14th Annual Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry

July 14-18, 2008
Children's Defense Fund Haley Farm
Clinton, Tennessee

When Will We Hear?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Call to Justice and Peace

In the last years of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., warned against the triple dangers of materialism, militarism, and racism and called on us as a nation and as a people of faith to respond. Forty years after his death, Dr. King's clarion call still waits for our answer in word and deed.

In our wealthy nation today, one in six children lives in poverty while the rich get richer and millionaires reap tax breaks they don't need.
In our powerful nation, we still resort to guns and violence rather than the power of non-violence to solve problems in our homes, neighborhoods and among nations.
In our nation, founded on the truth that all people have the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, rampant racial and economic disparities in access to quality health care and education combined with zero tolerance laws that criminalize children at younger and younger ages put Black boys born in 2001 at a 1 in 3 and Latino boys born the same year at a 1 in 6 lifetime risk of being incarcerated.
How will we respond to the urgent national crises at the intersection of poverty and race that puts so many of our young men on a dead-end path to prison?

Join clergy, seminarians, Christian educators, young adult leaders, and other faith-based advocates for children at CDF Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee, for five days of spiritual renewal, networking, movement building workshops, and continuing education about the threats to our children so that we can finally transform our nation to embody God's justice and realize our dreams for our children. It is time to come together boldly to do a new thing to bring the peace and justice of which Dr. King spoke to our children and our nation. Will you join us?

Registration information here.

2008 National Migration Conference

July 28-31, 2008
Washington, DC

Co-sponsored by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) and the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS)
Over 600 participants expected including representatives from the CLINIC and USCCB/MRS networks,
government and non-government partner agencies, Church officials, and other interested individuals
and organizations.

* Renowned experts and speakers covering a wide range of migration-related topics including
a discussion of services to and the pastoral care of immigrants, migrants, refugees,
unaccompanied alien children, victims of human trafficking, and other people on the move.
* Opportunities for networking, information-sharing, staff recognition, celebration, and special
liturgies.
* Public advocacy featuring Congressional visits to Capitol Hill.

In addition, the National Migration Conference will offer a diversity of workshops on topics that are
relevant to your work as service providers and advocates for migrants. From strategies for combating state and local immigration law enforcement to the latest issues affecting refugees, conference workshops will cover the gamut of migration issues and skills training. The workshops combine important training components with educational opportunities.

Visit http://www.cliniclegal.org/2008.html for more info.

Peace and Privilege: Linking Values and Action

Peace and Privilege: Linking Values and Action
August 1- 6, 2008
Peace & Privilege: Linking Values & Action
The Mountain Retreat & Learning Center, Inc., NC
Participants: Public, Must Register
Sponsor: The Mountain Retreat & Learning Center, Inc.
Contact: The Mountain, info @ mountaincenters.org

The National Hispanic Evangelical Summit

August 7 - 8, 2008
Vanguard University, Costa Mesa, CA

CONFERENCIA NACIONAL DE LIDERES HISPANOS CRISTIANOS

The National Hispanic Evangelical Summit
Part of the NHCLC's "Most Important Events for Hispanic Evangelicals in 2008"

Jesse Miranda Center
Vanguard University
55 Fair Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

NHCLC
P.O. Box 283389
Sacramento, CA 95829
Tel: (916) 821-2759
www.NHCLC.org

Immigration Pastors Training: A Biblical Worldview and Church Engagement

Monday, August 18, 2008
Denver Seminary Room 119/120
6399 S. Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80120

Immigration is an issue of hot debate across the country today.

There is a Biblical call to welcome the stranger, yet the Bible also commands us to obey the rule of law. Across the United States, pastors are struggling to respond to the immigration debate.

This pastors training will be an opportunity for pastors to learn about the Bible and Immigration. Pastors will then learn about immigration at the local level and can express their own concerns. The sessions will wrap-up with a brainstorming session of how churches can respond to the immigration debate, including theological resources, and advocacy and ministry tools.

Sponsored by World Relief, Denver Seminary and Sojourners.

