TFM Symposium #3 Emmanuel College

Wisdom from the Trenches:

How Cultural Myopia, Meta-Modernism and Fear of the Other
Interacts with Congregational Ministry
Thursday, February 5th, 2015
2:00 pm 5:00 pm
2:00 2:10:
2:10 2:25:
2:25 3:30:
3:30 3:40:
3:45 4:30:
4:30 4:50:

Gathering
Introductions
Individual Talks, Moderated Discussion, Q & A
Refreshment Break
Break Out Sessions
Break Out Groups Share, Final Q & A

Talks:
1. Deb McMillan:
2. Adam Kilner:
3. Connie den Bok

Meta-Modernism and Rural Ministry

Neighbourliness: Overcoming Racism in the Mainline Church
Having Babies and Raising the Dead

Breakout Sessions:
1. Deb McMillan:
2. Adam Kilner:
3. Connie den Bok:

Rural Ministry: Its not what you think.

Hospitality: Disrupting Racism with Love.
Changing Congregational DNA through Corporate Prayer.

Abstract:
Ministers will tell you that congregational ministry is the best life in the world. Except
when it isnt. At this symposium, the speakers will explore three specific challenges
facing ministers in the contemporary Canadian mainline Protestant context. After the
talks are concluded, a moderated discussion will connect these issues to the larger
reality that congregational ministry has been deeply transformed by changing

demographics. A brief Q & A session will conclude the panel portion of the afternoon
and then the guests will each offer a break-out session related to their topic.
Topics:
Rural ministry is often a place where pre-modern, modern and post-modern
sensibilities co-exist. This can be an obstacle to effective preaching, fruitful governance
and unity in mission. Meta-Modernism offers valuable insight into how joining the gifts of
modernism and post-modernism can yield creative and powerful new ways to do
church. Deb McMillan will take us through rural ministry using the lens of MetaModernism to show us the joyous possibilities that abound when were willing to look at
it with fresh eyes.
Cultural myopia can prevent Mainline congregations from genuinely welcoming,
serving and/or collaborating with those who are perceived as different in some way.
The reality, especially in urban settings, is that people of faith and those interested in
learning about faith who are seeking a spiritual home do not look like, behave like, or
worship like those remaining in our dwindling congregations. Connie denBok offers
explanations and strategies for renewing existing congregations while nurturing new
generations of faithful members. During her break out session, Connie will show us how
to: Change Congregational DNA through Corporate Prayer.
Racism in the Mainline: Sociological and anecdotal evidence continually reveals that
even in churches committed to interculturalism racism, anti-Semitism and
Islamaphobia continue to infect communities of faith. Ministers seeking to lead
congregations into the kinds of spiritual wholeness that necessitate anti-racist ways of
being in community together often find themselves bereft of resources and strategies to
identify, let alone overcome, the complex challenges such prejudices create. Adam
Kilner analyzes the damage caused by prejudice in the pews and the pulpit. Drawing
on Walter Brueggemanns ethic of neighbourliness, he will propose ways by which we
can overcome and disrupt racism with love.