Called into Creativity: Mission in Imaginative and Inspiring Living
Call for the annual Conference of the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies
Hybrid format
13 – 16 February 2026, Osijek, Croatia
The annual conferences of the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS) seek to facilitate a platform where mission study scholars, theologians, missionaries, ministers and students can explore the relevance of theology-missiology for being church and being Christians in relationship with others for the sake of peaceful and just societies.
This year’s conference call “Called into Creativity: Mission in imaginative and inspiring living” invites participants to discover new insights informing mission praxis through the lens of creation as vocation (calling) into creativity and life. An imaginative way of living does not try to split up reality into things which exist and do not exist but rather enriches our understanding of reality by envisioning the possible in God’s presence. Too often throughout the history of Christianity, Christian mission has been situated in the realm of words— doctrines and truth-claims only. Even terms such as “holistic mission” or “integral mission” have too often been restricted to only reconcile the evangelistic type of mission on one hand and the diaconal type of mission on the other hand. Systematic theology translated into messages which needed to be proclaimed often resulted in essentializing formulae and uniformity in theological education and missionary training. Too often in history, doctrines killed the creative process of teaching and learning.
Christian mission understood through relationality implies not only words but words spoken with passion and embodiment. Think of the creation stories from Genesis 1 and 2, or the poetic texts from the Gospel of John. The phrase “Called into creativity” signals the relational, divine-divine, divine-human and all other forms of relationships between the Creator and creatures. The act of God’s creating the world implies a call to life as a form of participation in creativity. Speaking through the image of the Trinity, within the divine relationality, the Creator as the source and giver of Life is also the source of creativity, imagination (imago Dei-), and inspiration (Spirit). A trinitarian approach to Christian mission invites exploring theology-missiology in its fullness. It is not only an exercise and discipline of the mind but a praxis in which mind and heart, cognition and emotion, stillness and motion, materiality and immateriality, silence and sound, rhythm, taste, colors, and varied forms of art are all involved. Such an approach invites all senses to think of, imagine, breathe God and live a life in fullness in relationship with the whole creation as a response to the Creator, giver, renewer and redeemer of life.
CEEAMS as an ecumenical association which stands for confessional, cultural and linguistic diversity provides an appropriate framework for gathering participants who are able to enrich the praxis of Christian mission by a strong appeal to arts and creativity. In Eastern Orthodox theology, creativity is a virtue, the divine liturgy shows examples of profound music and writing icons is a creative missionary and spiritual act.
2026 marks the 800th anniversary of the death of Francis of Assisi. St Francis´ spirituality and those committed to that type of spirituality have been examples of life in simplicity yet in fullness of creation and creativity. The eco-theological movement is another example illustrating imaginative and inspiring life in a sustainable fashion. Next to the examples of the great eastern and western traditions, protestant churches and other more recent Christian communities have all been using art at large, through poetry, music, paintings, and dance in order to become and stay faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ even in the hardest times of communism or capitalist exploitative ideologies.
In order to stay faithful to Christ, Christian mission needs constant renewal in and within all senses. This year’s conference invites participants to reflect on Christian mission from the starting point of creativity, imaginative and inspiring living.
The Call for Conference invites theologians, mission study scholars, reflective practitioners, and ministers to submit paper proposals which address theological-missiological questions related to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) within the above introduced framework. Please note that you may respond with creative ways of presentation when answering the Call.. The questions formulated below may be of some guidance:
- What would Christian mission through God’s call into creativity imply within the theological tradition you represent?
- What kind of theology of mission emerges if you look at the sources you work with (Biblical scholarship, patristics, practical theology, church history, systematic theology) through the keywords of creativity and imagination?
- How could the formula “called into creativity” further elaborate on theories and practices of holistic and/or integral mission?
- What is the role and meaning of art, imagination and creativity in the church, Christian community and/or theological educational institutions?
- What are good practices of imaginative and inspiring living through Christian communities and/or mission organization?
- How do folklore and theology link?
- Which branches of art (painting, music, dance, poetry, literature) enrich your theological-missiological praxis? How and why?
- To what extent can one conceive of creativity and imaginative life as forms of public theology-missiology?
- What are the bridge-building and peacemaking aspects of creativity and imaginative life in CEE?
- How do creativity and imaginative living challenge leadership theories within church and society?
