Save the Date! June 1 – 3, 2021 for the Next Online Conference
Orbiting Christ: Belonging, Believing, Behaving
An Online Conference on Adult Faith Formation & Congregational Transformation
Building on our earlier conference (Treasures Old and New: A Conference on Adult Faith Formation), this follow-up event will unfold ways in which the emblems of the Church intersect with the process of drawing people into Christ’s orbit, thus making them disciples. Belonging, believing, and behaving describe the person’s journey toward discipleship. Each of these three descriptors serves as a daily theme for the conference and will be paired with the emblems of the Church. By exploring what the Church is (a community of faith in Christ) and the activities that identify a community as Church (liturgy/worship, preaching and teaching, and witness and service), the conference leaders will explore how living as the Church opens a Christian community to Christ’s missional calling: to teach and baptize and to love one another and the world.
The conference is designed
- To foster a vision of missional identity through practical ways of building a process of adult formation centered in Christ.
- To reflect on the Christological nature of Church’s emblems—community, worship, preaching, teaching, witness, and service—as key to the missional nature of congregations by
- Envisioning community and worship as vehicles that create a sense of belonging rooted in Christ for those on the path to discipleship;
- Exploring the overlap between and distinctiveness of preaching and teaching; and recognizing the role of both in the Holy Spirit’s work in creating believing hearts;
- Examining anew witness and service in the world as transformative ways of behaving that can draw those outside the Church into Christ’s orbit.
- To inspire pastors and lay leaders to such a winsome and Gospel-centered, missional approach to ministry.
- To remind participants from the “Treasures Old and New” Conference: that we are not peddling a “program for new members” but offering visions of a robust adult catechumenal process that leads to congregational transformation.
Participants in this conference will
- Hear church professionals dialogue on the daily topic as it relates to their ministry setting;
- Engage in Q & A time with presenters;
- Choose from a variety of breakout sessions that will explore practical ways to implement a catechumenal process and introduce new resources on adult faith formation.
Click here to register for the conference:
https://www.forminglutherans.org/conference-registration/
For more details, see “Events” on the website.
Photo: https://www.rawpixel.com/image/441103/the-solar-system
