Symposium for a Church of Tomorrow

How can the gospel shine anew in our context? And what can we learn today in the post-Christian era from the early Celtic Christians in the pre-Christian era?

The gospel reached Ireland very early on, where the Celts lived and the Christian faith merged with their culture. And because the Emerald Isle was never part of the Roman Empire, and thus the influence of the Catholic Church was limited, a very unique theological thinking and understanding of the gospel developed there, which in many ways was quite distinct from mainstream theology.

Celtic Christians were a movement on Europe's waterways and country

, which was highly vital and spread the gospel in Central Europe in a fascinating way. We can still feel the Celtic heritage today, for example in the Fresh Expressions of Church. Celtic Christian spirituality, theology and ways of life seem to be suited to help us out of the various ecclesiastical dead ends today, or at least to make an important contribution to this.

Program

09:00 am Welcome & Get to know each other

09:45 am Opening – Spiritual Impulse – Introduction

10:20 am Keynote address by Ian Bradley “The Celtic Way”
Followed by questions

12:00 noon Lunch break

1:00 pm Introduction to the World Café

1. Presence of God in all things (Creation Spirituality)
2. Pilgrimage (Discipleship / Hospitality)
3. Poetry (Songs / Prayer / Worship)
4. Asceticism (time in the desert / silence / in a foreign place)
5. Community (women & men)
6. Gifted & blessed (image of humanity)

1:15 pm Round 1 with topics 1 to 3
Introduction to the topic – brainstorming

2:15 p.m. Break for a change

2:30 p.m. Round 2 with topics 4 to 6
Introduction to the topic – brainstorming

3:30 p.m. Break

3:45 p.m. Plenary session
World Cafés report on their sessions and present the results

4:15 p.m. Which topic would I like to work on further and network on?

4:30 p.m. Form up to 6 thematic groups

5:00 p.m. Presentation of a Fresh-X-Hub as a platform for further networking

6:00 p.m. Broadcasting & blessing

This symposium invites you to join us on a journey to gain a deeper understanding of the individual aspects and how they relate to one another. To ask to what extent this thematic networking in particular can provide new insights and at the same time provide energy for change. And hopefully build a network in which these questions are continuously followed up and in the most diverse contexts.

The symposium is a cooperative event organized by midi, the Fresh X Network, the Pilgrim Center St. Jacobi Berlin and the Berlin City Mission

• Participation is free of charge.
• Please register by October 13, 2024.
• The Zoom link will be sent to all participants and contributors one to two days in advance.

Contact:

• Thomas Knoll, thomas.knoll@pilgern-im-osten.de, www.pilgern-im- osten.de
• Andreas Schlamm, andreas.schlamm@mi-di.de
• Gerold Vorländer, vorlaender@berliner-stadtmission.de

Participation is free.