Urbana is five days of inspiring speakers and extraordinary stories. It’s 20,000 missions-minded brothers and sisters learning and talking and worshiping together. It’s full of opportunities to discern vocations with thoughtful mentors. And this year, it’s about creation care.
The 2009 Urbana Conference, the missions conference for North American students hosted by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship of Canada, will take place in St. Louis, Missouri from December 27-31. In partnership with Care of Creation, Urbana’s brand new Environmental Stewardship seminar category will highlight the wisdom of Flourish’s friends at Care of Creation, Eden Vigil, and Renewal, among others, as they weave together the missional priorities of Urbana’s focus and the growing importance of creation stewardship to those priorities.
Folks getting ready to attend Urbana ‘09 can look forward to hearing from Care of Creation executive director Ed Brown about Care of Creation’s mission work in Kenya, and about the centrality of the gospel of redemption in a life of wise stewardship. Lowell Bliss, from Eden Vigil, will discuss his experience as a missionary in India, where environmental degradation is a real-life tragedy for thousands of people. And Ben Lowe of Renewal will help college-age attendees prioritize creation care on their home campuses. And this year’s Thursday night plenary talk will be given by Margaret-Denise Thompson on the environment as a critical issue in the world today.
” ‘Environmental missions,’” explains Ed Brown in an Urbana website blog post, “is, quite simply, an effort to connect the problem of the environmental crisis with the solution of God’s redemption. Further, it is an opportunity for people in the church who love God’s creation to connect that love with love for God and love for people.”
So if you’re planning to attend Urbana ‘09 or know someone who is, make sure this unprecedented–and vital, in every sense of the word–offering is on the schedule!
Related Links at Flourish
“Hope of Africa” Risks Drying Up by Fredric Gluck from Care of Creation
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