For the Life of the World: The Church’s Mission in a Pluralistic Age
June 4-5, 2015 | Trinity School for Ministry | Ambridge, PA
Ed Stetzer, John Armstrong, Michael Goheen, Grant LeMarquand, Frances Young
AEFC 2015 MEDIA
To Access Media from the 2015 Ancient Evangelical Future Conference, Click HERE.
How does a biblical theology of the mission of God guide the American Church in the 21st century? How does the increasingly pluralistic and global character of the American context shape the Church’s engagement with that context? How might the experience of early urban Christians help the Church to answer these questions? And what are the implications of those answers for Christian mission today?
Christian mission to an increasingly post-Christian society is the focus of the third annual Ancient Evangelical Future Conference, June 4-5, 2015. The Conference will be hosted by the Robert E. Webber Center and held at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. Framed in the context of Christian worship and community, this conference promises to inform, encourage and refresh all who attend.
Speakers:
Ed Stetzer—The Church and the Mission of Jesus
Ed Stetzer is a widely known author, speaker, researcher, pastor, church planter, Christian missiologist, and contributor to the North American discussion about the missional nature of the church. The Lead Pastor of Grace Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee, he is also Executive Director of LifeWay Research Division, a research group dedicated to supporting and strengthening local churches. The author of numerous publications, Ed is a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine, the Executive Editor of The Gospel Project curriculum, and Executive Editor of Facts & Trends Magazine. Ed holds a DMin from Beeson Divinity School and a PhD from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He serves as Visiting Professor of Research and Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Visiting Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. His recent books include Sent: Living the Missional Nature of the Church, and Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation.
John Armstrong—Why Christian Unity is Crucial to the Church’s Mission
John H. Armstrong is the president and founder of ACT 3 Network, which seeks to empower leaders and churches for unity in Christ’s mission. He is a minister of Word and Sacrament in the Reformed Church in America and an adjunct professor of mission at Wheaton College Graduate School. John is the author/editor of thirteen books, including the much discussed Your Church Is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ’s Mission Is Vital to the Future of the Church (Zondervan, 2010) and The Unity Factor: One Lord, One Church, One Mission (2011). He is engaged in public and private ecumenical activity to help the church pursue the mission of Jesus. He received the 2014 Luminosa Award for Unity from the Focolare Movement and serves in a number of mission partnerships, including his role as Lausanne Committee Liaison to Roman Catholic-Evangelical Conversation.
Michael Goheen—Embodying the Bible’s Story in an Age of Rivals
Michael Goheen is Director of Theological Education and Scholar in Residence at the Missional Training Center in Phoenix, and Adjunct Professor of Theology and Mission at Redeemer Seminary, Dallas. He is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church. He previously held the Jake and Betsy Tuls Chair of Missiology at Calvin Theological Seminary and the Geneva Chair of Worldview Studies at Trinity Western University. His PhD dissertation (University of Utrecht) is on Lesslie Newbigin’s missionary ecclesiology. He has authored or coauthored six books, including A Light to the Nations (Baker 2011) and Introducing Christian Mission Today (IVP, 2014).
Bp. Grant LeMarquand—Global Christianity and North American Mission
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Grant LeMarquand is Area Bishop for the Horn of Africa in the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa. After serving as a parish priest in Montreal, he taught New Testament at St. Paul’s United Theological College, Limuru, Kenya and then at Wycliffe College, Toronto where he also studied for his doctoral degree. From 1998-2012 he was Professor of Biblical Studies and Mission at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. Deeply engaged in global and especially African Christianity, he has written extensively on the subject of African biblical and theological education. His books include An Issue of Relevance: A Comparative Study of the Story of the Bleeding Woman (Mk 5:25-34; Mt 9:20-22; Lk 8:43-48) in North Atlantic and African Contexts, and Theological Education in Contemporary Africa.
Frances Young—Christian Mission in the Early Church
Frances Young taught Theology at the University of Birmingham from 1971. From 1986 to 2005 she held the Edward Cadbury Chair, serving as Head of Department, Head of School, Dean of the Faculty and Pro-Vice-Chancellor. She was made OBE for services to Theology in 1998, and elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2004. Now Emerita Professor of Theology, she is still engaged in research and writing, primarily in New Testament and Early Christian Studies. Her academic publications include From Nicaea to Chalcedon. A Guide to the Literature and its Background (2nd edition, Baker Academic, 2010) and Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture (Baker Academic, 1997); she co-edited The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature and The Cambridge History of Christianity: Origins to Constantine. An ordained Methodist minister, she is actively involved in local ministry and ecumenical engagement.
Please note: Frances will not be able to attend, but has recorded a video presentation of her session.