CONVOCATION SCHEDULE
Conference Learning Objectives and Conference Expectations

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Acts 2:42

Thursday, July 26
9:00am - 1:30pm Registration
1:00pm
Gathering
1:30pm SESSION 1 - Apostles' Teaching: Learning in Conversation with Tradition - Thomas Hawkins
Worship
Presentation
Bible study
5:00pm Worship
6:00pm Dinner
7:00pm SESSION 2 - Learning in Conversation with Context - Center Staff
Group interaction and learning
8:30pm Worship
Friday, July 27
Breakfast
8:45am SESSION 3 - Fellowship: Learning in the Shared Space of Relationships - Thomas Hawkins
Worship
Presentation
Bible study
12:30pm Lunch
2:00pm SESSION 4 - Breaking Bread: Learning the Way of Mutuality and Self-giving - Thomas Hawkins
Presentation
Bible study
5:00pm Worship
6:00pm Dinner
7:00pm OPTIONAL SESSION - Transforming churches toward a missional posture - sharing stories of transformation and hope
Saturday, July 28
Breakfast
8:45am SESSION 5 - Prayer: Learning the Posture of Discernment and Revelation - Thomas Hawkins
Worship
Presentation
Bible study
11:30am Closing Worship
Noon Lunch and Departure
Conference Learning Objectives

As a result of your participation in this convocation you can expect to hear, share, discover -

  1. The nature of the church as a learning community - learning, un-learning, and learning anew what it means to participate in God's mission.
  2. The church's unique life and practice as shaped by the active presence of the Holy Spirit.
  3. The cultural forces both outside and inside the church that impede its formation as a Spirit-led learning community.
  4. How the church's own sources, especially the Bible, stimulates and forms congregational practice and mission.
  5. The implications for congregations seeking to cultivate common life and ministry as a Spirit-led learning community.
Conference Expectations

In this convocation you can realistically expect to -

  1. Work in a variety of groupings: in the plenary group, working alone, with one or two others, but mostly as a table group.
  2. Engage in worship and prayer together.
  3. Participate in stimulating Bible study processes.
  4. Be stimulated by thought provoking presentations.
  5. Share your experience and learn from others as they share.
  6. Discover a range of perspectives which can broaden your horizons.
  7. Explore common ground for responding to the challenges and opportunities facing the church today.
  8. Meet and link arms with others, sharing stories of transformation and hope.
Acts 2:42

In Acts 2:42 Luke is more concerned with naming the practices that shape a community as it discerns, embraces, and serves God's purposes as made known through the Spirit than he is with outlining in detail specific beliefs. In Luke's missional church, Christian community entails a distinctive way of life, and converts must learn the practices associated with it. These practices are not individual or voluntary. They are not optional.

Being Christian community today in continuity with the New Testament churches, entails a distinctive way of life in today's context. This way of life involves leaders, members, and new converts alike in learning the communal practices associated with being church.

In this convocation we will enter into the key practices described in Acts 2:42, discovering their meaning through conversation with their original context as well as today's, discerning the implications for learning to being church - led by the Spirit.

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