Hold the Date: Partnering to be the Church for the World
Seeking to connect the scholarship of the Church and the practice of ministry, The Cal Turner Jr., Center for Church Leadership of Martin Methodist College is inviting pastors, deacons, and church professional for a time of worship, learning and fellowship. Dr. Margaret Ann Crain and Dr. Jack Seymour will be leading plenary sessions and panel responses on some of the most pertinent issues facing ministry in the United Methodist Church today.
When: Friday and Saturday September 21-22, 2007.
Where: Martin Methodist College campus, Pulaski, TN.
More information will be available soon.
Schedule (Tentative):
Friday, September 21, 2007
(Pre-Conference Event for Elders and Deacons)
Partnering to be the Church for the World
1:00 Registration
2:00 Greeting and Introductions
Jack Seymour and Margaret Ann Crain raise issues related to this question:
· How does our understanding of ecclesiology help us to answer this question?
· How do the orders partner for the mission of Jesus Christ?
2:30 Response from a panel
3:15 Break
3:30 Dialogue and Discussion in groups
4:30 Seymour and Crain respond
5:00 Break for dinner
**The primary resource for this afternoon will be the paper that is being published by GBHEM this spring, The Promise of the United Methodist Order of Deacon in the Twenty-First Century: DEACONS AS MESSENGERS OF THE GRACE OF GOD by Margaret Ann Crain. It will be widely available by next fall.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Teaching and Mentoring in the Church of the 21st Century
Margaret Ann Crain and Jack l Seymour
(Open to All)
7:00-8:00 pm Keynote Address: Seymour and Crain
“Learning for Discipleship”
8:00-9:00 Worship
Saturday, September 22, 2007
9:30 am Worship
10:30-11:30 Plenary and Panel Response:
“What we’ve Learned from Adults in the Church”
· What difference does it make if we focus on teaching or on learning?
· What is the culture in which we teach/mentor?
· What are the spiritual yearnings of the folks in the pew?
11:30-1:00 pm Lunch Celebration of a Decade of Deacons in the UMC
1:00-2:00 Plenary Session II and panel:
“Teaching and Mentoring”
· What does learning theory and brain research offer to the church?
· What is Christian formation and how does it contribute to the “Way” of Jesus?
· How do adults continue to develop and change? How does faith develop?
2:00-3:00 Workshop
“How do we choose curriculum, settings, and methods for disciple-making?”
Case studies in small groups
3:00-3:30 Closing Worship
In each plenary, Crain and Seymour will present an opening statement that raises pertinent questions. The panel will have an opportunity to respond and then Seymour and Crain will wrap up and summarize. We would hope to provide provocative questions along with some of the latest thinking on these issues of teaching and learning in the church.
Biography: Margaret Ann Crain and Jack L. Seymour
Dr. Jack L. Seymour is Professor of Religious Education at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, one of our United Methodist Seminaries. Dr. Margaret Ann Crain is Associate Professor of Christian Education and Director of the Deacon Program at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Together and separately they often lead workshops at national and conference level meetings for United Methodists as well as other denominations.
Current research includes: for Margaret Ann, the future of the UMC deacon and approaches to adult education in congregations; for Jack, inter-religious education and theological education. Margaret Ann is president of the Religious Education Association and Jack is editor of the journal Religious Education. Together they have conducted research on the theology of laity: What prompts us to ask questions about God? What role can the church play in resourcing and nurturing the growth of faith?
Together they have written three books, two of which are Yearning for God: Reflections of Faithful Lives, (Upper Room Books, 2003) and A Deacon’s Heart: The New United Methodist Diaconate (Abingdon, 2001). Jack is also the editor of Mapping Christian Education (Abingdon Press, 1997).
They are married with four daughters and six grandchildren.
When: Friday and Saturday September 21-22, 2007.
Where: Martin Methodist College campus, Pulaski, TN.
More information will be available soon.
Schedule (Tentative):
Friday, September 21, 2007
(Pre-Conference Event for Elders and Deacons)
Partnering to be the Church for the World
1:00 Registration
2:00 Greeting and Introductions
Jack Seymour and Margaret Ann Crain raise issues related to this question:
· How does our understanding of ecclesiology help us to answer this question?
· How do the orders partner for the mission of Jesus Christ?
2:30 Response from a panel
3:15 Break
3:30 Dialogue and Discussion in groups
4:30 Seymour and Crain respond
5:00 Break for dinner
**The primary resource for this afternoon will be the paper that is being published by GBHEM this spring, The Promise of the United Methodist Order of Deacon in the Twenty-First Century: DEACONS AS MESSENGERS OF THE GRACE OF GOD by Margaret Ann Crain. It will be widely available by next fall.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Teaching and Mentoring in the Church of the 21st Century
Margaret Ann Crain and Jack l Seymour
(Open to All)
7:00-8:00 pm Keynote Address: Seymour and Crain
“Learning for Discipleship”
8:00-9:00 Worship
Saturday, September 22, 2007
9:30 am Worship
10:30-11:30 Plenary and Panel Response:
“What we’ve Learned from Adults in the Church”
· What difference does it make if we focus on teaching or on learning?
· What is the culture in which we teach/mentor?
· What are the spiritual yearnings of the folks in the pew?
11:30-1:00 pm Lunch Celebration of a Decade of Deacons in the UMC
1:00-2:00 Plenary Session II and panel:
“Teaching and Mentoring”
· What does learning theory and brain research offer to the church?
· What is Christian formation and how does it contribute to the “Way” of Jesus?
· How do adults continue to develop and change? How does faith develop?
2:00-3:00 Workshop
“How do we choose curriculum, settings, and methods for disciple-making?”
Case studies in small groups
3:00-3:30 Closing Worship
In each plenary, Crain and Seymour will present an opening statement that raises pertinent questions. The panel will have an opportunity to respond and then Seymour and Crain will wrap up and summarize. We would hope to provide provocative questions along with some of the latest thinking on these issues of teaching and learning in the church.
Biography: Margaret Ann Crain and Jack L. Seymour
Dr. Jack L. Seymour is Professor of Religious Education at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, one of our United Methodist Seminaries. Dr. Margaret Ann Crain is Associate Professor of Christian Education and Director of the Deacon Program at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Together and separately they often lead workshops at national and conference level meetings for United Methodists as well as other denominations.
Current research includes: for Margaret Ann, the future of the UMC deacon and approaches to adult education in congregations; for Jack, inter-religious education and theological education. Margaret Ann is president of the Religious Education Association and Jack is editor of the journal Religious Education. Together they have conducted research on the theology of laity: What prompts us to ask questions about God? What role can the church play in resourcing and nurturing the growth of faith?
Together they have written three books, two of which are Yearning for God: Reflections of Faithful Lives, (Upper Room Books, 2003) and A Deacon’s Heart: The New United Methodist Diaconate (Abingdon, 2001). Jack is also the editor of Mapping Christian Education (Abingdon Press, 1997).
They are married with four daughters and six grandchildren.
