Newbigin Public Lecture 2022
22 June 2022
To stimulate Christians into more thoughtful and deeper engagement in the places they live and serve, a public lecture is given by a high profile Christian leader who embodies a contemporary spirit of Lesslie Newbigin. In previous years this has included: Dr Steve Bevans (2018), Dr Krish Kandiah (2019), John Newbigin and Dr Ash Barker (2021).
At 1pm on Saturday 2 July 2022 the next Newbigin Public Lecture will be given by Dr Cathy Ross (missiologists, author, CMS) at the Lodge Road Community Church. and we will be celebrating the Newbigin Pioneering Hub, a 50th anniversary project for the URC.
The Newbigin Pioneering Hub is a collaboration between United Reformed Church, Congregational Federation, Church Mission Society and the Seedbeds organisation. This new venture is open to all and is part of celebrating the past 50 years of the United Reformed Church by investing our future in local communities. Our mission is: ‘To discover, nurture, empower and release a new Community of Pioneers, able to see God’s love and shalom flourish in local communities.’
Rev Dr Ash Barker, who leads the Newbigin Pioneering Hub from Winson Green, inner city Birmingham, says,
“We long for every local community to flourish in God’s love and shalom, but know so many neighbourhoods are missing out right now. I believe this new venture can unearth a new generation of Pioneers, ready to be planted personally in local places and able to grow people into new communities of faith, hope and compassion wherever Jesus has called them to serve. We have hard-won insights from experienced Pioneers that can help form, guide and inspire a new generation of Pioneers from here."
Could God be calling you to step out in faith with us to see your God-given dreams in your local community flourish in faith, hope and love?
Book your space and join us for the Newbigin Public Lecture: 1pm Saturday 2 July 2022 at Lodge Road Community Church (143-4 Lodge Road, Birmingham, B18 5BU). Tickets are free.
This public lecture and pioneering hub is named in honour of Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998). Lesslie served as a Minister in Winson Green, Birmingham in the 1980s after he returned from over 36 years of Christian service in India. Historian Wilbert Shenk described Newbigin as “one of the decisive influences on the theology of mission in the twentieth century.” While in Winson Green, Newbigin wrote such influential books as 'Gospel in a Pluralist Society', 'The Open Secret' and 'Foolishness to the Greeks'. A man before his time, he articulated the tough urban questions and dedicated his life to finding and living the answers in both Majority and Western World urban contexts. It is hoped that Newbigin’s life and insights will inspire a new generation of Christian workers able to respond to growing urban injustices in our day and to help see abundant community cultivated from the ground up around the world.
