Let Worship & Justice Kiss:
We want to explore how worship and justice come together – how they feed off of and into each other – how they are intertwined. Together we want to create an intensive learning environment that will help us worship Jesus, and learn to reach out to our neighbours – especially those neighbours who are marginalized. Authentic worship will lead to doing justice. Doing justice must lead to worshipping Jesus.
Participatory Gathering:
‘Conference’ doesn’t quite describe all that will happen. In the past, when we’ve put on conferences, we loved the teaching and worship times, workshops and clinics… those will not be absent. But more than sitting and listening to great speakers, we want to experience a way of seeing justice and worship come together that will take us outside the walls of our building to our city – to its places of darkness, its places of power, places of despair. It’s there that we know we will encounter Jesus, as He promised us in Matthew 25. None of the activities will make a spectacle of the poor, because our street friends will be helping lead us; none of our excursions are for shock value (though some things may be shocking) but rather to explore together how worship and justice can come together to bring Kingdom transformation to our cities.
Transferable Learning:
We want you to contribute to what happens here in a participatory way, but even more, we believe you will be equipped to take new insights and practices back to where you live. We hope for events, experiences and teaching here that go so deep they can be worked out in radically different situations. We expect that what you will be left with is more of “I can’t wait to get back home to try this stuff” than “well, that won’t work for me, but I’m happy for them…”
Youth Track:
We are planning a track specifically for youth, grades 6 – 10. They will be together 24/7 for the whole weekend doing many activities on their own, and joining in some of the larger gatherings as well.
Kid’s Track:
We have a team of children from Edmonton who are coming to help our children run a program for neighbourhood children (we are located in an inner-city location). Children will experience reaching out to other kids who are from an economically disadvantaged area. The children’s track is for kid’s aged 4 – 12.
Sacred Places:
These are the times when we will make things practical. We’ll have small teams of leaders and artists mobilized to take small numbers of participants to significant places around the neighbourhood and city – places where idols exercise influence in a negative way. These teams will do various activities designed to confront the idols, bring beauty, and uncover beauty that is already there. Collecting stories, poetry, songs, copies of paintings, etc are all ways to confront the idols. They’ll provide a place for stories to be heard. Each of the activities will directly challenge and usurp the idols present in these places.
These are not token outreaches, but rather are practical ways to search people out and surround them (see the musk-ox circle). We would like each participant to go to at least one Sacred Place. Workshops are run concurrently for those who are not at a Sacred Place. They will be a way to let the worship of art interact in a direct way with some issues of justice.
Prayer Uhaul:
Underlying all our activities together will be prayer. We are going to transform a Uhaul trailer into a mobile prayer unit that will be in operation for our whole weekend together. We’ll be praying for our gathering but also be a place where worship & justice can come together right on the street – right outside our doors.
Schedule:
Costs:
$50.00 / person, or pay what you can.
$40.00 / youth (includes food and lodging), or pay what you can.
$15.00 / child (includes food and lodging in the children’s track), or pay what you can.
Pay what you can? Yep, we really mean that – if the cost of this event makes it restrictive for you – or if you are only able to attend a few sessions, then you pay what you can.