We almost never publicize conferences on the Cafe, but this one deals with a subject that is particularly close to my heart.

Missional Development Conference

September 20-22
General Theological Seminary
New York, NY

The Spirit is transforming our whole world, unveiling the image of God already present in all of us. Evangelism is the spiritual practice of opening ourselves to engage the image of God in others. Through this spiritual practice of seeking and serving Christ in all persons, we are drawn into the Spirit’s reconciling and transforming passion. This passion drives us to mission, the gathering of spiritual communities in which we can experience each other and ourselves as the Beloved of God. This experience of Belovedness makes us want more. We want to expand and deepen our capacity to practice the kinds of evangelism and mission through which we participate in the Spirit’s revelation of God’s love.

To strengthen our witness to the image of God in each of us and our sharing of God’s love, the Episcopal Evangelism Network is convening a missional development conference. Together we will explore: engaging people and communities generatively across lines of difference, forming missional leaders who can nurture others’ pursuit of their authentic vocation, and discerning the Spirit’s movement in our worship, in our spiritual communities and in our local contexts. In all these explorations, we will seek to follow the Spirit’s lead together.

Participants will experientially and collaboratively engage topics in the following areas:

Progressive Evangelism
• Engaging in spiritual conversation with the “spiritual but not religious”
• Learning how to actively hear and respond to another’s spiritual story
Contextual Liturgy
• Stretching into the expansive range of Episcopal worship
• Creating liturgical space where multiple cultures are in conversation
• Holding spiritual space for others
• Utilizing non-eucharistic tools for worship
Missional Organizing
• Empowering missional leaders who develop other missional leaders
• Building spiritual community through building relationships
• Strategizing for regional mission planning
• Mapping assets to discern resources for ministry
• Developing communities of missional practice
• Communicating and publicizing our communities’ stories

Presenting speakers and facilitators include: Simon Bautista, Tom Brackett, Courtney Cowart, Monique Ellison, Otis Gaddis III, Ana Hernandez, Randy Kimmler, Donald Schell, Daniel Simons, Stephanie Spellers, Jannie Swart, Karen Ward, Rebecca Wilson, Robert Wright.

Come join EEN at General Theological Seminary and grow, explore, and connect with fellow people passionate about participating in the Spirit’s transformation in our world!

(Full disclosure: Rebecca Wilson is my business partner, and Deacon Otis Gaddis and I have been talking about the need for a new approach to evangelism since before he went into the seminary.)