Conference

Unfinished Business

This is the main page for information about the conference scheduled for Saturday November 18th, 9-2 at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in West Saint Paul, MN. 

Check back for updates especially as conference speakers are confirmed. Last update: 11.9.17.

Description

Conference participants will discuss advantages, disadvantages and unanswered questions associated with home-based faith communities, considering historical examples and contemporary initiatives.


Speakers

Timothy Thompson - Keynote; "What Luther Said, Why Now Is the Time"
                                   - Presentation; "Who's Out There and What Are They Up To?"

Gina Mueller - Panelist.

House Church member and seminary student - Panelist. (Name withheld for security reasons.)

Carol Coomer - Panelist

Kevin McClure - Panelist and Presenter


Registration

At Eventbrite.

On Facebook.


Publicity - Your help is greatly appreciated!

Facebook Page for "Unfinished Business"

Press Release

Poster

Background

Just nine years after Luther sparked the Reformation by posting his 95 Theses, he penned a brief description of what Christian worship and community would look like “if we only had people who longed to be Christians in earnest.” Yet he himself never moved to implement it, saying that he didn’t have the leaders needed and that people in general were not asking for it.
In today’s Church, this proposal may have finally found its time and its audience. Struggles to maintain costly buildings, programs and staff even as membership rolls decline are leading many congregations to close. A large and growing number of people who are passionate about spiritual life are finding themselves “done with the church but not with faith,” and spontaneously forming new types of community as sociologist Josh Packard has described in his book Church Refugees. This conference is a call to conversation around the question; After 500 years, isn’t now just the right time to move forward on this unfinished business of the Reformation and embrace Luther’s vision for the Church come home?

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