The annual Convocation & Pastors’ School is an intensive multi-day conference that offers lectures, worship, alumni gatherings, and seminars for Christian leaders of all traditions. Led by scholars and practitioners from Duke University and beyond, this event is a cooperative endeavor with the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conferences of the United Methodist Church, The Duke Endowment, The Parish Ministry Fund, and Duke Divinity School.
In-person
For Alumni
For Clergy
For Laity
For UMC Clergy
General Audience
Details about the 2024 Convocation & Pastors' School will be available by Summer 2024.
2022: "Creativity and Courage: From Trauma to Tough Hope" Videos
- Opening Worship with Bishop Leonard Fairley preaching
- Plenary 1: Makoto Fujimura and Ellen Davis, Looking in Hope
- Plenary 2: Ekklesia Contemporary Dance Company, Body and Land
- Plenary 3: Peter Storey, Wanted for a Time Such as This: A Church the World Might Take Seriously
- Plenary 4: Freddie Moore, Paiter Van Yperen, Luke Powery, Lament
2021: "Uncommon Ground: Living with Humility, Patience, and Tolerance in a Divided Age" Videos
The 2021 virtual CPS consisted of five separate sessions. The first two days featured Claude Alexander of The Park Church, musician Sara Groves John Inazu of Washington University in St. Louis, and Warren Kinghorn of Duke Divinity School.
- Uncommon Ground, Day 1
- Uncommon Ground, Day 2
- Tru Pettigrew, Activating the Power of Inclusion
- Jan Holton, Pastoral Care in Times of Division
- Ellen Davis, The Beauty of Holiness
2020: "Christian Leadership in Turbulent Times" Videos
The 2020 virtual CPS consisted of five webinars:
- Will Willimon, Leadership and Preaching
- L. Gregory Jones, Navigating the Future in the Midst of Heavy Fog
- Regina Graham and Warren Kinghorn, Mental Health, COVID, and Racial Divisions
- Alma Ruiz, Leadership and Trauma
- Stephen Chapman and Laceye Warner, Light to the Nations
2018: “Neighboring in a Post-Christendom World” Audio
- Two sermons by Cynthia Hale, founder and senior pastor of the Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, G.A.
- Cynthia Hale: Monday Worship in Goodson Chapel and Tuesday Worship in Duke Chapel.
- A lecture by David Goatley, research professor of theology and Black Church Studies and director of the Office of Black Church Studies at Duke Divinity School, titled "Aiming for the Ditch."
- A lecture by Ian Douglas, missiologist and bishop diocesan of The Episcopal Church in Connecticut, on the topic of "Participating in God’s Mission: Ecclesial Lessons from the Post Christendom Frontier."
- A conversation with L. Gregory Jones, former dean of the Divinity School and Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams Jr. Distinguished Professor of Theology and Christian Ministry, and Christine Pohl, Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics at Asbury Theological Seminary, on the topic of "Reweaving the Social Fabric: Hospitality, Community, and Learning to be Good Neighbors."
Questions?
Contact us at events@div.duke.edu or (919) 613-5352