The first 'Newbigin Public Lecture' to be given by Steve Bevans
Ash Barker
Local community leadership developer, shalom activist, speaker, author. URC Minister in Winson Green. Leads ‘Seedbeds’ - growing leaders and communities into fullness of life.
7pm, February 7th, 2018 at St Martins in the Bullring.
World renowned mission thinker Dr Steve Bevans will give the first annual Newbigin Public Lecture with responses from Bishop Mike Royal and Dr Paula Gooder. This is a free event with an offering being taken up for Newbigin Community Trust and CMS.
Stephen B. Bevans, a member of the Divine Word Missionaries, is Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD, Professor of Gospel and Culture at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and editor of Mission Studies. His many books include 'Constants in Context', 'Models of Contextual Theology' and 'Prophetic Dialogue: Reflection on Christian Mission Today'. The responders to the lecture will be Canon Paula Gooder (author, scholar, theologian and Birmingham Diocese's Director of Mission Learning and Development) and Bishop Mike Royal (Pentecostal Bishop, Church engagement with Cinnamon Network and Ambassador for employment charity the Jericho Foundation).
The public lecture is named in honour of Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998). Lesslie served as a Minister in Winson Green, Birmingham in the 1980s after he returned from over 36 years of Christian service in India. Mission historian Wilbert Shenk described Newbigin as “one of the decisive influences on the theology of mission in the twentieth century.” Geoffrey Wainwright, Newbigin’s authoritative biographer, considers him comparable to the early Church Fathers by nature of his heart and mind, pastoral work, ecumenical endeavour, missionary strategy, social vision, the comprehensiveness of his ministry, and his sheer stature as a man of God. While in Winson Green, Newbigin wrote such influential books as 'Gospel in a Pluralist Society', 'The Open Secret' and 'Foolishness to the Greeks'. A man before his time, he articulated the tough urban questions and dedicated his life to finding and living the answers in both Majority and Western World urban contexts. It is hoped that Newbigin’s life and insights will inspire a new generation of Christian workers able to respond to growing urban injustices in our day and to help see abundant community cultivated from the ground up around the world.
The lecture is organised by Newbigin School for Urban Leadership (which is based in Winson Green and named in honour of Lesslie Newbigin) and CMS.