Christians are called to live by the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ is meant to form and focus our lives, transforming people into the image of Christ, setting us apart from the culture at large. Or, to say it another way, life in Christ ought to bring about real moral formation. Yet, many Christians today seem to lack ethical seriousness. They feel no tension, let alone contradiction, between their Christian confession and the culture they inhabit. When difficult choices arise, they demonstrate a low level of commitment to scriptural teaching and often default to the norms of their environment. And among those Christians who do take holiness seriously, many do so in a way that is disconnected from the gospel and their union with Christ by the Spirit. Their pursuit of holiness becomes legal rather than evangelical, and can often end in despair.
The gospel challenges both flaccid compliance with the majority culture of the day and joyless legalistic adherence to a prescribed standard of holiness. As pastors, we particularly need to think about how we help the church connect the gospel with holy character and responsible, ethical decision-making. During the 2014 Regent College Pastors’ Conference, we want to help pastors reframe the call to discipleship so that formation and transformation become an outflow of our participation in the triune God, producing an attractive, vivid, and effective pattern of faithfulness that reflects his desire for us to be truly human persons, ‘fully alive’, bearers of the beauty of his holiness.
Morning sessions will provide challenging and inspirational teaching from biblical scholars Dr. Mariam Kamell and Dr. Rikk Watts. Late morning sessions will feature teaching and preaching from gifted pastor and communicator, Mark Buchanan, as he unpacks the apostle Peter's second epistle to the first century church. After lunch each day, we will engage in dialogue over difficult ethical issues that pastors and churches are faced with as they live faithfully in our contemporary contexts. The formal conference day will end with a time for all participants to "confess and profess" our mutual love and commitment to Jesus Christ in worship, after which we will be sent out to enjoy the wonders of Vancouver through a variety of extracurricular activities. Join host Ross Hastings and this exceptional group of speakers, and prepare to be encouraged and transformed by the gospel.