AEC2001
Stuart
Murray, Church Planter and Scholar,
to speak at Anabaptist Evangelism Council 2001
ELGIN, IL — Stuart
Murray, an Anabaptist scholar and church planter from England, is the keynote speaker for the 4th annual Anabaptist Evangelism
Council to be held February 16-18, 2001, at the general offices of the Church of the
Brethren here.
Murray, introduced to Anabaptism as a practicing lawyer, will have three major addresses at the three-day event around the
theme "Church Planting: The Spirit at Work Through Our Systems." He will open the event with an
after-dinner address at 7:30 p.m. Friday, February 16.
Murray's immersion in Anabaptist study has led him, among other things, to co-edit the book
Coming Home with Alan Kreider of Goshen, Indiana. Kreider, who recently returned from 26
years of service under the Mennonite Board of Missions in the United Kingdom, is considered, according to MBM,
"the foremost spokesman for Anabaptism in the United Kingdom." The book, published by Pandora Press, Waterloo,
Ontario, Canada, is a story told in many voices, by Christians from diverse communities across Britain and
Ireland—from the Jesus Army to the Anglican Church—who are discovering Anabaptism as an ecumenical force for renewal.
Murray, Oasis director of Church Planting and Evangelism at Spurgeon's College, London, since 1992, feels called to plant Anabaptist congregations
and revitalize churches around Anabaptist ideals. "Acutely aware of the depth of the secular and consumer based approach to contemporary evangelism,
Murray sees the interaction of the church and the world as a conversation regarding the gospel," say the planners of Lethbridge (BC) 2000, who had
Murray as a keynote speaker this past July.
Steve Clapp, a religious researcher and board member of New Life Ministries, will discuss the results of a recent survey among Anabaptist
churches. The research project, managed by Clapp's co-worker, Angela Zizak, will highlight
"Practical Implications of the 2000 Anabaptist Planting Survey."
Focus groups will interact with Murray, Clapp, and Zizak during the Saturday morning and afternoon sessions. Church planting stories will be
told after dinner on Saturday evening.
After a presentation Sunday morning by Murray, Council participants and a listening committee will then discuss the input of the weekend, closing with
lunch and departure by 1:00 p.m.
The Council, sponsored and planned by the New Life Ministries management
team, is an annual meeting of Anabaptist scholars and practitioners who share questions of evangelization, church growth and planting and congregational
vitality. It brings together representatives from six Anabaptist denominations in Canada and
USA—The Brethren Church, represented on the NLM team by Ronald W. Waters; The Mennonite Church Canada, represented by Tym
Elias; the Mennonite Church USA, represented from the General Conference side by Marilyn Miller and from the Mennonite Church side by Dale Bauman; the
Church of the Brethren, represented by Beth Sollenberger Morphew; and two parachurch organizations: Christian Community, represented by Clapp and
Kristen Leverton Helbert; and Shalom Foundation, represented by Dick Benner. S. Joan Hershey is coordinator of the team.
Registration is open to anyone at a fee of $75 (before January 10; US or
Canadian funds) or $100 (US or Canadian funds) at the door and covers meals and Council handouts, but not lodging. More
information can be gotten from Hershey at New Life Ministries, Mount Joy,
Pennsylvania, at 800-774-3360 or elsewhere on
this site.
by Dick Benner—December 20, 2000
Read reports on previous councils
