Jesus, Religion and Culture Summit:
Following Jesus: Is Christianity Optional?
What it's about: We keep running into people who are wholehearted followers of Jesus who are using spiritual practices from other religions (meditation, prayer cycles, etc), or are following Christ in different cultural context (rather than converting people to the Christian religion). 2000 years ago the early followers of Jesus wrestled with the question of whether they had to be Jewish to follow Christ -- we're wrestling with whether we have to be a Christian. We see Jesus as central. We commit our lives and worship to Him alone as we look for new insight into what that means about our connections to religion and culture. The goal -- to come out of the weekend more in love with and committed to Christ, free to follow him and serve Him wherever he calls us.
The format of this conference is a bit different than we are accustomed to in that we will be using a local church facility (Charlottesville Mennonite) for our meetings. It is available Friday evening and Saturday all day. Sunday morning we will be gathering in a local park. The church is located downtown in Charlottesville. Lodging and meals will not be included in the conference registration so individuals are responsible to make their own arrangements. We are hoping to share a few meals together--more to come soon. Charlottesville's downtown features many great shops, venues and restaurants and will provide an urban background to our time together. For those who are interested, there may also be an informal pre-gathering on Thursday the 12th.
Lodging suggestions:
Local community members may be willing to open their homes to guests, but all space is on first come, first served basis. Jon and Christa Reuel have also offered their large yard outside of town as a space for people to camp if they are interested in that type of accommodations. Otherwise, information on lodging in the Charlottesville region can be found at www.pursuecharlottesville.com
We'll post more details as we have them--but consider this blog a space where we can collaborate and coordinate while preparing for the conference. The official signup will come soon, we hope you will be able to come. Start thinking about whether there is anyone else you want to invite as well.
3 comments:
I'm excited about this topic and have been wrestling with this one for years. Of course, it all depends on how one defines the terms.
Weighing my options, the possibility exists that I will be without a car at a hotel not close to the church. What are the odds of an informal "shuttle" system for those of us in this situation?
(It's interesting to mash the previous paragraphs together and consider the elements of the second paragraph metaphorically as they pertain to the first.)
Woo hoo! Troy will be there! I'm excited to get to know some of you better and to meet some new people perhaps. I am looking forward to it.
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