Well, it’s happening yet again, we are tackling our fourth conference in the last five years. This one is called The Evolving Church: Kingdom Economy and it’s on April 10, 2010 at People’s Church in Toronto. We have been experimenting with different things this year to get the word out and attempting to be more connected with specific communities. We commissioned Phil Nellis to do an art piece (it is the piece in the poster) specifically for this conference. We are doing a large series of blog posts from respected thinkers and writers about the topic leading up to the conference. We are also in the process of working alongside of Geez Magazine for some special content for our attenders. We are moving locations also this year to the middle of the city to People’s Church (easily accessible by TTC and can hold much more people which helps us meet our budget and still keep ticket prices low). With the recession in our rear view mirror still I can’t help but think this topic is quite timely to bring forward. Here is our explanation of the theme for this year.
Economy comes from the Greek word oikonomia which means “house management” or “stewardship.” It had to do with how one in charge of a household ordered it. Now the word economy is used to describe how nations manage and order themselves and their values. Inevitably this tends to put money at the top and order everything else according to it. The kingdom economy is about reordering the normal order of things to better reflect the order of the kingdom of God.
Brennan Manning, David Dark, William Cavanuagh, Becky Garrison, Joyce Rees and Loren Wilkinson are all coming. As much as I hate the name dropping, the thoughts that come from these folks have an important voice for the topic at hand. So I’m excited none the less. We are still looking for a few more bloggers to help us out on the site ahead of time, so if you know someone or you are interested then let us know. Tickets are now for sale