Disciple-Making 2015 Conference (February 27-28)
Disciplemaking - Engaging in Life-changing Evangelism and Discipleship (Friday and Saturday, February 27-28, 2015)
Today, many young people are leaving church, never to return. In a groundbreaking Canadian study on why young people leave or stay in the church, James Penner and several others have identified several key factors for keeping youth and youth adults engaged with church (and their faith). At the Disciple-making Conference, James and his associates will share the findings from the Hemorrhaging Faith study and help participants understand how they can best disciple Millennials and Post-Millennials. What James and his colleagues have discovered is absolutely critical for us to know if we want to not only keep our young people in the church, but to help them live out all that God has for them.
Date: Friday, February 27 and/or Saturday February 28 (9:00 am - 4:00 pm PDT both days)
Location: ACTS Seminaries (7600 Glover Road in Langley) and via live-streaming
Registration: Onsite registration - $55 for one day or $95 for both days (get from 5-20% off when two or more people from your church register), individual live-streaming - $45, church live-streaming - $140-540 (depending on worship service attendance)
James Penner
James LOVES to connect WITH the millennial generation – his students, employees, fellow church goers. James and his wife, Claire, presently run James Penner and Associates, a national research firm that focuses on positive youth development and millennial mentorship. He is the adjunct assistant Sociology of Youth professor at the University of Lethbridge and the Youth Culture professor at Bethany College. James is also the coauthor of four books including Hemorrhaging Faith: Why and When Canadian Young Adults are Leaving, Staying and Returning To Church, Consuming Youth: Leading Teens Through Consumer Culture and 10 Things We All Need To Know About Canada’s Teens: That IS If We Care About Them. James is a passionate follower of Jesus, a former public school teacher, 20-year Intervarsity high school/college campus worker and proud father of two young adult children, Elya and Erick. He is married to his soul mate and best friend Claire – an innovative youth worker and millennial mentor in her own right. James especially enjoys his family, his local Mennonite Brethren church (College Drive Community Church in Lethbridge), playing board games, making cappuccinos and hanging out in silence with the sisters at Martha Retreat Center.
Overview
Day One
Overview of the Hemorrhaging Faith Sessions on Friday - An Evangelical Fellowship of Canada Youth and Young Adult Roundtable initiated study in 2010-2012 tracked the spiritual trajectory of Canadian Protestant and Catholic young adults and resulted in the Hemorrhaging Faith foundational research report (downloadable at www.hemorrhagingfaith.com). The rising generations have a clarion wake-up call for all Trinitarian churches – brace yourself. Their message to us needs to be heard – but will not be easy to take.
Day Two
Overview of the Working with Millennials and Post Millennials Sessions on Saturday - Today starts with a session that help Jesus’ followers understand the social world of 21st century Millennials and Post Millennials. This lays the foundation for three very practical sessions: one for parents, another for pastors and then one sharing what we have learned to date in our own fledgling and exciting story of mentoring Millennials and moving from research to recovery.
Detailed Schedule
Friday, February 27 - Hemorrhaging Faith Findings
8:30 – 9:00 am – Registration for MinistryLift Disciple-making Conference Day One (Fosmark)
9:00 – 10:15 am – Hemorrhaging Faith Overview: What's Going On? Why are Young Adults Leaving Church? (James Penner)
When, where, and why do Canadian raised Christian young adults stay, leave and return to church? What does the Hemorrhaging Faith phenomenon say about the state of our churches...and our homes? This is such a serious issue it cannot be relegated to the youth department. ALL Jesus followers have a strategic role to play in the move from research to recovery...from diagnosis to treatment.
10:15 – 10:45 am – Break
10:45 – 12:00 noon – Community: Is it Vibrant or Toxic? (James and Claire Penner)
Raised Christian young adults speak of five church toxins they have personally experienced within faith communities: 1) judgement, 2) hypocrisy, 3) exclusivity, 4) unappreciated talent, and 5) inability to redeem moral failures. These toxins are, as one young person put it, “not a bit of dust in the corner of the church – they are hairball in the soup.” How might Jesus followers move away from these toxins toward an ESSENCE in faith communities that is inclusive, authentic, and intergenerational.
12:00 – 1:00 pm – Lunch Break
1:00 – 2:15 pm – Experience of God: Do they feel God and does He answer their prayers? (James and Claire Penner)
The consistent lament of raised Christian young adults who no longer attend church is “Where the ____ was God? I didn’t feel like my prayers got through.” How do Jesus followers address this deep seated frustration in the church's wayward children?
2:15 – 2:45 pm – Break
2:45 – 4:00 pm – Teaching and Beliefs: Are they empowering or restrictive?
Coerced commitment lead to compliance but not conviction. It matters whether those who teach raised Christian young adults believe the Bible is a love story instead of a rule book. What implications does this insight have for the evangelism and discipleship strategies of Jesus followers?
Saturday, February 28 - Working with Millennials and Post Millennials
8:30 – 9:00 am – Registration for MinistryLift Disciple-making Conference Day Two (Fosmark)
9:00 – 10:15 am – Understanding Millennials: A sociological view of the five anti-Lordship cancers in the culture (James Penner, Bonnie Quinn, Jordan Erlendson)
Five cultural cancers are decimating the spiritual health of Canada’s millennial generation (born 1980-1999). What happens when materialism, individualism, credentialism, secularism and hedonism run unchecked in our own lives and in the youth and young adults we love?
10:15 – 10:45 am – Break
10:45 – 12:00 noon – Parenting Millennials (and Post Millennials!): Forming children, youth and young adults through the hidden curriculum of your own life (James and Claire Penner)
As the research indicates, PARENTS (and GRAND PARENTS and PARA-PARENTS) ARE IT!! They are the hidden spiritual curriculum from which the rising generation take their cues about what growing up might look like! How then ought we to nurture those offspring who are closest to us?
12:00 – 1:00 pm – Lunch Break
1:00 – 2:15 pm – Pastoring Millennials: Discipling and evangelizing the four types of Millennials (Bonnie Quinn, Jordan Erlendson)
In a session led by Millennials themselves, Jesus followers will be introduced to the four types of raised Christian Millennials: engagers, fence sitters, wanderers and rejecters. How might we interact with each type if our desire is to see them transformed into the likeness of Jesus?
2:15 – 2:45 pm – Break
2:45 – 4:00 pm – Mentoring Millennials: Our journey so far, in moving from research to recovery (James and Claire Penner)
A prayerful June 2014 community discernment led James and Claire Penner to focus the next years of their lives on mentoring Millennials. This led them and College Drive Community Church to create a C2C inspired intergenerational missional community focused on mentoring millennials in Lethbridge. What have we learned so far that might help any Jesus-following community in Canada in their quest to move from Hemorrhaging Faith research to the recovery of a transformative, inclusive, authentic, intergenerational faith community? What happens when we treasure, hear, resource, ignite, vocation and encourage the rising generations in our corner of the globe?