Estuary in Palo Alto

"The key to good Estuary is excellent listening." John Van Donk

You're invited to join us every third Monday at PACRC from 7pm-9pm starting September 16, 2024! Our ministry, Estuary, is inspired by the dynamic ecosystem where fresh water meets salt water. It's a space for meaningful conversation, mutual respect, and understanding different perspectives. Let's build a unique community and foster love together!

Estuary is a friendly environment for people to gather and discuss the meaning of life, religion, community-building, consciousness, what's going on in our lives, and anything else. It's a place where people can meet like-minded others, or engage respectfully with others who have a different worldview with different beliefs. It's a place where people learn from each other and build relationships. It's a place where you can share your story without fear, and listen to others share their stories. It's a place to share mutual interests, ask difficult questions, and voice doubts, and a place to learn how to love your neighbors.

This group follows the Estuary Protocol as designed by Paul Vanderklay and John Van Donk, which is designed to facilitate discussion and does not allow any one person to dominate. It consists of 3 rounds, followed by open discussion.

Round 1: Every participant briefly introduces themselves, and says how and why they joined the group.

Round 2: Generate discussion topics and put them on the table. Each person presents topics for discussion. Participants are not required to provide topics, but the intent is that eventually they will be comfortable doing so.

Recommended topic categories:

Intellectual (books, lectures, podcasts, or topics you've been thinking about. Favorite topics are often religious, psychological, or philosophical.)

Social Context (Items of interest, challenge, or concern in your neighborhood, community, or work environment)

Personal (Things happening in your own life or family. This is often where the relationship building happens.)

While each person is presenting topics in round 2, everyone else should be paying attention since they will need to remember topics for the third step.

Round 3: Review and select discussion topics of interest from what is on the table. Each person will select their interests from among the other topics that were put on the table in the previous round. A loose consensus on a set of topics will be determined.

Discuss freely for the rest of the time. Practice curiosity, speaking skills, and active listening skills. And practice opening up with trust, honesty, and respect to others.

Further guidelines:

-Everyone must agree to keep confidentiality within the group.

-No cross-talk during the first three rounds. Practice listening, and stay on topic.

-Demonstrate respect for each other and regard each member as a person of value.

-Each person is responsible for managing their own boundaries.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Palo Alto Christian Reformed Church, Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, USA, United States