(Photo courtesy of Urbana 15 via Facebook)
U-S (MNN) — The 2015 Urbana Conference is underway as of Sunday, December 27 in St. Louis, Missouri. And it’s tackling a lot of hard to answer questions with speakers from various backgrounds.
To answer these questions, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has brought in over 180 different speakers from all over the world.
(Photo courtesy of Urbana 15 via Facebook)
Traditionally Urbana focuses on four main points:
- Know God’s will for your life
- Get firsthand info about the world
- Connect more deeply with God
- Join others on the journey
But this year, a little something different has been added. Tom Lin with InterVarsity says, “We want to highlight the persecuted church in a way that we haven’t in recent Urbanas.”
Why? Because the event is about more than just a journey with God. It’s also about impacting the world and caring for the hurting.
To do this, Urbana attendees will be hearing from speakers like Michelle Higgins, Peter Omo-Erigbe, and Paul Forester.
Higgins is a Christian actively engaged in the #BlackLivesMatter movement and others alike. Omo-Erigbe is from Nigeria and will speak on serving in the African context. Forester, on the other hand, has been working to reach the Muslim world. And he wants to help others do the same.
In today’s world, when social issues are broadcasted internationally, these topics are important–especially with the increase of Christian persecution by terror groups like ISIS.
But where there is great persecution, there is usually great growth in the church.
“Islam has often been a focus at Urbana. It’s also an important issue…today as well. And so we a have a lot of speakers speaking from the Muslim world…[about] the injustice in the world–both racial injustice that we’re seeing in the world and other forms of injustice globally,” explains Lin.
(Photo courtesy of Urbana 15 via Facebook)
For those unable to make it to this year’s Urbana Conference, there are still ways to be involved. Urbana is offering streaming services for the evening seminars.
To stream, click here.
To learn more about Urbana, click here.