Please RSVP to advocacy@wr.org by July 30th
Please check out www.worldrelief.org for more information

Interfaith Week of Action around Poverty and the 2008 Elections

September 10-16, 2008

JCPA is co-chairing with Catholic Charities a national project to elevate the issue of poverty in the 2008 elections. The centerpiece of the initiative is “FIGHTING POVERTY WITH FAITH: A Week of Action" to take place between September 10-16, 2008. During this week, faith organizations across the country will be taking coordinated actions to get the candidates (local, state and national) talking about poverty, and showing them that we are holding them and ourselves accountable to do more to address poverty in America.

Over 16 national organizations have signed onto the effort thus far (including: the Union for Reform Judaism, The Islamic Society of North American, Catholic Charities USA, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church).

See JCPA's website for more info in the coming days.

A National Summit on Torture: religious faith, torture, and our national soul

September 11-12, 2008
Conference in Atlanta, GA

Come be a part of a national summit on torture in Atlanta, GA.

Organized by David P. Gushee of Mercer University/Evangelicals for Human Rights in cooperation with the nation’s top thinkers and leaders in the anti-torture community, this conference is co-sponsored by an unprecedented group of organizations.

After the horrifying attacks of September 11th, our nation’s leaders authorized the torture and cruel treatment of prisoners held in the “war on terror” without consulting with the American people.

Then, once this policy (and excesses that went beyond policy) became known, a debate erupted within the United States over the moral legitimacy of torture. Disturbingly, that debate remains unresolved, with significant percentages of the American people approving torture, and American law and policy continuing to reflect our national inability to renounce it.

The 2008 presidential election, along with developments in Congress and further revelations in the media, are combining to keep torture in the headlines, and continue to reveal our national ambivalence about the issue.

Registration details available at: www.evangelicalsforhumanrights.org

For more information, contact conference coordinator:
Mary Head, Evangelicals for Human Rights
3001 Mercer University Drive, Day Hall 103
Atlanta, GA 30341
678-547-6457
mhead@nrcat.org

Headline Forum: Sinners & Winners

Fordham University Center on Religion and Culture
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 | 6–8 pm
Headline Forum: Sinners & Winners
How the Media Are Covering Religion, Morality and the 2008 Campaign

For more information, visit http://www.fordham.edu/Academics/Programs_at_Fordham_/Center_on_Religion_a/index.asp

Poverty Sunday

September 21, 2008

Sponsored by Sojourners

See this article at the Institute on Religion and Democracy for background and check the Sojourners site for forthcoming info.

Political Theologies: Past, Present, And Future

Thursday, October 16, 2008
Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs
Georgetown University
Washington D.C.

What are the main trends and challenges for political theologies today? What should political theology be in the 21st century? This conference will bring together leading scholars from several disciplines to examine political theologies in the Abrahamic traditions, both historically and with an eye towards their adaptation to globalization, secularization, and pluralism.

Conference Panels, Thursday October 16, 2008

Domesticating Religion: The Abrahamic Faiths and the Rise of the Democratic State
Contributors will provide overviews of the development of political theology within a given tradition, with special attention to questions of the legitimation of political power and the status of equality and individual rights.
Paul Heck (Georgetown)
Jerome Copulsky (Goucher College)
Eric Gregory (Princeton)
Patrick Deneen (Georgetown)
Michael Kessler (Georgetown)

Confronting Pluralism: Main Trends in Political Theologies Today
Contributors will examine present debates around these issues within a given faith community, with special attention to the invocation of authoritative scripture, tradition, the challenges of pluralistic societies, and dominant narratives about the intersection of religion and modernity.
Chuck Mathewes (U. Virginia)
Jacques Berlinerblau (Georgetown)
Andreas Christmann (U. of Manchester)
Hent De Vries (Johns Hopkins)

The Way Forward: Political Theologies and the American Future
Contributors will examine the future of political theologies in the US context through an examination of the main currents of thought within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. A critical issue is how a majority-Protestant and the Judeo-Christian political culture will adapt to a more visible Catholic and growing Muslim presence in the public sphere.
David Novak (Toronto)
Damon Linker (writer and public intellectual)
Robin Lovin (SMU/Perkins)

Participating in absentia:
José Casanova (Georgetown)
Jean Elshtain (Chicago and Georgetown)

For more info, contact: berkleycenter@georgetown.edu

Bread for the World Sunday

October 19, 2008

Bread for the World Sunday is an opportunity for churches to renew their commitment to overcoming hunger and poverty in God's world. On October 19 and other Sundays this fall, worshipping communities across the country will join together in lifting up their voices on behalf of hungry people

This year's observance of Bread for the World Sunday takes place at a time when soaring prices for food and fuel have created an urgent hunger crisis – both in our own country and overseas. An additional 100 million people have fallen into poverty and are at risk of hunger and starvation.

