It is based around my book, co-authored with Jamie Yohanis, Considering Grace: Presbyterians and the Troubles.
The main speakers are Canon David Porter, Chief of Staff to the Archbishop of Canterbury and former director of Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland; and Very Rev Dr Stafford Carson, Principal of Union Theological College. A panel discussion will include Dr Nicola Brady, General Secretary of the Irish Council of Churches, Jamie Yohanis, and me.
You can still register here.
Rev Tony Davidson, minister in First Armagh and convenor of the task group that oversaw the project, recently reflected on how conversations sparked by the book were just beginning to gain momentum when churches were shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. He wrote:
The publicity surrounding regional launches had helped stimulate conversation among Presbyterians about how we responded to the Troubles. The conversation was flowing beyond the walls of the Presbyterian Church into the community. The book received good reviews and was helpful in reaching out to others who had suffered. We planned to give each member of the Northern Ireland Assembly a copy of the book and follow it up with conversation over coffee.
Indeed, this conference was originally to be held in March 2020, and used to launch study resources based on the book, for use in congregations, small groups, and among trainee ministers. As Davidson continued:
… Since March we have been learning how to conduct conversations virtually. So on Thursday 3 December, we plan to revisit Considering Grace: Unpacking the Impact through an online conference. We hope that the conference will help us to focus within the church not only on how we can promote reconciliation, while listening carefully to those who were most hurt through the Troubles, but also how we might train students, who will be ministering in congregations, which still bear the marks of pain and loss from that time.
As we resume the conversation, we do so in the context of the forthcoming commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the state of Northern Ireland in 2021; changes brought about by Brexit on 1 January 2021; and unresolved issues around legacy. The past retains the power to poison present relationships.
… I encourage you to come and join the interrupted conversation, now a little older and wiser than we were in March.