Public Lecture Series
We are excited to offer our entire community a taste of the Formation School through a series of dynamic, engaging speakers.
March—FORWARD
A Jesus people moving Forward in the Spirit's power encounters division and brokenness in the world and in our own community. This requires the deep work of reconciliation. Explore how God shapes us for this work alongside faithful guide, David M. Bailey. David offers a powerful testimony for the work of reconciliation in his own life and leading the mission of Arrabon. Alongside inspiring insight and practical tools, David explores how Jesus invites us to join him in creative resistance and victory over the world's war on our imaginations.
Speaker: David Bailey
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February—OUTWARD
How... and why... do we move Outward into the world with Jesus?
Following Christ into places of suffering and injustice requires Spirit-given courage and equipping in the ways of faithful peacemaking and reconciliation. Join us for an evening with Father Emmanuel Katongole [Professor of Theology + Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and founding co-director of the Duke Center for Reconciliation], who will invite us into a deeper understanding of what it means to have a posture of peace in a broken world and how to join the reconciliation work of Jesus locally and globally. We will be challenged and practically encouraged to engage in neighborhood and global issues with a fresh perspective and renewed faithfulness. Come ready for an engaging lecture by a worldwide expert and interactive discussion and Q&A.
Speaker: Fr Emmanuel Katongole
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November—UPWARD
Prayer, worship, confession, eucharist—all things we participate in every Sunday during a Gathering. Have you ever stopped to wonder why? Or how each of those practices is an invitation from God to live into our upward direction? Join us as we learn how to experience “church” not just on a Sunday, but how to practically implement prayer, worship, confession and so much more into our daily lives.
Speaker: Rev. Dr. Denise Kingdom
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October—INWARD
We were created to be fully integrated people: mind, body, and soul, thoughts, feelings, experiences, and beliefs. We are not simply heads on sticks, meant to navigate the world using only our intellect. God our creator, and whose image we bear, cares about every single part of us. And so we are called to care about and steward every part of us. Join us for an engaging conversation that will equip us to turn with gentleness and curiosity as we travel on our inward journey to discover the “you” that is “hidden with Christ in God.”
Speaker: Chuck DeGroat
Follow-Up Opportunities
Book: Wholeheartedness: busyness, exhaustion, and healing the divided self by Chuck DeGroat. This is a great INWARD read for you personally or with an existing group/house church. DeGroat examines the frantic busyness and exhaustion that we all feel, and points us to a new solution, wholeheartedness. Wholeheartedness is a way of living and being that will transform us from the inside out. This book has been a staple of the INWARD direction curriculum for The Formation School since the very beginning and is frequently cited as one of the most impactful books cohort members engage with.
Film: Wild Country of the Heart by Chuck DeGroat brings St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle into our contemporary imagination and formation. Beautifully filmed and scored, this film invites us to open all of ourselves to God's abundant love that is always and already available to us.
Practice: Pray with radical honesty. Using Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane as a model, step intentionally into a practice of praying with radical honesty.
September—WITHWARD
Imagine life rooted in vibrant, authentic community, where the fruits born of living with intentional mutuality and respect are justice, mercy, compassion and human thriving. This isn’t some impossible dream, this is a reality that we are invited to live into through the union, communion, and participation in the life of the Triune God.
The invitation is extended to each and every one of us. Come and catch an inspiring, practical, and deeply theological vision for this possibility as we move Withward together in the power of the Spirit.
Speaker: Cherith Fee Nordling
LISTEN to the recording
Follow-Up Opportunities
Book: The Good and Beautiful Community: Extending Grace, Demonstrating Loveby James, Bryan Smith. This is a great WITHWARD read for you personally or with an existing group/house church. Smith builds on the Trinitarian love and helps us imagine that giving shape to our community and how we are WITH one another. Each chapter has a few reflection questions and a particular "Soul Training" practice.
Podcast: Last night we got to hear a bit from Geoff Holsclaw who co-hosts the Embodied Faith Podcast with his wife Cyd. This is a great resource filled with insightful and encouraging voices looking to help followers of Jesus grow at the intersection of neuroscience and spiritual formation. Episodes 39 + 48 are some of my favorites.
Practice: Find a copy of Rublev's Trinity icon [on a screen, print a pic or even buy a print/canvas] and commit to spending time allowing that visual to guide your prayer and contemplation. In a similar way that Christians have been praying and attending to Scripture through Lectio Divina for centuries - here we practice Visio Divina. May you be reminded of your unshakeable place at the table in the love that is God!