Date/Time
Date(s) - December 2, 2016 - December 3, 2016
9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Location
Vancouver School of Theology
Categories No Categories
ReCall Your Purpose, ReMember Your Team, ReNew Your Parish
So, you want to become a tangible, life-giving presence in the everyday life of the neighborhood? You’ve realized how important it is for your church to join in with what God is doing in the local community? But, you also have a gnawing sense that too many of the responsibilities filling your days actually seem to be at odds with Christ’s invitation to love God by loving your neighbor, and truly leading others to do the same. The ReImagine Sessions are designed for leaders and practitioners who are starting something new, revitalizing the local church through new expressions, and deepening their church’s faithful presence in their neighborhood.
During these two days together you will be invited to ReCall: Dream again about the true purpose behind your vocational calling and that of the local church in your parish. To ReMember: Imagine afresh how the people of your church fit together as a body to be a living witness of the life that is possible in Christ. And you will be guided into a generative and conversational space to ReNew: Collaborate together as you envision new structures, practices, and postures for leading others toward faithful neighborhood engagement.
Facilitator Bios
Dwight J. Friesen
Dwight J. Friesen is Associate Professor of Practical Theology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology, where he trains seminarians as missional parish leaders for Christ’s church. Dwight has also served as a pastor, bi-vocational church-planter, writer, and consultant with more than 25 years of experience in church and leadership. Dwight is the faculty director of the Leadership in the New Parish certificate and co-founder of the Inhabit Conference, both of which are collaborations between The Seattle School and Parish Collective.
Dwight has served on the “Faith & Order Commission” for the National Council of Churches, and regularly consults, coaches, and teaches in a variety of contexts both nationally and internationally. He has authored and co-authored several books, including The New Parish, Thy Kingdom Connected, and Routes and Radishes.
Through his work with the Leadership in the New Parish Certificate and the Parish Collective, Dwight has visited hundreds of parish expressions around the world and is especially attentive to groups who are seeking to form communities of whole-life disciples of Jesus by operationalizing the love of God as the love of neighbor through faithful presence rather than through a technique, program, or method. He is currently researching transformational worship practices of new parish church expressions, as well as studying the religiously “Done” and the challenges facing our institutional systems. In all of this, Dwight is already seeing signs of new, post-Christendom ecclesial systems emerging.
Tim Soerens
Tim Soerens is an author, speaker, social entrepreneur, and co-founding director of the Parish Collective, through which he convenes ministry leaders, teaches, and consults withorganizations seeking human flourishing in particular neighborhoods while also working collaboratively across the city. He is the co-author of The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches are Transforming Mission, Discipleship, and Community.
He is also the co-founding producer of the annual Inhabit Conference and New Parish, and co-designer and instructor at the Leadership in the New Parish certificate at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology.
As a social entrepreneur, he is a founding adviser of Impact Hub-Seattle, an innovative co-working space for change makers in both nonprofit and business sectors. He is also the curator for place-based innovation for Social Capital Markets, the world’s largest gathering of socially motivated investors and entrepreneurs. Most recently, he co-founded “Neighborhood Economics,” a new venture bringing together pioneering entrepreneurs, ministry leaders, and investors to pursue holistic renewal at the neighborhood level.
Tim earned a B.A. in Rhetorical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters of Divinity from The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. He lives in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle with his wife Maria-Jose and their son Lukas.
Paul Sparks
Paul Sparks is a co-founder of the Parish Collective, a network of more than 200 churches and community organizations that are rooted in particular neighborhoods and linked across the United States and Canada. As a recognized authority on parish renewal, he is a frequent speaker and consultant for groups seeking to understand the transition toward more local forms of everyday ecclesial life. Paul lives in an urban neighborhood at the heart of downtown Tacoma, Washington with his co-conspiring wife Elizabeth. They curate a growing faith community comprised of friends, artists, and entrepreneurs seeking a common life together with their neighbors.