The Vancouver School of Theology and St. Andrew’s Hall are delighted to announce that Andrew Root, PhD, will be the lead speaker at the inaugural Cork Lecture and Workshop.
Andrew Root (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations. His most recent books are Churches and the Crisis of Decline (Baker, 2022), The Congregation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2021), The End of Youth Ministry? (Baker, 2020), The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need God (Baker, 2019), Faith Formation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2017), and Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies: Youth Ministry in the Age of Science (Fortress Press, 2018).
The Cork Lecture and Workshop is jointly sponsored by VST and St. Andrew’s Hall in honour of Mardee Cork, a generous supporter of theological education. The Cork Lecture and Workshop is made possible through allocations from a permanent fund held by St. Andrew’s Hall with all distributions exclusively at the direction of the VST President. The Cork Lecture and Workshop will focus on congregational vitality. This year, Professor Root will address the follow topics in his keynote addresses:
Friday August 11, 7pm
Living After a Pandemic or Why We’re All So Exhausted: The Church in a Time Crisis
It’s often assumed the church and local congregations are in a crisis of resources. Congregations
are losing people, money, and overall cultural influence. There is a misguided assumption that
what ails the congregation is this loss of resources. The crisis the local congregation faces is not
a loss of resources, but a loss of time which just keeps speeding up. And local congregations
and denomination simply can’t keep up with technology, social life and pace. Congregations can
attend to sacred time in a late modernity of accelerating time, to move forward faithfully, and how
denominations might find revitalization.
Saturday August 12, 10-2pm (Lunch included)
Ministry Inside the Immanent Frame: The Task of Speaking of God in a Secular Age
Congregational life isn’t easy task in our time. Institutions are weaker, budgets are in decline,
people are uninterested, and commitment is wavering. But these are only symptoms of a bigger
issue that many congregations find themselves in an identity crisis. Examining what living in
a secular age does to congregational identity and how pastors and lay leaders can find new
footing within it.
While there is no charge to attend, registration is required for each of the sessions.