A church planter in Switzerland once described his task to me in this way. He said,

“I am working with postmoderns and in Geneva postmodernity is rather like a large banqueting table with great food. All are invited to eat except for Christianity, which had to stand in the naughty corner. Why is Christianity in the naughty corner? Because in the past Christians have misused power and now we have to figure out how to be welcomed around the table again.”

In a sense that has been the missionary dilemma for us Europeans - how to re-engage with the communities in which we live and work. In the midst of this challenge there are some signs that the presence and contribution of Christians is wanted, welcomed and sought. Europe presents many faces even within a single nation.

The theme of this year’s conference INCARNATE, suggests a way in which we might be present and be missional in the new Europe. Our two keynote speakers are able and intelligent thinkers and practitioners. We are asking them to engage with us in a dialogue. That will be a dialogue with each other as they present their material but also in dialogue with us. The conference has been deliberately structured to produce a high degree of interaction and debate.

We hope that you as someone who is either a thinking practitioner in mission of a thinker about mission that also engages in mission, will want to take part in this growing community of sisters and brothers from many denominations, streams and nations. It is in that spirit that we invite you to be with us in Rome from 5-7 May 2009. (If you wish to book online, please click here and you will be taken to a booking facility hosted by our partners RUN (Reaching the Unchurched Network) or download a ‘paper booking form’ here). You can download the conference leaflet here to read more about the conference.

Martin Robinson, Eurochurch.net chairperson

Speakers:

Gerard Kelly is Senior Pastor of Crossroads Amsterdam (www.xrds.nl), a church serving 40 nationalities in the city and region of Amsterdam. Before taking up this post in 2005 he was a member of the Leadership Team of Spring Harvest in the UK (www.springharvest.org). He is also co-founder, with his wife Chrissie, of The Bless Network (www.bless.org.uk), a missional network serving churches and church-plants across mainland Europe.

Gerard's interests include research into the challenges of Christian mission in contemporary Europe, creativity in worship, teaching and other aspects of church-making and reading and writing on missiology, poetry and fiction. He is the author of some 8 books, the most recent of which is a collection of poetry for use in worship: Spoken Worship is published by Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) Gerard and Chrissie have four children - Anna (18) and Jake (10) live with them in the Netherlands while Joe (25) and Aaron (22) are based in London.

Johannes Reimer was born in Siberia in 1955. Raised as a communist activist, he was given one day the task to divert two young Christians from the faith. After an intense study of the Gospel, he experienced a dramatic conversion and became a Christian activist.

His family moved to Germany in 1976. He studied theology in Wiedenest, Hamburg and Fresno (USA). In 1986, he started the mission ministry LOGOS International which he serves as an evangelist until today. 1995 he became Doctor of Theology and 1997 Professor of Missiology at UNISA (South Africa). Johannes has written a number of books on evangelism and mission subjects. Far from being theoretician, he was active in the planting of more than a dozen churches. One of his main concerns for the Church is that it becomes missional and relevant for society.
Johannes and his wife Cornelia have 3 children and live in the Cologne area, Germany.