PROGRAM SCHEDULE
PROGRAM COSTS
PRESENTERS & PANELISTS
ALUM EVENTS and COSTS
REGISTRATION
LODGING

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PROGRAM SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24

8:30 AM		Check In/Refreshments
9:15 AM		Festival Worship and Opening Communion
10:15 AM		Break
10:50 AM		Welcome and Announcements
11:00 AM		Jennifer Butler - “The Path to Irrelevance” Prior to the 1980s social justice religious leaders occupied a key place in American movements for change, from the labor movement to Civil Rights. Over the past four decades, however, Christianity has become largely synonymous with the Christian Right which, as part of the New Right, has helped drag the country in a conservative direction politically and culturally. Ironically the Christian Right has proven itself to be more cutting edge in terms of organizing and communications strategies than religious movements based in social justice and the common good. How did more progressive-leaning religious social change leaders and movements find themselves irrelevant politically and culturally? Looking at the causes and the history of this will enable us to find a new way forward.
12:00 PM		President's Lunch (by preregistration; lunch is available in the Context Café for other Convocation attendees)
1:30 PM		Eleazar Fernandez - “Letting Justice Roll: God in Public” Religious faith, by its very nature, seeks public expression and shapes our socio-political life. Those who say religious faith has nothing to do with the socio-political do not understand what religious faith is about. The issue is not whether religious faith should be present in the public arena, but the kind or shape of its public presence. Is it a presence that promotes life and just relations among diverse beings? Fernandez offers a critique of our current situation and articulates a theological view of the place of religious faith in the public square: a religious faith that offers vision, commitment and energy for transformative politics in our highly globalized and troubled world.
2:30 PM		Break - Paver project preview on the Bigelow Chapel courtyard patio
3:00 PM		Panel - “The Place of Public Ministry” Facilitator: Steven Newcom Panel participants: Jennifer Butler, Eleazar Fernandez, Paul Slack This interactive session will engage the audience and panel in an exploration of how we envision and locate public witness within the life and ministry of the church. Is it a pastoral art and expression like worship, Christian education, and pastoral care, or does it represent a parallel set of ministries directed outside the walls of the congregation? Are we called to be public Christians or to be a public church? How do we assess the effectiveness of our public witness; is it enough to speak truth to power or is our faithfulness assessed by our impact? How do the shifting dynamics of religious bodies and religious/spiritual identity impact progressive faith-based engagement in the public square?
4:30 PM		Sessions end
6:00 PM		Reception & Dinner for Alums & Friends (off campus - Northwestern College, by preregistration)

THURSDAY, APRIL 25

8:00 AM		Annual Alum Breakfast (by preregistration)
9:30 AM		Sarah Bellamy - “Theatre as Public Witness” Bellamy, associate artistic director for Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, will talk about the importance of the arts in promoting social justice and racial equity. She will share moments in Penumbra’s history that demonstrate how theatre can be used to teach, comment, model, and criticize; to build community; and to forge new pathways for critical and compassionate understanding.
10:30 AM		Break
11:00 AM		Jennifer Butler - “Finding Our Way Back” Progressive faith leaders have started to reclaim their place in American public life thanks to a new set of strategies. How can we replicate those successes on a larger scale? To respond faithfully to the cries of the people we must be able to take advantage of modern methods of disseminating our message. No longer is the pulpit the key site of news and cultural education. Today we compete with 24/7 news cycles and the Internet. Our pulpit is CNN, radio and the blogosphere. People are spiritually thirsty--young people are leaving churches because of the church's homophobia, our political system appears morally bankrupt. This session will lay out a path forward including new skill sets we must master in order to advance the Reign of God.
12:00 PM		Closing
12:15 PM		Depart or stay for D.Min. lunch discussion in the Campbell Room

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PROGRAM COSTS*

If you are attending both days	Before or on April 3	$95
	After April 3	$120
	Retired	$55
	Student	$45
If you are attending a single day	April 24	$65
	April 25	$65
	Retired	$55
	Student	$45

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PRESENTERS & PANELISTS

Presenter Sarah Bellamy, associate artistic director–education at Penumbra Theatre Company, has designed several programs that engage participants in critical thinking, dialogue, and action around issues of race and social justice. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Bellamy also holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago and is working toward her doctorate at the University of Minnesota.