In the midst of this global hunger crisis, our nation is electing a new president and new Congress. Living in God's grace in Jesus Christ, we have received a great inheritance: the gift of citizenship – a resource to use on behalf of those in need. As citizens, we have the privilege to elect our nation's leaders as well as the responsibility to use our country's abundant resources to make sure people have enough to eat – and the opportunity to make a living and feed their families.

The Bible study by Pastor Heidi Neumark found in this year's Reflection Resource offers insights that will be useful for both sermons and adult education forums. The Parable of the Prodigal Son calls us to repent of our own squandering of our inheritance of God's grace – and invites us to return to our gracious Father and place our faith in the Faithful Son who creates an abundant feast for all in need. These themes of repentance and return, faith and abundance can be found in many of the different Gospel readings used throughout the fall worship season.

Join with churches and worshipping communities across the country as we rededicate ourselves to ending hunger in God's world.

Check Bread for the World's site for more details.

Headline Forum: Torture & American Culture

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 | 1-5 pm
Fordham University Center on Religion and Culture
Headline Forum: Torture & American Culture
An Inquiry and Reflection

For more information, visit http://www.fordham.edu/Academics/Programs_at_Fordham_/Center_on_Religion_a/index.asp

Change the World: a Ginghamsburg Church conference

October 24-25, 2008
Ginghamsburg Church
Tipp City, Ohio

CHANGE the WORLD...a missional movement that is taking the Church into the world instead of coaxing the world into the church.

with a special Ministry by Strengths early intensive on Thursday, October 23

Speakers include:
Adam Hamilton
Brian McLaren
Jim Wallis
Mike Slaughter

Register online at www.ginghamsburgglobal.org
Call toll free 1.866.238.2930

Call To Action 2008 National Conference

November 7-9, 2008
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Plenary Speakers include:
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Robert Bullard
Bishop Remi De Roo

The 2008 conference theme is
Our Earth, Our Church, Ourselves: Embrace the Beloved Community.

Visit the Call to Action website for more info.

Emerging Leaders Project

Emerging Leaders Project
November 14-16, 2008
Minneapolis, MN
The Plymouth Center for Progressive Christian Faith

The progressive Christian movement today is less a movement and more a groundswell of Christian people who believe the politicized Christian right in the United States does not speak for their own gospel-centered faith and practice. Through conferences, publications, and social blogs, progressive Christians are building national networks and coalitions.

To build upon this network, the Plymouth Center for Progressive Christian Faith annually brings together selected seminarians and recent seminary graduates from across the country who desire to be more knowledgeable and articulate in the progressive Christian conversation for a mentoring weekend in Minneapolis, MN. These emerging leaders gather with experienced leaders in progressive Christianity (theologians, professors, organizational leaders, and pastors) to strengthen their leadership skills for work in congregations, seminaries, civic, and political communities. The gathering is designed to be small enough for all participants to know one another with the goal of building relationships and networks that will last well into the future.

This year, the Plymouth Center presents "Claiming Our Story: A Gathering of Emerging and Experienced Leaders in the Progressive Christian Faith Movement". This weekend conference, November 14-16, 2008, will address the following areas:

Telling our stories – who are we and how does our personal story connect with the biblical story and the progressive Christian movement?
History of the progressive Christian movement – what is the shape of the movement from past to present?
Communicating the progressive Christian movement – how does one communicate the progressive Christian message in an age of polarization and conflict?
Contemplation in action – how does one ensure that his/her compassion and action in the world is drawn from a personal and communal spirituality rooted in the power of the Gospel?

Visit The Plymouth Center website for more information.