Evangelical leaders from United States to speak at New Wineskins convocation
The Layman Online, April 27, 2005
Leaders in Christian evangelism in the United States highlight a growing list of speakers at a national convocation considering a “bold new design” for the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The convocation, with the theme “Following Christ into the 21st Century,” will be held June 15-18 at Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, Minn.
The Rev. Dr. Dean Weaver, whose address is titled “Nobody Tries It!” is vice moderator of the New Wineskins Initiative and senior pastor of Knox United Presbyterian Church in Kenmore, N.Y.
Convocation organizers call Knox “one of the fastest growing Presbyterian churches in the Northeast United States,” and it offers four worship opportunities every weekend. The congregation averages up to four out-of-the-country mission trips per year, and also ministers to college students, inner city youth and refugees.
In recent years, Knox has become heavily involved in building an orphanage in Sierra Leone. A number of children from that orphanage have been adopted by Knox families, including Weaver’s.
Weaver broadcasts weekly during the “Knox Church of the Air” program on 99.5 WDCX-FM, a Christian radio station that covers Buffalo, Rochester, Toronto and all of western New York and southern Ontario, Canada.
The Rev. Clark Cowden, whose address is titled “Why We Are Here,” is the evangelist presbyter for the Presbytery of San Joaquin and parish associate at First Presbyterian Church in Visalia, Calif.
He is the author of a paper titled A Vision for the 21st Century. In it, he writes:
- “It is time for a change. A small tinkering will not do. It is time for a radical new reinvention of the denomination. The 21st century denomination will function as a servant to its missionaries, its pastors, its lay leaders and its congregations. It exists to help them do the ministry on the ‘front lines.’ The denomination is the support system, the rescue squad, the back-up team that works to make the most ministry possible. It seeks to glorify God in all it does, operating under the authority of Scripture. Through its congregations and its people, it calls all people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord of the world. The church will only be fruitful when it is faithful …”
Delegates to the convocation will refine and vote on draft documents that propose new statements of faith essentials and ethical imperatives, as well as a revised constitution that calls for greater flexibility, a new approach to leadership development at the congregational level and a pared-down, adaptive service structure at the national level.
While the convocation will include preaching, prayer and worship, as well as an international flavor with guests and speakers from Presbyterian churches around the world, the focus will be on how evangelical Presbyterians respond to what task force leaders called “grave concerns about the health and effectiveness of our present organization” in theology, mission and structure.
More information about the convocation is available on a special convocation Web site.