The Ekklesia Project
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   March 2009   
IN THIS ISSUE....

Registration Now Open for Gathering 2009!

Meet the EP: Danny Fong and Redeemer Community Church

Center for Parish Development Conference:
"In Good Company"

Duke Divinity Summer Institute

The EP on Facebook
Greetings, this Feast of the Annunciation!

Annunciation -- Henry Ossawa TannerThough many of us may be "Flunking Lent," now that we are half way through the season in the Western church, Henry Ossawa Tanner's moving image of the Annunciation reminds us that God comes quietly into the most unlikely of places, and from those unlikely places and persons (like us), works grace.  God invites; Mary follows.  God invites; we follow. 

This month, the newsletter contains a number of invitations.  EPers continue to share news of events of potential interest; two this month come from the Center for Parish Development and from Duke Divinity School.  Please continue to send information about conferences, gatherings, bookstores, etc.

And we invite you to join in a number of EP activities.  The "comment" function on bLOGOS is now open-access; passwords are no longer required.  Please engage in conversation with our posting team.  Registration is now open for Gathering 2009!  We hope to see many of you there.  And, as you will see, you can now join in conversation on Facebook.

GATHERING 2009:    JULY 9-11


We are ready to begin registration for this summer's Gathering, which has the working title "Wealth and the Household of God."  The Gathering will again be held at DePaul University in Chicago.  For a summary of what the Gathering will include, please visit Kelly Johnson's note from the planning team on the EP website.

We always endeavor to keep the Gathering costs as reasonable as possible, and this year, even though the Gathering 2008 came out in the red, we have decided to keep the costs about the same as last year. As always, financial assistance is available to persons with need. Email Brent Laytham for details about this, or any other concerns or questions. 
  • Single room    $300    2 nights in single-occupancy room, 6 meals, registration
  • Double room   $200    2 nights in double-occupancy room, 6 meals, registration
  • Registration      $70    Registration only (meals can be purchased ala carte)
This year, we are trying email registration. Click here to email your registration information to registrars Lisa and Mary Bowling.  Please include the following data (or paste this chart into your email).

Name  
Email  
Phone  
Mailing Address  
Single, Double or Registration only?  
Gender
Roommate request (Double Registration only)
Any other pertinent information  

MEET THE EP:  Danny Fong and Redeemer Community Church

redeemer

Danny introduces himself and his congregation in these words:

"My wife and I have been regulars at the EP Summer Gathering since 2005 when we first learned of EP through our friends at Grace Fellowship Community Church.  I remember resonating with what the speakers had to say about "empire" and finding company in the gospel with folks that I met there.  Our congregation has mostly been connected to Eklessia through me.  I read and learn from many who are associated with the EP, and I always bring back stories from the summer gathering.  A few others have made the trek from San Francisco to Chicago, but in 2008 as our congregation became part of the second cohort in the Congregational Formation Initiative, we had the joy of having Philip Kenneson and Kyle Childress come to Redeemer.

Redeemer Community Church is part of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church denomination and many of our folks come from an Evangelical church background.  We are a relatively new congregation, planted in May 2002 with a core group that was sent out from Grace Fellowship.  We resonate with much of what is at the heart of EP.  I remember early on hearing how EP was formed by a desire for "more in the church" and for friendship with others who sought the same.  We count it a privilege to be counted among that number, and to be connected to folks who inspire and help us to continue the journey of being the church."
convoOur Friends at the Center for Parish Development Offer Conference with Fowl

Longtime EP Board member Steve Fowl will serve as keynote speaker for a two-day convocation July 16-18, 2009 on the theme "In Good Company: Being Faithful Readers and Doers of Scripture."  Steve has been active in our Congregational Formation Initiative.  CPD staff members Inagrace Dietterich and Dale Ziemer suggest that the convocation may be of interest to their fellow EPers; for more information visit the convocation web-site.

Duke ChapelDuke Divinity Offers Summer Institute

The Duke Center for Reconciliation will sponsor a track in the Duke Divinity School Summer Institute entitled "SHAPING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY IN A DIVIDED WORLD."  From May 31 through June 5 faculty, including John Perkins, Gregory Jones, Therese Lysaught, Emmanuel Katongole, John Swinton, Chris Rice and Mary Nelson will teach, journey with a cohort, worship, share meals, and engage theologically with partcipants' contexts and vocations.  For those committed to the work of reconciliation, the week promises to be both a singular resource as well as a retreat.

For more information, and for application instructions, please visit the Summer Institute web-site.

From the Editor: EP on Facebook

I first joined Facebook when we began worshiping with an emergent congregation, where I quickly learned that Facebook is the 21st century version of the church newsletter and that many of our new young friends did not "do" traditional email.  There are things I love and things I detest about it, which pretty much describes my relationship with all forms of communication.  But I was a bit surprised when EP friends, not all of them young by any stretch, began "friending" me in recent months.  I did a bit of exploring, and learned that the Ekklesia Project now has its own Facebook Group [linked, as you will see, to the EP website].  Michael Holly, founder and administrator of the group, gave me a bit of history:

"I was on a continuing education event in 2005 and one of my Duke professors, Dr. Laceye Warner, told me about EP and I immediately joined up with the first website and downloaded the brochures. I noticed that there was no EP group on Facebook so I started it and invited my friends. It was up to 100 without any more publicity -- totally organic."

We now have more than 300 members of the EP Facebook group, and we hope that the group will provide a forum for communication about Gathering plans, discussion of EP-related books, as well as the many functions the "forums" provided on our previous website.  In other words, we hope it provides yet another setting for conversation among friends.  That and the occasional insult of one another's taste in music...

John McFadden