Convocation & Pastors' School

Seminars Offered Monday and Tueday

Bible Study for Christian Neighbors
Barbara Brown-Taylor
Author of Learning to Walk in the Dark and An Altar in the World

Christians eager to engage neighbors of many (and no particular) faiths may come up short when they search their own sacred texts for a blessing. In this workshop we will examine a few pertinent texts for insight, honoring their historical meaning even as we allow the Holy Spirit to refresh their meaning for our own time.

Organizing Religion:  Helping the Church take Action
Kelly Carpenter
Senior Pastor, Green Street Church (UMC), Winston-Salem

Using the broad outreach ministries of Winston-Salem’s Green Street Church as a model, this seminar will examine principles of community organizing as tools for congregational ministry. Participants will also engage in theological reflections on activism, conflict, and justice ministries.

Spiritual Practices for a New Missional Age
Ian Douglas
Bishop Diocesan of The Episcopal Church in Connecticut

The realities of post-Christendom require a theological shift from an ecclesiocentric preoccupation with the church to a renewed focus on God’s mission of restoration and reconciliation in the world. In this “new missional age” followers of Jesus are invited to try on ancient/new spiritual practices as we seek to participate in God’s mission in the neighborhood. This workshop will review five spiritual practices for the new missional age and will invite participants to try on dwelling in the Word as one way to listen to and discern God’s leading in these increasingly post-Christendom times.

Making Room for One More
David Goatley
Research Professor of Theology and Black Church Studies, and Director of the Office of Black Church Studies, Duke Divinity School

Does the church have anything to say and show to a world of growing segmentation and fragmentation? Are we destined for reflection, or might we have hope for illumination? This seminar will explore tensions concerning stranger and neighbor and imagine possibilities for reclaiming the spirit of hospitality where some cultures believe in “making room for one more.”

Preaching to Save the Soul of a Nation
Cynthia Hale
Founder and Senior Pastor, Ray of Hope Christian Church, Decatur, Georgia

At a time when we are faced with division and disunity among people, political parties, races, classes, genders and other entities, when the needs of the least of these are becoming more pronounced and injustice and equality for all is lacking, this workshop will explore the ways in which we, as preachers, can reclaim our prophetic voice to speak to the chaos and bring healing and wholeness, unity and cooperation for the good of all people.

The Right Posture for Holy Neighboring: Cultural Humility and Cultural Intelligence
Ismael Ruiz-Millàn
Director of Hispanic House of Studies, Duke Divinity School

The political environment as well as the rhetoric and acts of hate in our society makes it difficult for any person to engage in authentic ways with our neighbors. We are so cautious that we prevent ourselves from meaningful and holy friendships—we prevent ourselves from being a good neighbor. Ecclesial spaces are not the exception, we are often very careful of not having “the wrong people” in our pews, that instead of becoming the source of good neighboring, churches become the source of enmity. In this seminar, by taking a close look at the principles of cultural humility and cultural intelligence, participants will learn about the posture needed in order to be a good neighbor that fosters holy neighboring.

Young Adults and Other Mythical Creatures: Ministry and Formation After Christendom
Sam Laurent
Campus Minister and Young Adult Missioner, The Episcopal Center at Duke University

How is the Good News proclaimed to younger audiences in this time when the influence of established denominations wanes? How can our denominational identities embolden our ministry as Christendom fades into the rear view? Dr. Laurent will lead a conversation of shared wisdom, practice, and ministerial theology for reaching young adults and “nones” in the shifting climate of the 21^st century.

Exegeting the Neighborhood
Heidi Miller
Director of Neighborhood Seminary, Duke Divinity School

The Gospel of John proclaims, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” This seminar will explore how Christian leaders may equip churches to awaken and join with the Spirit of God in their communities. Drawing upon the biblical theology in the neighborhood story of the woman with the hemorrhage, and lessons learned from the first year of Duke Divinity School’s Neighborhood Seminary pilot in Greensboro, N.C., we will explore ways congregations can learn from and engage with the communities with which they live in order to “move into the neighborhood” with Christ.

The Good Samaritan: Embracing the Interfaith “Other” as Neighbor
Dana Trent
Author of For Sabbath's Sake and Saffron Cross

Amid America’s growing religious diversity, the Christian Church has two choices: merely tolerate the “other,” or relate and embrace the “other” as neighbor. Christ, through The Parable of the Good Samaritan, teaches us to choose the latter. How then do we create opportunity and hold space for interfaith conversations with our Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Atheist neighbors? What is the best way to lift up similarities while still honoring the differences? In this seminar, you’ll learn practical tools to foster conversation and community with various religious traditions, including how to begin and sustain interfaith dialogue with empathy and sincerity. Join us as we explore how to be the kind of neighbor the Gospel teaches us to be.

