Act Like Men?

Broadening the Conversation on Women, Men, and the Church

This Fall, in downtown Hamilton, a group of male pastors from America is running a conference called “Act Like Men”. The conference is part of a far greater movement that believes it is crucially important for men to “step up” as the leaders in their church and home. While we all acknowledge the need for men to be mature and Christ-like, but this focus on “male leadership” can be incredibly damaging to BOTH men and women, and of course, to the Body of Christ itself.

We suggest that the Christian life is less about leading and more about how we serve one another.

As a preemptive tool we are hosting another conference, one week before “Act Like Men”, trying to share a broader story of what God is doing in his church, which is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile, male nor female; but it is the new creation.

This ongoing conversation about gender and the church will welcome new voices as we fill in the gaps, offering an alternative to the dominant narrative within the evangelical church.

In the end, hopefully we learn more about how to serve like Jesus.

The style for the conference is unique: over the course of three hours each speaker will be given 15 minutes for a short presentation on a theme relating to gender and the church. Also, there will probably be a few surprises along the way!

Finally, there will be a number of “follow up” conversation on Saturday morning for those who are interested. Details will be released closer to the date of the conference, but feel free to keep your Saturday AM open for conversations at Hamilton’s best coffee shops!

Featuring guest speakers:

• Wendy Gritter
• David Finch
• Joanna Manning
• Rob Walker
• Dorcas Gordon
• Cynthia Westfall
• Karen Lowe
• Dallas Friesen