April 5, 2016
On Easter Monday,
75 active and retired clergy from the Virginia Conference United Methodist
Church gathered in the Pearce Hospitality Suite for continuing education and
fellowship. This year’s event inaugurated our annual continuing education for
clergy as the Boyd Institute. We were pleased to have Robert F. “Bob” Boyd in
attendance to be recognized for his vast contributions to the College and the
Methodist Church.
Our guest speaker was
Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker, who gave a presentation entitled “The Future
Identity and Mission of the Church.” Bishop Whitaker’s two-day lecture focused
on the biblical origins of the church and the first 300 years of the primitive
church. Bishop Whitaker proposed that through an understanding of how early
Christians practiced their faith, the present-day church can find its new and
future role. Christianity wasn’t always the religion of the culture, and we
find ourselves looking into a future where Christianity appears to be replaced
more and more by pluralism and secularism within Western culture. By accepting
that Christian practices and values are no longer the ways of the majority,
Bishop Whitaker noted that “the church’s true identity and mission are not
derived from the shape of the culture but from the shape of the revealed gospel.”
Participants received one continuing education unit for attending. A
photo gallery from the event is available here.
By moving the seminar
from the week of Spring Break to the week after, we were able to showcase the
vibrant campus life at Virginia Wesleyan to our participants. I want to
especially thank students from Marlin Ministries for their help with worship
and prayer throughout the two days, along with Chaplain Greg West. It was
wonderful to show leaders of the Methodist Church that the spiritual life that
is so ingrained in the College’s heritage is still very much alive on campus
today.
We are excited to
welcome Dr. Ben Witherington, a prominent New Testament scholar and author, to
campus next spring for the 2017 Boyd Institute continuing education for clergy.
We will work to grow the Institute in capacity and opportunity as we move
forward.
I wish to thank Kelly
Roenker, Assistant to the Vice President for Advancement & Coordinator of
the Robert F. Boyd Institute, and Chaplain Greg West, for their leadership of
this program.