Learning Lessons from Farmworkers
Juan Carabaña
Programs and Outreach Coordinator, Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, Newton Grove, NC

There are many approaches to establish outreach to a neighboring community, some fruitful, some imposed, yet most often with good intentions. With such efforts we can find our own “experiential bubbles”—our past experiences, our culture, our education—can limit or even obliterate our connection and effectiveness. Recognizing one’s own and our neighbors’ “bubbles” is an important first step in making connection. In this workshop we explore lessons learned in working with communities oft defined as the “other,” particularly the migrant farmworker communities within Eastern North Carolina. Dr. Carabaña will share lessons from the field that he needed to re-learn in the process of discovering God manifest in “neighboring.”

Seminars Offered Monday ONLY

Changing American Religion
Mark Chaves
Church Vitality Strategist
Professor of Sociology, Religious Studies, and Divinity, Duke Divinity School

Most Americans say they believe in God, and more than a third say they attend religious services every week. Yet studies show that people do not really go to church as often as they claim, and it is not always clear what they mean when they tell pollsters they believe in God or pray. Using sources including his recently revised American Religion: Contemporary Trends, leading researcher Mark Chaves will present timely information about crucial religious developments in diversity, belief, involvement, congregational life, leadership, decline, and polarization. The session will examine and discuss both continuity and change within American religious life.

On Leadership During Institutional Change
L. Gregory Jones
Dean, Duke Divinity School

We live in a time of bewilderment: about a post-Christendom era, considerable technological and global tumult, fractured social dynamics, and significant distrust and even cynicism about institutions. Such a time can be challenging, and it also offers possibilities for creative leadership. What mindsets, virtues, and practices are important for faithful and effective leadership amidst institutional change and broader bewilderment? We will explore this question during this session, offering both a broad perspective and practical suggestions along the way.

Called To Be One, Called to Speak Peace
Edgardo Colón-Emeric
Director of the Center for Reconciliation and Assistant Professor of Christian Theology, Duke Divinity School

Disunity is one of the Church’s deepest wound. Christian division has weakened the Christian witness to the gospel of life in a culture that has normalized exclusion and polarization. Thus, the reconciliation of all things in Christ begins with the reformation of Church. Every reconciler has a vocation to be an ecumenist. In this workshop, participants will reflect on the divine origin of this prophetic vocation, the problematic history which has limited its fulfilment, and consider peacemaking practices that can facilitate its renewal for the sake of the world.

Cultivating Hospitality and Trust in a Climate of Fear
Christine Pohl
Professor emeritus of Christian Ethics, Asbury Theological Seminary

Fear often distorts our relationships and shapes our decisions.  Building strong and neighborly communities depends on our cultivation of hospitality and trust, practices that are often undermined by fear.  Utilizing biblical, historical, and contemporary resources, this workshop will explore ways of addressing our current climate of fear and cultivating practices of hospitality and trust.

Seminars Offered Tuesday ONLY

Common Tables: A Wesleyan Way of Relational Discipleship
Christopher Moore
Executive Director of New Faith Communities

What would bands and classes look like in today’s context? The method of the Methodist Church was originally small groups of disciples watching over each other in love. Most modern Methodists, however, have never experienced or been formed in the discipline of relational discipleship. Rather, we have understood discipleship to be a curricular classroom activity. Discover a model of reimagining bands and classes in today’s context, where holy friendships are the theater of prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace.

Witness to the Resurrection: The Gift of Post-Christendom Preaching
Jerusha Neal
Assistant Professor of Homiletics, Duke Divinity School

Acts describes the sermons of early believers whose understandings of identity, power, and authority were disrupted by the resurrection of Christ. In Acts' telling, these disruptions witnessed to the reality and relevance of the risen Jesus. Might post-Christendom preachers re-frame their own struggles around identity, power, and authority as a similar opportunity? Bringing Acts' sermons into conversation with contemporary case studies, this workshop explores preaching's risky witness to a living God.

Everyone planning to attend the 2018 Convocation & Pastors’ School should submit their registration in advance, along with the appropriate fees. Your registration for Convocation & Pastors’ School includes access to lectures, seminars, and worship, as well as on-campus shuttles and parking. We will send confirmation upon receipt of your registration information. Event fees are non-refundable.

Cost

Funding

The cost of this event is kept minimal due to the generous support of the North Carolina and Western North Carolina Conferences of the United Methodist Church, as well as The Duke Endowment and the Parish Ministry Fund, which provide financial assistance to clergy in support of their ongoing education.

Access

Duke University is committed to providing access to programs for persons with disabilities. If you anticipate needing accommodations or have questions about physical access, please contact (919) 613-5323 in advance of the program.