Preacher: Pastor Jin S. Kim, Barbara Holmes, Ched Myers, Michael-Ray Matthews | Series: Forum on Radical Theological Education

There is a lot of concern today about the crisis of theological education. The institutional church is declining in numbers, while the costs of education continue to rise.

At the same time, there has been a groundswell of organizing activity the last few years resisting the intersecting pathologies of our neoliberal imperial society. Black Lives Matter is shining a spotlight on the violence of institutionalized white supremacy, indigenous voices continue to call our attention to the destructive effects of settler colonialism on their people and on Mother Earth, and Occupy Wall Street and debt resistance movements have called out the predatory practices of Wall Street and big banks.

Alternative ways of relating to the earth and one another also continue to spread. Intentional communities have formed as a response to the alienation of American individualism, gift and sharing economies have emerged as alternatives to capitalism’s commidifying market economy of exchange, and small-scale permaculture is spreading as a corrective to the environmental harm of industrial agriculture.

The Spirit of liberation is moving and giving birth to more humane and sustainable forms of community life.

We have an opportunity today, as older professional models of ministry are in question, to rethink theological education from the ground up. How can theological education help us get at the roots of the social and environmental crises facing us today, exorcise the demons of empire from our institutions and bodies, and disciple us—through a deep rootedness in our biblical tradition—into alternative movement communities of resistance, justice and sustainability? How can theological education listen to and follow the liberating and creative winds of the Spirit today, while learning from those witnesses who have gone before us in this work?

We invite you to join us the evening of Oct. 8 at Church of All Nations for a Forum on Radical Theological Education with four leaders working to radicalize the ways Christian leaders are trained. The event is free of charge and will include a question and answer time.

The Panel:

CHED MYERS is an activist theologian, biblical scholar, popular educator, author, organizer and advocate who has for 35 years been challenging and supporting Christians to engage in peace and justice work and radical discipleship. He has been a leading voice in alternative theological education through his work with Word & World and Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries.

BARBARA HOLMES is the president of United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, as well as professor of ethics and African American Religious Studies. She is an ordained minister recognized in the Disciples of Christ. Holmes is also a writer and scholar who publishes books about the intersection of ethics, spirituality, mysticism, cosmology, and African American religious culture.

JIN S. KIM is founding pastor of Church of All Nations and most recently founder of Underground Seminary, an alternative form of theological education that focuses on decolonizing Christian leadership. He writes and speaks widely on the ministry of reconciliation in a post-colonial, post-supremacist world.

MICHAEL-RAY MATHEWS is the Director of Clergy Organizing for PICO National Network, a faith-based network of over 1200 congregations engaged in community organizing in over 200 cities in the United States. He leads the Prophetic Voices Initiative, aimed at shaping the movement for racial and economic inclusion in the US, and recently co-led a delegation of clergy at the Vatican to discuss racial justice issues.