Webinar series to address ‘Opportunities and Challenges of Post-Christendom’

Authors of published or forthcoming books in the popular “After Christendom” series will lead a series of six webinars this year and next, presented by the Church of the Brethren, the Center for Anabaptist Studies at Bristol Baptist College in the UK, the Anabaptist Network, and the Mennonite Trust.

Following are dates, times, topics, and leadership of the webinars:

Oct. 21, 2014, “The Fading Brilliance of Christendom” with Stuart Murray Williams. He is the author of “Post-Christendom” and “Church after Christendom,” editor of the “After Christendom” series, a trainer/consultant working under the auspices of the Anabaptist Network, director of the Center for Anabaptist Studies at Bristol Baptist College, and one of the coordinators of Urban Expression.

Nov. 20, 2014, “Reading the Bible after Christendom” with Lloyd Pietersen. Pietersen has a doctorate from Sheffield in Biblical Studies, has written extensively on the Pastoral Epistles, was a senior lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of Gloucestershire, and currently is a research fellow at Bristol Baptist College and serves on the Steering Group of the Center for Anabaptist Studies.

Jan. 29, 2015, “Hospitality and Community after Christendom” with Andrew Francis. Francis is a community theologian, published poet, writer of several books including “Hospitality and Community after Christendom” and “Anabaptism: Radical Christianity,” served as the UK Anabaptist Network’s first development worker, and as executive vice-chair of the UK Mennonite Trust until 2013.

Feb. 26, 2015, “Youth Work after Christendom (revisited)” with Nigel Pimlott. Pimlott has worked for Frontier Youth Trust for many years and is the author of numerous books and youth work resources, with a current book project titled “Embracing the Passion” about Christian youth work and politics.

May 6, 2015, “Atheism after Christendom” with Simon Perry. Perry is chaplain at Robinson College, University of Cambridge, and author of “Atheism after Christendom: Disbelief in an Age of Encounter,” with other publications including a piece of historical fiction titled “All Who Came Before” and a theological monograph, “Resurrecting Interpretation: Technology, Hermeneutics and the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus,” among others.

June 2, 2015, “God after Christendom?” with Brian Haymes and Kyle Gingerich Hiebert. Haymes is a Baptist minister who has served in several pastorates, the last being Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, London, and has been principal of Northern Baptist College, Manchester, and Bristol Baptist College. Hiebert is a Canadian Mennonite who holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Manchester.

Each webinar begins at 2:30 p.m. (Eastern) and runs for 60 minutes. There is no charge to participate, but donations are welcome. Registration and more information about the topics is online at www.brethren.org/webcasts . For questions contact Stan Dueck, the Church of the Brethren’s director of Transforming Practices, at sdueck@brethren.org .

Source: 8/26/2014 Newsline