Bishop Ward and Elaine Heath from Duke Divinity School share the details about the 2018 Convocation and Pastors’ School in October.
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Every fall, Duke Divinity School, the Western North Carolina Conference and the North Carolina Conference come together to offer a gift to clergy and to laity. In October, Convocation and Pastors’ School will unfold. The theme is wonderful – neighboring.
Jesus was asked a question, “Who is my neighbor?” He seemed to like that question very much. He told a wonderful story in response. At Convocation and Pastors’ School, we’ll be exploring that theme. Elaine Heath from Duke Divinity School will tell us more about the event.
ELAINE HEATH: Bishop, we are very excited about the Convocation and Pastors’ School. This year, our theme is “Neighboring in a Post-Christendom World.” We’ve got a great line-up of speakers. We have many workshops that people can attend. Some of our speakers include Barbara Brown Taylor, who’ll be speaking from her new book which has to do with learning about our faith from people of other faiths. We have Bishop Ian Douglas coming from Connecticut, who’ll be talking to us about his research in global Christianity and what it can teach us here in the United States as we’re trying to find new ways to be involved with our neighbors in a way that brings Christ into the world. We also have Reverend Cynthia Hale coming from Decatur, GA. Reverend Hale planted a church with just a handful of people and it’s now a church with many thousands of members. They do great work in the neighborhood. And then we also have our new director of the Office of Black Church Studies, Dr. David Boltley, who’s been involved in global mission and evangelism and has a lot of experience working with local global church leaders. I think that’s going to be a great plenary session.
I’ll be giving a talk and we’ll be interviewing a group from Wichita, KS, a group of people who are living in intentional community. They have a folk band called Brutal Bear/Bare and they’re doing outstanding community-organizing in their neighborhood. It’s bringing real transformation to that neighborhood and I’ve been involved in mentoring them for several years, so that will be informative and inspiring and fun. I’m really excited about the program this year.
BISHOP: Thank you for all the ways that you are teaching us what it means to be neighbors to one another and neighbors with those who are close to us in proximity and those around the world in the human family. The registration for Pastors’ School and Convocation is deeply discounted till Aug. 31, so we hope you will register very soon and plan to be present for this wonderful time of learning, of connecting, and of being strengthened for mission in the world.