CEEAMS Annual Conference 2021 program

Mission Matters: Trends, Challenges, and New Perspectives in Christian Mission in Central and Eastern Europe

CEEAMS Annual Conference 2021 23-25 February 2021-ONLINE

Program

Please note, that all times are CET!

Day I – Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021

9:15 Login-in to Zoom

9:30-9:40 Opening

Session chair: Dorottya Nagy

9:40-10:00 Bible Study: Klippies Kritzinger

10:00-10:45: The Development of the Missionary Studies in Romania. Landmarks, tendencies, and challenges (1921-2021)

                           Keynote lecture by Cristian Sonea 

                             Faculty of the Orthodox Theology, Babes-Bolyai University Cluj, Romania, Orthodox Department

10:45-11:15 Coffee break

11:15-12:15 Parallel Sessions

Session I.1 Mission and Society- Engaging the Socio-Political Spheres A

  1. Valentin Kozhuharov: The Teaching Ministry of the Church under the Shadow of Recent “Liberal” Shifts in Traditional Values in Understanding Human Beings and Families (CEE)
  2. Pavol Bargár: The Phenomenon of “F-word Pseudoreligion” as a Challenge in Mission in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

Co-chairs: Cristian Sonea and David Symon

Session I.2 Exploring Missional “Place” in God’s World

  1. Mihail Ciopașiu: The Role of Place in Mission
  2. Kristina Ecis: Use of Digital Tools in a Small Town Church in Latvia

Co-chairs: Martine Audéoud and Joshua Searle

Session I.3 Contextual Approaches to Education

  1. Mihai-Viorel Hirt: Education – Cultural and Ethical Differences
  2. Viktoria Soltesova: Children´s Images of God in Mission among the Roma in Slovakia

Co-chairs: Roman Soloviy and Cameron Armstrong

Session I.4 Theological-Contextual Perspectives in Romania

  1. Doru Marcu – The Ecumenical Reception of the Activity and Theology of Rev. Ion Bria (1929-2002)
  2. Teofil Stanciu- Kenosis as a way of identifying with unbelievers in Anthony Bloom’s conception on „atheist” Christ

Co-chairs: Klippies Kritzinger and Dorottya Nagy

12:15-12:45 Debriefing and Community Announcements – Melody Wachsmuth

Day II – Wednesday, February 24th, 2021

9:15  Login-in to Zoom

9:30-9:40 Announcements

Session chair: Anne-Marie Kool

9:40-10:00 Bible Study: Kristina Ecis

10:00-10:45 Towards an Understanding of the American Evangelical Missionary in the  Eastern European Region: historical contemporary insights

                          Keynote Lecture by David Hosaflook

Institute for Albanian and Protestant Studies/University of Tirana

10:45-11:15 Coffee break

11:15-12:15 Parallel Sessions

Session II.1 Mission and Society- Engaging the Socio-Political Spheres B

  1. Corneliu Constantineanu: Public Theology as Mission: An Argument for Christian Public Witness in Central and Eastern Europe
  2. Gyöngyi Mazsu: From God-Church-World to God-World-Church: Hoekendijk´s Understanding of the Church-Mission Relationship in the Light of the Ecumenical movement

Co-chairs: Ravinder Salooja and Viktória Šoltésová

Session II.2 Cultural and sociological insights informing contextual mission

  1. Tim Noble: Musings on Mission and Mushrooms
  2. Szilárd Amadé Jóföldi: What should the post-Christendom church look like? The results of Hungarian sociology of religion after the change of regime for church-building concepts.

Co-chairs: Taylor Denyer and Klippies Kritzinger

Session II.3 Partnership in Mission

  1. Üllas Tankler: Theology of Partnership in Mission
  2. Miroslav Čobrda: Local Churches’ Benefit from Short-Term Missions Teams: Analysis of the Experiences of Evangelical Churches in Serbia

Co-chairs: Doru Marcu and Preston Pearce

Session II.4 Identity and Mission

  1. David Symon: “Mission in Two Directions: Missiological Implications of Religious Identity in Czech and Former Yugoslavia Countries”
  2. Open Forum Discussion on Identity and Mission in Central and Eastern Europe

Co-chairs: Dorottya Nagy and Joshua Searle

12:15-12:45 Debriefing and Community Announcements – Pavol Bargar

Day III – Thursday, February 25th, 2021

9:15 Login-in to Zoom

Session chair: Melody Wachsmuth

9:30-9:40 Announcements

9:40-10:00 Bible Study: Tim Noble

10:00-10:45 Movement Matters. Considerations of the role and challenges of art in the mission

                         Keynote lecture: Gilija Žukauskienė

“Portico for Dialogues”, Vilnius, Lithuania

10:45-11:15 Coffee break

11:15-12:15 Parallel Sessions

Session III.1  Theological Education in Shifting Contexts

  1. Joshua T. Searle: The EAAA and Prospects for the Reform of the Post-Soviet Evangelical Movement (Ukraine)
  2. Sasa Bakic: Roma Bible School in South-Eastern Europe

Co-chairs: Anne-Marie Kool and Roman Soloviy

Session III.2 Case Studies: Pastoral Training and “Fresh Expressions”

  1. Barry Sloan: INSPIRE-Chemnitz – A Missional experiment    (Germany)
  2. Cameron Armstrong & Preston Pearce: IMB at ITBB: Partnerships from the beginning (Romania)

Co-chairs: Cristian Sonea and Taylor Denyer

Session III.3 COVID and Church Practice

  1. Gabriel Sorescu: Current Missionary and Pastoral Changes and Their Consequences: A Christian-Orthodox Perspective
  2. Melody Wachsmuth: A Side Salad or Main Course?: An Argument for the Theological Importance of Creation Care in Southeastern Europe

Co-chairs: Viktória Šoltésová and Pavol Bargár

12:15-12:45 Debriefing and Community Announcements

12:45-16:00 Break

15:45 Arrivals

16:00-18:00 CET:  CEEAMS General Assembly

For general questions, please contact the conference coordinator: Taylor Denyer (info@ceeams.org)

For questions regarding the program, please contact dorottya.nagy@ceeams.org or pavol.bargar@ceeams.org.

The Organizing Committee:

Pavol Bargár

Taylor Denyer

Anne-Marie Kool

Dorottya Nagy

and Melody Wachsmuth

About the keynote speakers:

Cristian Sonea is Rev. Jr. Prof. of Orthodox Missiology at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology from “Babes-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca and an Orthodox priest, belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church. Broadly, his research concerns contemporary theology of orthodox mission and the common Christian witness. He is also interested in ecumenical theology and is actively involved in ecumenical dialogues.

David Hosaflook is an American missionary, author and church historian who has worked with churches and humanitarian projects in the Balkans since 1992. He is a professor of intercultural studies, Christianity, European history, Philosophy of Religion, and Albanian history. He completed his Ph.D. in history at the University of Tirana and is co-founder and executive director of the Institute for Albanian and Protestant Studies. In 2019 Hosaflook was voted laureate of the first annual “22 November” Prize in the Republic of North Macedonia, an award “for achievements in the sphere of political, cultural and social life.”

Gilija Žukauskienė is a PhD student at Protestant Theological faculty of Charles University in Prague. Gilija has a bachelor’s degree in theater and master’s degrees in dance and in philosophy of media. Her main research interest – the transformative power of movement. Gilija is a missionary of the Lithuanian Baptist Union, artistic director of the mission project “Portico for Dialogues” (www.portikas.lt)

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