25, and continue through the morning of Wednesday, August 27. Program elements will include shared worship, community conversations, and skill-building.

Student Registration

When Early Registration opens on April 14, students can register for the Symposium session that reflects their attendance plans (Online or California).

For students who are attending in person at Mercy Center, the cost of room and board will be 50% subsidized by Starr King. Physical attendees must register in Populi by July 21 and will be billed $200 for their stay at the retreat center.

Public Registration

Registration information for the general public will be coming soon!