Conferences at United Church of Chapel Hill, March and April 2012
The Seven Secrets Conference - March 2 & 3, 2012
beginning on Friday at 1pm and concluding on Saturday at 12:30pm
God is up to something. Can you feel the shift? The time has come to start building – renewing – inventing. The Spirit is moving in the Church, and you need to be a part of it!
Cameron Trimble and Mike Piazza, Center of Progressive Renewal, have been offering their The Seven Secrets conference to ministers and church leaders at the New Church Leadership Institutes. This year they have begun offering an expanded version of this conference at Chicago Theological School, Pacific School of Religion, United Theological Seminary and Brite Divinity School (TCU) for seminary credit.
If you are passionate about renewing the progressive tradition of the Christian faith (which aptly describes the history, tradition and theology of the United Church of Christ), come to United Church of Chapel Hill with a team from your congregation on March 2 and 3.
The Seven Secrets conference will train you and other team members from your congregation in the PRACTICAL skills you need to start a church or renew a church. When you leave this conference, you will make a difference the very next Sunday.
We can share the titles of the seven secrets but the key to unlocking each secret is participating in the presentations by Cameron Trimble and Mike Piazza, Co-Executive Directors of the Center of Progressive Renewal. The Center for Progressive is supported in part by Local Church Ministries and is located in Marietta, Georgia.
Our goal is bring this nation-wide institute to the Southern Conference and for it to be as accessible (yes, affordable) as possible.
A two day event for approximately $25?!? (It will be basically the cost of food and incidentals.) To make it work, we need you to register early and often by having a team – your pastor and several church leaders – come from your congregation. Please mark March 2 & 3 on your calendars today and begin talking with other church leaders from your congregation so they too can plan to give those two days to hear what God is up to. We will begin after lunch on Friday, March 2, at 1 pm. We will have supper together on Friday evening and have an after supper session before breaking for the evening. We will re-convene on Saturday morning at 8:30 and conclude by 12:30 (before lunch).
There are hotels available for the Friday overnight in the Triangle but we have spoken with Triangle area UCC churches and they are willing to ask families to host other members of the Southern Conference for this event. For more information, contact Richard Edens, Co-Senior Pastor, 919-942-3540; redens@unitedchurch.org.
CLICK ON TICKETS/EVENTS BUTTON TO REGISTER
Matthew Fox Weekend - April 27-28, 2012
You are invited to attend a weekend with MATTHEW FOX in Chapel Hill, NC, Friday-Saturday, April 27-28, 2012. On Friday evening, Fox will lecture on "Spirituality for an Ecological Age." On Saturday, April 28, he will present three additional lectures (as noted above) and each lecture will be followed by small group discussions. Lunch will be provided on Saturday.
Matthew Fox is one of the leading theologians of our time, and perhaps the most provocative. A Dominican priest for 34 years, he was silenced by the Vatican and ultimately expelled from his order, after which he became an Episcopal priest. When Cardinal Ratzinger became Pope, Fox journeyed to the Church where Luther had nailed his 95 theses, and Fox nailed his 95 theses for church reform today. A large number of new understandings stem from his work, including "original blessing," "creation spirituality," and the "cosmic Christ." He has educated generations of students and has been a pioneering activist. He continues to push the edge of religion, care, and authentic humanness. He has been a leader in interfaith relations and his message reaches Christian, non-Christian and those who are secular.
