If you’d like to get some time for conversation this year …
The best opportunities will be at my Life in the Trinity workshops (info here:
http://lifeinthetrinityministry.com/brianmclaren/about)
The size and schedule for these events will promote both lots of learning and lots of interaction and conversation.
September 7-8, 2012
Friday: 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.; Saturday: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World: Brian McLaren previews his new book, exploring how Christian identity can grow more robust by becoming more benevolent towards other faiths. We’ll look at his historical, doctrinal, liturgical, and missional dimensions of multi-faith engagement. We’ll explore the role of religion in violence and prejudice- and ways that Christians and local churches can become agents of peace and hospitality, rather than suspicion and hostility. (Suggested Prereading: Secret Message of Jesus, Everything Must Change, A New Kind of Christianity).
November 11-13, 2012
Sunday: 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.; Monday: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. and Tuesday: 9 a.m.-Noon
Four Stages of Faith Development: Drawing from his book Naked Spirituality, Brian McLaren presents how the four-stage framework (simplicity, complexity, perplexity, harmony) can help in personal spiritual formation, pastoral ministry, preaching, outreach, and conflict resolution. We’ll use role play, experiential learning, and interactive Bible study as well as lecture and discussion to become fluent in understanding and applying this framework. (Suggested Prereading: Naked Spirituality, A New Kind of Christian).
November 13-15, 2012
Tuesday: 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Spiritual Formation-Becoming Christ Like-Christ in You: We will explore the biblical theme of the image of God in us, integrating insights from Scripture, church history, and the monastic tradition, exploring how the church in its liturgy preaching, and program can become a dojo, school, or studio of Christ-like feeling, thinking, virtue, integrity, and action. We’ll consider the imitation/embodiment of Christ as the heart and soul of Christian living. (Suggested Prereading: Naked Spirituality, Finding Our way Again, A New Kind of Christianity).
December 7, 2012
Friday: 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Pre-Conference Workshop-Worship Leaders and Songwriters Workshop: We will bring together gifted practitioners to assess the status of worship music, the areas where creative input is needed, and ways to develop and disseminate new worship resources. We’ll experiment with some collaborative songwriting as well, culminating in a shared worship experience. (Suggested Prereading: Finding Our Way Again, Naked Spirituality, A New Kind of Christianity, Everything Must Change).
December 9-11, 2012
Sunday: 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., Monday and Tuesday: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Public Worship as Spiritual Formation: We’ll look at ways that the form and content of gathered worship contributes to- and detracts from-formation for Christ-like character and mission. We’ll wrestle with fidelity to tradition and fidelity to current and future generations, devoting special attention to the problems of religious language-including the word “God.” And we’ll use action-reflection to engage in liturgical practices and seek to understand them through experience. (Suggested Prereading: Finding Our Way Again, Naked Spirituality, A New Kind of Christianity, Everything Must Change).