 

Keynote presenter and panelist Jennifer Butler is founding CEO of Faith in Public Life (FPL), a strategy center that promotes faith in the public square as a positive and unifying force for justice, compassion and the common good. FPL has broadened the debate over the role of faith in politics and public policy by amplifying progressive faith voices in the media, challenging the religious right and building diverse coalitions with national and state-based partners on health care, immigration reform, economic justice, and other moral issues. Previously, Butler – an ordained Presbyterian minister – served as the PC(USA) representative to the United Nations, where she was involved in a range of issues, including women’s rights, the global AIDS pandemic and the Iraq war. Her 2006 book, Born Again, The Christian Right Globalized, explores the Christian Right’s impact on the global women’s movement. A Princeton Seminary graduate, Butler also holds a Master of Social Work from Rutgers University and served in the Peace Corps from 1989-91 in a Mayan village in Belize.

 

Presenter and panelist Eleazar S. Fernandez is professor of constructive theology at United and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. He earned his M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines, his Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. He has authored several books, most recently Burning Center, Porous Borders: The Church in a Globalized World.

 

Panel facilitator Steven Newcom, a 1980 alum of United, is an ordained minister in the Community of Christ church and founding director of United's Center for Public Ministry, whose mission is to advance the church’s effectiveness as a sustained and powerful force for social justice. Prior to the Center, Newcom served for 18 years as executive director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice.

 

Panelist Paul Slack is president of ISAIAH, a vehicle for congregations, clergy, and people of faith to act collectively and powerfully towards racial and economic equity in Minnesota. Slack led ISAIAH’s campaign and negotiations with the MN Dept of Transportation to invest millions of federally allocated dollars for apprenticeship and training in highway construction jobs for low-income people of color and women. Slack is pastor of New Creation Church in Minneapolis.

 

PRESIDENT'S LUNCH
Wednesday, April 24, 12:00-1:15 PM
Strobel Room (McMillan 209)
Hosted by President Barbara A. Holmes, this special lunch will celebrate anniversaries and memorable times at the seminary. For graduates and their partners from the classes of 1943, 1948, 1953, 1963, 1973, 1983, 1988, 1993, and 2003. Friends and alums from other classes are welcome.

Fee: $11.00
Registrations must be made in advance as seating is limited. Lunch is available in the Context Café for other Convocation attendees.

RECEPTION & DINNER FOR ALUMS & FRIENDS
Wednesday, April 24, 6:00-8:30 PM
Northwestern College, Roseville
Reception: 6:00 PM, Dinner: 6:30 PM
At this event, the 2013 Distinguished Alum will be recognized along with Robert (Bob) Albers, retiring distinguished visiting professor of pastoral care, and Susan K. Ebbers, for her excellent tenure as dean of the seminary, as she returns to her position as director of the library.

Fee: $30.00
Registrations must be made in advance.

ANNUAL ALUM BREAKFAST
Thursday, April 25, 8:00 AM
Context Café
Hosted by the Alum Council, this breakfast is for early birds and all others who want to enjoy a delicious breakfast, camaraderie, updates on the seminary, and a brief annual meeting of United’s Alum Association.

Fee: $10.00
Registrations must be made in advance.

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REGISTRATION

Registration is Closed

Preregistration is required for all of Convocation so we can plan appropriately for seating, room set ups, packets and hand outs, nametags, and meal reservations. We're sorry, but we cannot offer partial rates (for instance, paying less to hear just one presentation).

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LODGING

Click here for lodging information, including on-campus housing at United

Recommended nearby hotel accommodations: Marriott Fairfield Inn (35W & Cleveland Ave, St. Paul, 888.236.2427 or 651.636.7869) and Holiday Inn Express (2715 Long Lake Rd, Roseville, 800.315.2621).

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

Convocation Programming Contact Information
Cindi Beth Johnson
651.255.6137

Alum Events Contact Information
Kiely Todd Roska
651.255.6121

 

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FALL CONVOCATION

"VESSELS"
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012
11:35 AM

Fall Convocation, which is always free and open to the public, continued our landmark celebration of the 50th anniversary of the seminary.

United president Barbara A. Holmes presented the Convocation address in the award-winning Bigelow Chapel.