The Rev. Howard Anderson, Warden and President of the Cathedral College has news of an exciting conference coming up May 10-12:
Church for the 21st Century:
A Gathering to Envision, Encourage and Energize Congregations
Dear Friend:
Join the journey of generous-spirited Christians creating the church for the 21st century. Come join us at Washington National Cathedral to reflect on the direction of the church. Share in creating a time of holy space in worship, music, meals and prayer. Explore key areas including worship, hospitality, discernment, tradition, justice, formation and beauty, drawn from Diana Butler Bass’ latest book Christianity for the Rest of Us.
We are pleased to announce presentations by leading theologians and practitioners including:
Diana Butler Bass, Michael Battle, Marcus Borg, Fred Burnham, Carmen Guerrero, Tony Jones, Samuel Lloyd, Barbara Brown Taylor and Phyllis Tickle.
Conference activities also include: best practices sessions with examples from thriving congregations; a wide variety of community conversation circles for networking; shared meals; and roundtable discussions.
Schedule and Fees: The conference runs from Thursday, May 10 at 2 pm until Saturday, May 12 with the conclusion of the noon Eucharist. The registration fee of $250 includes program costs, Thursday dinner, Friday lunch, Friday “Eucharist meal” and Friday evening reception.
There’s more information, and online registration here. A tentative schedule lurks beneath the “continue reading” tab.
Church for the 21st Century
May 10-12, 2007
Cathedral College
Washington National Cathedral
Preliminary Schedule
(as of 4/13/07)
Thursday, May 10
1-2 pm Registration
2-3:30 pm Opening
Welcome
First Plenary: Phyllis Tickle, followed by roundtable discussion
3:30 pm Break
4-5:15 pm Sam Lloyd, followed by roundtable discussions
6:00 pm Dinner
7:15-8:30pm Marcus Borg, followed by roundtable discussions
8:30 pm Evening Prayer
9- ? Theology and beer in local pubs with Tony Jones and Steve Pankey
and a cast of dozens? (at Cactus Cantina)
Friday, May 11
9:30 A Morning Prayer
9:40-10:55 Diana Butler Bass with roundtable discussions
11-12:15 First Best Practices concurrent sessions/Book Signing
(Participants Choose a session to attend)
• Worship-Devon Anderson
• Contemplation/Discernment- Eugene Sutton and Michael Battle
• Hospitality -Roy Terry
• Healing- Graham Standish
• Testimony-Paul Abernathy
• Diversity-Randolph Charles, Anne-Marie Jeffrey
• Justice-Eric Elness
• Reflection/Formation-Marianne Borg#
• Beauty/Aesthetic-Heidi Christensen and Peggy (Margaret Adams) Parker
(Names listed are “catalysts” who will share their practices to get discussion started)
12:30-1:30 Lunch
Best Practices Sharing II and
1:45-3 pm Community Conversation Circles
Concurrent Sessions II – repeat of Sessions I with a few additions such as:
Crosswalk America/Progressive Christian web tv with Eric Elness#
Emerging Churches with Tony Jones;
Latino/Hispanic with Jesus Reyes and Carmen Guerrero-Stamp
African American with Eugene Sutton and
Network Theory and the 21st Cent. Church with Fred Burnham
The Beatitudes Society-with Ann Howard
The New Monasticism- with Jonathan Hartgrove-Wilson
Network Theory with Fred Burnham
3:30-4:45 Tony Jones, with roundtable discussions
4:45-5:15 Tony Jones and Diana Butler Bass dialogue
5:30 pm Community Conversation Circles II
Concurrent Sessions: /Booksignings; Some from above
Latino Group/African American Group/Young Adult Group
Emergent Groups/Network Theory/groups that self-organize to share ideas
including those specifically listed above
7:00 pm Worship – “Feast” theme (that would include Eucharist/meal)
Barbara Brown Taylor preaching
8:30 Reception in the nave for all (sponsored, in part by HarperOne and Alban
Institute)
9:30-? Theology and beer at local pubs
Saturday, May 12
8:30-9:45 am Michael Battle followed by round table discussions
10-11:15 Barbara Brown Taylor followed by round table discussions
11:15-11:45 Phyllis Tickle’s Closing Observations about the Conference
Noon Concluding Worship (Celtic Service-Gary Jones)
tentative