VCUKI's First Ever Theology Symposium...

The genius image that headed up the publicity for Vineyard UK's first Theology Symposium...

A little while ago I hosted a guest post from Neal Swettenham, the theology co-ordinator for Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland, about an upcoming conference. That time, and that conference has now 'up-come', and its taken nearly a month for me to get round to writing about it. Fortunately, such a good time was had (at least by me!) that the memories are fresh. The papers and audio from the conference were 'published' today via email, though I don't know exactly whether or not they will be publicly or easily available.

So what was it like? 

I've reflected elsewhere on my experiences during and reflections after my adventures at the 2013 Society of Vineyard Scholars Conference in Anaheim, LA, and so that (plus some very brief sneakings-into of other conferences) was the benchmark for me! I'm overjoyed to say that the VCUKI symposium was a brilliantly organised, intellectually stimulating and spiritually refreshing time, that made me proud to be part of the Vineyard in the UK, and excited for the future.

Intimate shot of the conference program.

The Symposium was held at the rather snazzy Burleigh Court, at Loughborough University, which apparently is one of the places that Team GB trained before the 2012 Olympics. Fortunately no standards of athletic prowess were mentioned, and the weekend had a really relaxed, healthy atmosphere to it. We began on the Friday evening with a time of worship, which grounded what we were trying to do in the very thing we want to see: God glorified, and his people enjoying his presence. The Vineyard movement is known in part for its worship, and I was grateful for the chance to refocus and refresh before the rest of the evening. We flowed from worship into the 'keynote address' by Bishop Graham Cray, which for me was one of the real highlights of the weekend.

Bishop Cray is best known as the chap in charge of Fresh Expressions, which simply understood means he is in charge of lots of Church of England people doing all sorts of things. The title of his address, to us and potentially to our churches, was 'What is Theology For?'. Cray spoke for around 45 minutes or so on the topic, and drew from a range of sources to give us a stimulating time. Perhaps poignantly, we were reminded at the outset that "Godly theology is an expression of worship", encouraging for someone like me who's musical talent is somewhat limited. We were challenged as people with a more intellectual engagement with faith to no "set up an inappropriate dualism between mind and spirit", and Cray modelled a wonderful balance of faith and reason in his address. Cray broadly engaged with theology as being a way of negotiating boundaries and borders, using Doctrine helpfully to denote the bounds of Orthodoxy as being a positive thing rather than a negative. A particularly welcome quote, not least because I've mentioned it before, was his stern assertion that "Bad Theology Kills!". 

As far as conference openers go, Cray's address was welcome, winsome, and stimulating. It set us up well for dinner, which was a great chance to connect with pastors, scholars, other students, and people who were just interested in a Vineyard way of doing theology! The variety of people and perspectives was great - earlier that Friday morning I had been worried that less than 20 people would make the symposium, but in the event it was well attended, with nearer 50! 

My abstract and title... On a real program!

Saturday opened, after an excellent cooked breakfast, with the seminar papers. I gave a modified (basically anglicised and shortened!) version of my SVS Paper, 'Gathering for the Lord's Supper', and I was on a panel with Jason Clark and Lynn Burnhope. Their papers explored worship as re-narration, and healed or not healed, respectively. The other seminar track, whose audio I am looking forward to listening to over the weekend, explored approaches to the Bible, the purpose of human sexuality, and an examination of how the West will be won for Jesus. I was intially somewhat gutted not to be able to go to the other seminar, though on reflection the seminar I was in was superb. I had to open, which was great fun - not least as I was presenting a non-conformist paper on the sacraments with an Anglican Bishop in the room - and I was grateful for the warm engagement with my paper as I read it. Lynn's paper was stimulating and powerful, a much needed voice, whilst Jasons, as it was in Anaheim, demonstrated a helpful command of culture and theology, and reminded me again of the importance and distinctiveness of Christian worship in our post-Christian, secular and pluralistic consumer culture. A lively discussion followed the three papers, and having half an hour for this meant we could really get somewhere, rather than having to rush.

After the seminars we moved, by way of a coffee break, into 'Methodologies: the application of theological models to pastoral issues', which for me was a helpful session. As a relatively young person, and a young theologian, listening to a discussion - interactive though it was - between much older and wiser pastor-practitioners was very rewarding. After a good lunch (the food was really very good!) we rolled into a full-conference debate, on the potentially contentious topic 'What is at stake in conversion?'. This was a fascinating and robust discussion, headed up by Jason, Cray and Rick Williams, but with intelligent and comprehensive engagement 'from the floor'. The symposium closed with a time of ministry for those entering into, or continuing, full time or intense theological study. As I am starting my MA in October, I was humbled and blessed by the ministry of older and wiser followers of Jesus, and God was very present and talkative with us in that time, by his Spirit.

I had a great time at our first theological symposium. I am grateful to a friend for providing the resources to enable my wife to come with me, and it was also grateful to meet a wide range of people, from a range of academic and church contexts. I close this blog post with a couple of lists!

My Highlights from the VCUKI Theology Symposium

1) Graham Cray's keynote on the Friday evening, and his feedback to our seminar session on each of our papers.

2) Dinner on the Friday and lunch on the Saturday, both for the food and the fellowship!

3) The overall atmosphere of welcome and acceptance for me, as a young person trying to make sense of big ideas.

My Hopes, going forward

1) That we will do this again! It was a great time, and those that couldn't make it missed out, and in many cases would love to come in the future.

2) The breadth and depth of the theology on display was really encouraging, and demonstrates that there is real potential for theology in the Vineyard in the UK.

3) That more and more people, whether through Hub, the new Vineyard Institute, or future symposia, will be able to engage in the theological life of the Vineyard in the UK, and that those involved will be able to connect with an encourage each other in ways that advance the Kingdom, for the sake of the King, Jesus!