Re-Discovering Christianity’s Surprise: Webinar
Date: Friday, June 26 at 7pm PT
Venue: Online via Zoom
Re-Discovering Christianity’s Surprise: Cultivating Social Innovation at the Heart of the Gospel
Friday, June 27 at 7pm (free)
Join keynote speaker The Rev. Dr. L. Gregory Jones for an engaging exploration of how Christian witness becomes most compelling when it is rooted in social innovation. This free webinar examines the practices, convictions, and relationships that allowed early Christian communities to surprise the ancient world and carry the Gospel far beyond expected boundaries.
Jones will reflect on what made this witness so vibrant and transformative in its original context, and how those same patterns can help renew Christian life and ministry in the 21st century. Drawing connections between ancient insights and contemporary challenges, he invites listeners to consider how Christian communities today might recover a vision of faithful, creative, and socially engaged witness.
A rich and thought-provoking evening for those curious about how faith can shape communities with resilience and purpose.
The Rev. Dr. L. Gregory Jones is a theologian whose work centers on the nature of forgiveness, the significance of Christian ministry and pastoral leadership, and social innovation and entrepreneurship. He has served as Duke’s chief international strategist to advance and coordinate the university’s global engagement. Between 1997 and 2010, and then between 2018 and 2021, Dr. Jones served as the dean of the Divinity School.
The author or editor of seventeen books, he has also published more than 200 articles and essays. A recent book is Christian Social Innovation: Renewing Wesleyan Witness (Abingdon Press, May 2016). He coauthored the book Forgiving As We’ve Been Forgiven with Celestin Musekura and another book with Kevin R. Armstrong, Resurrecting Excellence: Shaping Faithful Christian Ministry.
Gilbert Peter Kaye, a dedicated philanthropist and former Chancellor of VST, established the G. Peter and Barbara E. Kaye Fund with the Vancouver Foundation. Since 1987 Peter Kaye’s generosity has allowed VST to host the annual G. Peter Kaye Lectures, bringing distinguished scholars to Vancouver whose insights deepen the spiritual life of the school, church, and wider community.