Registration for the 2024 Rural Ministry Conference is due Thursday, Feb. 15. The conference is set for March 3-5 at the Best Western Hotel and Conference Center in Dubuque with a theme focusing on congregations responding to climate change.
People are invited to gather and learn how they are called to be co-stewards with God of God’s creation. Hosted by Wartburg Theological Seminary, this ecumenical event includes speakers, workshops, Bible study, worship and opportunities to network with others who are active in and concerned about rural ministry.
The conference will look at ways that congregations —rural or urban, small or large—are impacted by the challenges of climate change and how they are called by God’s word to respond. Presentations and workshops will engage participants in theological reflection and ways to faithfully move forward on behalf of creation.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
The featured keynote speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker, professor and Elva B. Lovell Chair of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, St. Paul. She has researched and written extensively on creation theology and is author of the book, Out of the Whirlwind: Creation Theology in the Book of Job.
Tuesday’s keynote speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Mark Yackel-Juleen, director of the Center for Theology and Land and Director for Small Town and Rural Ministry at Wartburg Seminary. He has been engaged in creation care ministry for more than 30 years and is author of the book Everyone Must Eat: Food, Sustainability, and Ministry. The Rev. Dr. Martin J. Lohrmann, associate professor of Lutheran Confessions and Heritage at Wartburg Seminary, will lead the Bible study.
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The Creation Groans,
the Creation Waits,
the Creation Hopes,
the Creation Sings:
Congregations Responding
to Climate Change
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Rev. Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecke
REGISTER BY FEB. 15
To learn more and to register, visit www.wartburgseminary.edu/rural-conference.