Consultation 3

Third Annual Consultation: Toronto, 2011

On October 20-22, 2011, the Center for the Study of World Christian Revitalilzation Movements at Asbury Theological Seminary completed its third annual consultation in the research project funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. The  event was jointly sponsored by the Center, representing Asbury Seminary, and Tyndale University Seminary in Toronto, who hosted the consultation. Tyndale University Seminary is the leading evangelical Seminary in Canada.

The theme of the conference was "Uncovering and Illuminating Revitalization in 21st Century Global Christianity". Nine Asbury Seminary faculty and students participated in the consultation. It featured six case studies representing different diaspora movements of Christian revitalization now developing in the most ethnically diverse city of North America. Thirty one scholars and practitioners of revitalization examined these cases in table discussion punctuated with worship. Their intent was to understand these current expressions of revitalization based upon the data developed in the previous consultations conducted by the Center.

Participants represented 14 nations of Africa, Asia, and Europe, and represented Protestant evangelical, mainline, Pentecostal, Catholic, Coptic Orthodox, and indigenous Global South communities of faith. On Sunday, October 23, a public forum sharing the insights of the consultation with the larger Toronto community was held at the Richmond Hill Christian Community Church, a large Chinese congregation. This public forum featured ten workshops and panel discussions, and corporate worship including choirs from several Asian churches in the city.

 Consutlation III

The third consultation is planned to take place on 20 -23 October, 2011 in Toronto, Canada.  The focus for this consultation will move from the descriptive and normative issues of consultations one and two to deploying this data in practical field test. This data will be deployed to engage and interpret six cases concerning contemporary revitalization movements currently developing in Toronto, Canada. Each of these cases will concern diasporic ministry initiaves that work with particular transnational North American. Globalization and trans-nationalism are two of the dominant features impacting twenty-first century Christianity. Most of these immigrants come from the fastest growing sector of Christianity, the Global South, which is also the site of rapid growth among Moslems.