WESLEY CENTER CONFERENCE 2024
February 15, 2024 @ 8:00 am - February 16, 2024 @ 5:00 pm
Join us for Wesley Center Conference 2024 on February 15 – 16, 2024, as we welcome Dr. Andrew Root. This two-day event will focus on the Ministry of Availability: Leadership in Our Ever-Changing World. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in workshops, roundtable discussions and Q&A panel discussions with Dr. Root and ministry leaders from a variety of ministry contexts.
Dr. Andrew Root, Ph.D. (Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary.
He is most recently the author of four volume Ministry in a Secular Age series (Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Congregation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age and Faith Formation in a Secular Age) and The End of Youth Ministry?. He has also authored Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (Fortress, 2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker, 2014).
Root puts together theology and storytelling to explore how ministry leads us into encounters with divine action. His book The Relational Pastor (IVP, 2013) as well as a four book series with Zondervan called A Theological Journey Through Youth Ministry (Taking Theology to Youth Ministry, Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Unpacking Scripture in Youth Ministry and Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry) break new ground in this direction. In 2012, his book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry (with Kenda Creasy Dean, IVP, 2011) was Christianity Today’s Book of Merit.
He has written a number of other books on ministry and theology such as The Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being (Baker Academic, 2010), The Promise of Despair (Abingdon, 2010), Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (IVP, 2007) and Relationships Unfiltered (Zondervan/YS, 2009).
Andy has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries and social service programs. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Kara, two children, Owen and Maisy, and their dog. When not reading, writing or teaching, Andy spends far too much time watching TV and movies.
Registration Pricing:
| Early Bird (10/1/23 – 11/15/23) | Regular (11/16/23 – 1/15/24) | Late (1/16/24 – 2/15/24) | |
| Individual | $79.00 | $89.00 | $99.00 |
| Group (3 or more) | $69.00 | $79.00 | $89.00 |
| NNU Employee/Student | $39.00 | $39.00 | $49.00 |
| Online | $49.00 | $49.00 | $49.00 |
Registration includes access to all plenary and workshop sessions, refreshments and beverages and a ticket to the Banquet dinner on Thursday evening, February 15. Online Registration will include online access to all plenary sessions and exclusive interactive online workshop content.
The NNU Wesley Center invites ministry leaders to submit MasterClass workshop proposals aligned to our 2024 conference theme of personal presence in ministry today. MasterClass workshops are limited to 60 minutes each and should be created in ways that make presentation materials accessible for all participants (e.g., workshop content available in print form for deaf participants). Based on past experience, we also recommend that presenters reserve a minimum of 15 minutes for discussion. Academic proposals are welcome, as well as best practice presentations from ministry settings. All proposals are due by December 1, 2023. Decisions for MasterClass sessions will be made by December 15, 2023.
Schedule
February 15, Thursday
8:30 a.m.
Registration
9:00 a.m.
Welcome & Worship
10:00 a.m.
Root 1st Plenary
11:00 a.m.
Panel and Q&A with Root
12:00 p.m.
Lunch
2:00 p.m.
Workshop #1
3:00 p.m.
Break
3:30 p.m.
Workshop #2
4:30 p.m.
Break
6:00 p.m.
Banquet
7:00 p.m.
Root Plenary
February 16, Friday
9:00 a.m
Worship
10:00 a.m.
Chapel Root
11:00 a.m.
Root Panel in Brandt Q&A
12:00 p.m.
Lunch
2:00 p.m.
Workshop #3
3:30 p.m.
Closing Worship
