News Brief

Conference to focus on making church more inclusive

-19/10/04

Prominent US church leader and post-modern thinker, Brian McLaren, will be travelling to the UK in December to take part in ëThe Inclusive Churchí conference being hosted by church.co.uk and Emergent UK.

The three-day long event will be held at Christ Church & Upton in Waterloo, central London from Dec 2nd ñ 4th.

The conference, billed as ëa three day conversation exploring theology and action in emerging cultureí, will focus on how churches in the UK can be inclusive of a broader range of theological perspectives and approaches to mission as they engage more meaningfully in "post-modern culture".

Speaking about the conference, Brian McLaren said: "Divisions within and among churches are increasingly evident, with polarizations around liberal/conservative, fundamentalist/secularist, high church/low church, modern/postmodern, and so on.

"At this conference, we will be coming together in search of a more generous orthodoxy, one that includes the many different and compelling ways that Jesus is embraced across the Christian horizon."

Additional speakers at ëThe Inclusive Churchí conference include Steve Chalke, the founder of Oasis Trust and Senior Minister of Christ Church & Upton, Jason Clark, Minister of the ëemergingí Vineyard Church in Sutton and Mark Greene, Executive Director of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity.

The conference, which last year attracted over 300 delegates, comes at the end of a year that has seen the Church of England examine ëfresh expressions of churchí while other church and mission organisations have spoken of an ëemerging church movementí in both the US and the UK.

Tickets are priced at £20 per day, or £50 for a three-day ticket. Visit www.inclusivechurch.vineyardchurch.org to obtain tickets and find out further information