Forma Conference 2017

The 2017 Forma Conference took place in Orange County, CA from January 25 - 27. Use the links to the right to view the full schedule, featured speakers, workshop descriptions and more!

We took part in a pre-conference day on January 25th “Planning for Wellness” with Church Pension Group. This day informed, engaged, and inspired us to improve our financial and physical health and well-being. Everyone needs a plan, and at the Church Pension Group’s Planning for Wellness conference we gained both the confidence to take charge of our finances and the inspiration to lead a healthier life. Topics included: goal setting and planning, managing your current finances, strategies for improving your health, and understanding your CPG benefits.

The Forma Conference in 2017 also offered a wide variety of workshops, from ministry basics to social justice and beyond. Resources, organizations, curricula and the like were present with opportunities to strengthen and enrich ministry. The conference was also a wonderful time for networking and building relationships with colleagues. We worshiped together, we learned together, we grew together.

Below are the video from the 2017 Annual Conference:

Featured Speakers

Our keynote speaker in 2017 was Nadia Bolz-Weber, the author of two New York Times bestselling memoirs: Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint (2013) and Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People (2015). She is an ordained Lutheran pastor (ELCA) and still works as the founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, Colorado. “Nadia Bolz-Weber has probably done more than any other pastor in recent times to poke therapeutic fun at the misdemeanors and flaws of overly-churched Christianity and Christians. The passion behind her words, however, is as deeply pastoral as it is God-drenched and liberating….thus the affection as well as the respect that attend her and her work wherever she goes.” -Phyllis Tickle author of “The Great Emergence”

We also heard from Nancy Frausto, Eric Law and Andrea McKellar. Nancy is the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles’ first Latina leader to have grown up in a Spanish speaking congregation who has gone on to pursue ordination. Her experience and passion for the ministry of ’scrappy churches’ (her affectionate term for struggling congregations) has led her to serve two thriving multicultural multilingual multigenerational congregations. Eric is the founder and executive director of The Kaleidoscope Institute, which provides resources to equip church leaders to create sustainable churches and communities. Andrea is the Ministry Developer for The Episcopal Church in South Carolina.

Workshops

Workshops at the Forma Conference cover a wide variety of topics, engaging participants and encouraging interaction and input. Attendees come away with practical tips and methods for addressing the challenges we all face in our efforts to improve our formation offerings.

This year, topics range from a discussion of sexuality to supporting at-home formation efforts, from digital outreach to caring for the homeless, from special needs ministry to the maker movement, from asset-based community development to Vacation Bible School.

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