HOPE FOR THE JOURNEY CONFERENCE
Formerly the Empowered to Connect Conference
Building on the knowledge and experience gained over the past 10 years, Show Hope’s Empowered to Connect Conference will premiere on Friday, April 9, 2021, as the new Hope for the Journey Conference.
The aim of this virtual event will be to shepherd parents and caregivers to a deeper understanding of their children’s needs. As more and more families have responded to meeting the needs of vulnerable children by adopting and providing foster care, the demand for practical and proven resources and tools continues to grow. In alignment with Show Hope’s mission to care for orphans by engaging the Church and reducing barriers to adoption, our faith compels us and our experience informs us as we work to reimagine our conference. We are prayerful the Hope for the Journey Conference will help meet these needs and further resource churches in their endeavors to be beacons of hope and encouragement for families in their congregation and surrounding communities.
We believe community is essential to the hope, healing, and restoration we are all seeking in the adoption and foster care journeys. However, as we watch COVID-19 continue to impact our daily lives, we know families need options for how they consume information and education. While we are hopeful for a return to gatherings within churches and different event locations, we remain realistic that this may not be feasible in the early months of 2021.
With that, we have developed a new pricing structure based on the needs and comfort levels for Hope for the Journey hosts and participants. We are happy to now offer both an Individual/Household Viewing Option as well as a Church/Organization Viewing Option for the new conference.
To learn more about these viewing options, please click here for downloadable PDF with comparable pricing structure and elements included with each option.
Hope for the Journey Conference & Simulcast
Premiering Friday, April 9, 2021
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Hope for the Journey Conference
Show Hope launched its Empowered to Connect Conference in 2010 with the aim of equipping parents, caregivers, ministry leaders, and care professionals to better serve children impacted by adoption and foster care. Over the past 10 years, the conference has grown to include research-based tools to promote attachment and connection in families such as Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) methods developed by Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross from the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at TCU. At its core, TBRI works to promote trust, attachment, and connection between caregivers and children by addressing physical and emotional needs while also disarming fear-based behaviors.
Over the years, Show Hope has had the opportunity to hear from parents, ministry leaders, and professionals on the ever-changing, complex needs they face in serving children who have been impacted by early loss and trauma. Show Hope staff members also hold rich knowledge and experience with TBRI, and we continue to learn about new research, resources, and tools that align in scope with the concepts of connection, belonging, and security. And so, with this assessment of our Empowered to Connect Conference, we have also continued to return to our mission and see with fresh eyes that Show Hope does, in fact, stand in a unique place of resourcing the Church to serve families.
With these markers in place, guided by the vision set forth by Show Hope Founders, Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman, the Hope for the Journey Conference will continue to build upon attachment-based knowledge and experience and introduce robust resources and share practical experiences of successes and failures of day-to-day parenting and caregiving. It is Show Hope’s aim that parents and caregivers will leave encouraged as they continue to journey well with their children.
Host the Hope for the Journey Conference at Your Church
The 2021 Hope for the Journey Conference—a one-day event—will be available for simulcast on April 9 as well as rebroadcast April 16–May 31, 2021. Parents, caregivers, ministry leaders, and professionals will have access to these practical tools that help bring hope and healing to children who have experienced early childhood trauma.
Priced low, this simulcast event is an opportunity to provide support to families and communities that may lack the experience, expertise, or answers needed for those in desperate need of help and guidance. Contact your church staff today and tell them you’d like to host a simulcast at your church.
Commonly Asked Questions
What aspects of the Empowered to Connect Conference will remain part of the Hope for the Journey Conference?
As in years past, Show Hope’s Hope for the Journey will be a live and on-demand simulcast event (April 9) with a rebroadcast period (April 16–May 31) that includes the Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) model for caring well for children impacted by adoption and foster care. The Hope for the Journey Conference will remain low-cost plus high-impact as Show Hope works to resource churches, agencies, and other organizations as they support and equip the families, caregivers, and the communities they serve.
Is the Hope for the Journey Conference faith-based?
Show Hope is a faith-based organization and evidence of that faith will naturally be part of the Hope for the Journey Conference (as it was with the Empowered to Connect Conference). In an effort to further engage the Church in elevating trauma-competency, Show Hope will introduce a new supplemental module and additional resources to explore the gospel as foundational to TBRI.
It is Show Hope’s desire that the conference serves as a resource for the churches and organizations that host, allowing them to further open their doors and build relationships with families impacted by adoption and foster care in their communities.
Moving to a modular format gives hosts the flexibility to make decisions about which portions of the conference are most helpful in their context.
What if we are unable to meet in-person next spring?
Show Hope believes the Hope for the Journey Conference is best shared in the context of community. However, we recognize the impact of COVID-19 has presented limitations to the current ability to host large, in-person gatherings. Show Hope will continue to monitor COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions as the conference date nears. As we did with the 2020 Empowered to Connect Conference REWIND, we are making contingency plans to maximize viewing if gathering restrictions are in place next spring.
What will differ between the Hope for the Journey Conference and the Empowered to Connect Conference?
While the Empowered to Connect Conference has historically been a two-day event, the Hope for the Journey Conference will move to one day, making the event more accessible to families and everyday caregivers. With a renewed focus on parents and caregivers, the conference will intentionally highlight everyday, practical help where hosts can choose how to best utilize modular sessions. The event could also be consumed in one day or shared over multiple training sessions or weeks.
Along with the structural changes, the Hope for the Journey Conference will include a brand-new learning module—TBRI and the Gospel—and will also highlight adult adoptee voices and experiences, offering parents and caregivers greater insight to the often complex needs of children impacted by adoption or foster care.
Post conference, Show Hope plans to provide practical application guides with thoughts, questions, and reflections as well as action steps and activities. These guides will reinforce concepts and teachings shared during the conference along with practical ideas for incorporating conference insights into the day-to-day. Also new this year will be a follow-up mini podcast series where Show Hope will continue the conversation on topics introduced at the conference with a variety of guests. The aim is to further educate and encourage families impacted by adoption and foster care as they seek to provide hope and healing to the children entrusted to them.
Will continuing education be available?
Hosts will have access to certificates of completion for adoptive and foster families to submit to their respective agencies.
Unlike previous years, professional continuing education will not be offered through Show Hope, but hosts will be able to submit information for approval with local or state accreditation organizations.
How do I register or learn more?
To learn more or to register today, visit showhope.org/hope-for-the-journey.