- How do creativity and imaginative living inspire theological education in CEE?
The above formulated questions are only a few examples which seek to stimulate answering the Call for papers and the organizers are fully aware that being called into creativity goes beyond the imagination of subjects and entries proposed by the organizing committee. Feel free to answer the call with your creativity as long as your proposal connects to the keywords and explicitly relates to Central and Eastern Europe
Abstracts and procedure
To submit a paper or a panel proposal, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words to ceeams@ceeams.org by October 1st, 2025 with the subject heading: AC2026 / [your name].
Abstracts should provide a brief description of the work, clearly outlining the theoretical perspectives and methodology to be applied in the paper, as set out in the Guidelines for Abstracts (see below).
NOTIFICATIONS OF ACCEPTANCE WILL BE SENT BY the 15th October 2025.
Registration will open on October 16th. Please note that you can only pay after the acceptance of your registration. The payments of the conference fee can be done starting with January 1st, 2026.
Papers may be selected for publication in ACTA MISSIOLOGIAE, the journal of the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies.
Conference presentations/papers should be restricted to 20 minutes of presentation time.
Dates of the Conference
The conference starts on Friday afternoon, from February 13th 2026 and ends on Monday February 16th with lunch.
Conference Venue
Evangelical Theological Seminary
Cvjetkova 32, PO Box 370, Osijek, Croatia, HR-31103
Tel: 385-31-494-200 // Fax: 385-31-494-201
Hybrid format
The conference will be organized in a hybrid format.
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REGISTRATION
The conference fee is 100 euro for on site participation which includes conference participation, lunch, dinner and coffee breaks. Accommodation and breakfast are not included in the conference cost.
The conference fee for online participation is 50 euro.
50 euro is non-refundable for regular participants, 25 euro is non-refundable for online participation in case of cancellation.
Registration timeline
Payments can be done from January 1st, 2026.
January 11th, 2026 – EARLY BIRD registration:
- 80 euro – conference fee for regular participants (accommodation to be arranged by participants themselves)
- 40 euro – online participation
January 26th, 2026– FINAL registration:
- 100 euro – conference fee for regular participants (accommodation to be arranged by participants themselves)
- 50 euro – online participation
The conference fee is waived for conference planning committee members.
Scholarship
We are glad that this year we will again receive financial support for those conference participants who cannot afford the full conference fee.
Those participants who are entitled to pay the reduced conference fee and be hosted in shared rooms, must meet the following criteria:
- are from Central and Eastern Europe
- especially those submitting an abstract
- register for the entire conference
- students
- do not get a reimbursement through their institution.
Scholarships can only be provided upon a request which include the following:
- Motivation to attend and the reason for the need for financial support
- Budget of your conference costs.
Scholarship requests must be submitted no later than December 31st 2025.
Full scholarships for conference fees are available only in exceptional cases.
Do not hesitate to ask any questions you may have at registrations@ceeams.org
Payment
Payments can be done from January 1st. Details will follow.
Travel information
- Direct flights to Osijek:
There are a few direct flights to Osijek. Please check Osijek airport travel agency.
2. Flying to Zagreb:
If you travel by bus, train or plane to Zagreb, please check Arriva or other bus lines. There are regular busses to Osijek, many times a day. For those arriving at Zagreb airport, there is a shuttle to Zagreb bus station.
3. Flying to Budapest:
*Budapest to Osijek by shuttle: We can arrange a shuttle pick up at Budapest airport for you. It is 50 EUR per person/one direction. If there is a group of people being picked up, transport is 35 EUR per person.
Accommodation information
Recommended Hotels:
If you are going to book your own accommodation here are some options. If you are looking at booking.com or Airbnb.com make sure to put “Donji Grad” – this is the part of the city where the conference venue is located. There are just apartments to rent, there are no hotels or hostels.
*Apartment Mursa: 5 min walk from conference venue, it can accommodate up to 7 people.
*Apartman Krstova: Private apartment across the venue, it can accommodate 2 people. Price: 50 EUR per night for apartman.
Cancellation policy
If you cancel your conference participation:
Before February 8th 2026: you will receive your previous payment minus the 50 euro non-refundable fee for on-site participation and your previous payment minus the 25 euro for online participation.
After February 8th, 2026: no refunds are possible.
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REGISTRATION FORM
Will be shared soon.