Photo:Alan Hirsch (left) and Michael Frost (right)
I have just spent the weekend at The Forge Summit held from Friday night 1 July to Sunday night 3 July at Wesley College, High Street Road, Glen Waverley, Melbourne. The Summit was orginally set to be held at World Vision but the numbers kept rolling in and a change of venue was required. Approximately 500 people turned up. All age groups were represented and there was great diversity in the denominational representation too. There were people there from across the continent. Only the Northern Territory was unrepresented. Now I reckon that is a fair bit of yeast to go into the loaf. Things should be quietly(?) proving and rising in the year ahead.
The Summit was opened by Tim Costello who had just spent the day promoting the Make Poverty History Campaign and was able to report that a banner with those words was flying high from the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The theme of The Summit was Dangerous Stories. Tim told of the response of Ivan Illich when he was once asked what is the most revolutionary way to change society. Is it violent revolution or is it gradual reform? He gave a careful answer. Neither, Illich said. If you want change tell an alternative story.
Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch were key speakers at The Summit. John Smith gave a strong and stirring talk on Sunday morning wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt! He proves that great flames and fires never die! I won't try to summarise what they said - buy the book. Contact The Forge and get the mp3s of the Conference. See the link to The Forge on my side bar. Workshops were extensive - too sadly one could not get to everything. I focussed on UNOH (Urban Neighbours of Hope) because of long acquaintance with Lindy Croucher, and Steve Barrington of Foothills Neighbourhood Communities which is in my neighbourhood.
To summarise God is Love = God is Mission = Mission is Love. Go to it church! The tools are there! There are open hearts and minds! Join the quest.
