...the heart of Summer Seminar in Missions
May 13-15, 2010 -- Thursday 8:00 a.m. - Saturday noon ... REGISTER ONLINE
Content Summary:
We live in a world of competing stories. All belief systems are the outplaying of the story or stories one believes to be true. Jesus Christ is life. Only through him can it be found. God's intent for all humanity is to live in "that story" of life. This study attempts to establish the story as a coherent and remarkably applicable story of life for every culture and time. Moving from that story, we consider how we learn to live it appropriately in our time and place. This leads to learning how to teach this life in the specific context of our mission, wherever it might be. What is essential to this venture are the spiritual disciplines which drive us deeply into the heart of God's intent for life lived to his glory.
This year there will be presentations in the morning regarding spiritual formation and missions. The afternoon will be on the same topic but with breakout sessions, including a special breakout session for missions committees. These special sessions will focus on Growing together although separated: Shared spiritual formation between sending churches and their missionaries. Beyond reporting on budgets and activities, how do supporting churches and missionaries stimulate each other's growth and maintain a deep, mutually beneficial spiritual dialog? Come thoughtfully prepared to share your own case studies illustrating:
how you have tracked the spiritual development of missionaries
technologies you use for staying in touch
what you have done when the missionary grows in a direction your church finds uncomfortable
ways to support missionaries who (like many others in ministry) may not be spiritually fed on Sundays
how you re-invest the missionary's new insights back into the sending church
Registration Fee (for first person of a group)
$125
Each additional group member
Students
On Campus Housing per person per night *
(on a first-come-first-served basis)
Meals per person per day *
(Thursday and Friday only)
$50
$25
$20
$15.80
*Prices subject to change
Bio:
Earl was born to missionary parents in Trieste, Italy. He married Rebecca Nance. They have three children and one grandchild. Earl and Rebecca have planted churches in Italy and Illinois.
He has an M.A. in Biblical Studies from Lipscomb, and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Saint Louis University. He has taught at Lipscomb since 1990 and for the last eleven years has served as Director of Missions and Missional Studies and as a professor in the College of Bible and Ministry. While working with Lipscomb, he has been involved in mission and education efforts throughout Europe, as well as in Australia, India, Russia, Brazil, Ghana and China.
Earl is also executive director of the Institute for Christian Spirituality, founded at Lipscomb University in the fall of 2009. The institute's main focus is to help all believers nurture a deeper faith in Christ Jesus as Lord, leading to a fuller participation in the missional work of God in today's world. The Institute will partner with the Hazelip School of Theology in offering academic degrees and various forms of training and mentoring in the field of Christian Spirituality.
Dr. Lavender has authored numerous books and published articles, including a meditative commentary series on the New Testament by Leafwood Publishers and a co-authored book with Gary Holloway - Living God's Love: An Invitation to Christian Spirituality. He is currently working on several new writing projects concerning living daily in God's redemptive story for the world.
Questions about registration, housing, etc.?
Contact Deborah at 325-674-3711 or deborah.niccum@acu.edu.
