The Missional Challenge
It’s probably safe to say that Christianity in the 21st Century is having an identity crisis. Not only is it difficult to define what makes someone Christian, but how we even make that definition is a matter of broad disagreement.
For many of us in the progressive Christian tradition, it’s a question of mission: How can we live a life that reflects the inclusive, compassionate, generous, and forgiving way of Jesus?
But beyond that, can we truly claim that mantle if we refuse to recognize and collaborate with people of other faith traditions? Can we transform our historical hostility toward other faiths into healing and reconciliation?
This week at New Wineskins we’ll wrap up our Easter season series “From Fear to Transformation” with the final segment of our discussion video from The Work of the People featuring author, speaker, and activist Brian McLaren titled “Toward the Other.” Our conversation will focus not only on the Missional Challenge of working together for the common good, but also on the cost of being a peacemaker in our divisive times.
Please join us this Sunday, May 5, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom for Part 4 of our series From Fear to Transformation as we talk about the Missional Challenge and how we can find Spirit at work beyond the artificial boundaries of our own faith traditions.
6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin
We’re using a single discussion video from The Work of the People for the the full Eastertide series. Feel free to view the entire video at your leisure, or use the following approximate time stamps to locate each week’s session (you’ll need to manually navigate to each segment of the video using the video player’s time slider):
April 14 — Introduction/The Historical Challenge: 0:00-4:15
April 21 — The Doctrinal Challenge: 4:15-8:25
April 28 — The Liturgical Challenge: 8:25-10:00
May 5 — The Missional Challenge: 10:00-13:31
View our third session here (time stamp 10:00-13:31)
Celebrating 10 Years of New Wineskins!
It kinda snuck up on us, but it’s our anniversary and we’re planning a big anniversary celebration for later this summer!
Our first “pub church” gathering was held May 4, 2014, at the Marietta Brewing Company when about 30 people came together for a conversation about the intersections of story, art, faith, and community.
Ten years later, we’re still going strong as a vibrant and vital online community of folks focused on justice and liberation. We’ve grown and evolved in many ways in the past decade, from a local gathering of folks feeling frustrated with the institutional church to a full-fledged community for spiritual exiles from across the US and around the world.
Our Sunday night gatherings are complemented by a very active social media presence with hundreds of followers, and by our companion content site, Accidental Tomatoes, which reaches thousands of people every month with our blog entries and podcast episodes.
Stay tuned for details on our special anniversary celebration coming soon!
Do you receive our weekly newsletter?
If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!
Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!
Invest in our community!
Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!
Feature image by Hamid on Pond5.com
Leave a Reply