Concordia Theological Seminary will host “In the Image of God: The Christian Vision for Love and Marriage” Sept. 18-20 on its campus in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The conference is open to anyone interested in the Christian view of love and marriage, including pastors, laypeople, seminarians, deaconesses, college students, married couples, singles, and counselors. It is co-sponsored by the seminary, its Cranach Institute, and LCMS World Relief/Human Care.
The conference is designed to explore today’s declining sexual ethics and the need for Christians to “address these issues and equip people to deal with them,” according to a news release.
Experts and conference participants will work together to answer questions such as:
- How can the Christian sexual ethic be recovered?
- How can we apply, in practical terms, the Word of God to build strong, fulfilling marriages according to God’s design?
- How can the church move beyond denouncing sin to apply the Gospel of Christ to these issues?
Speakers and their topics include:
- Lauren Winner of Durham, N.C., and author of Real Sex, “Allowing Sex to be Ordinary.”
- Christopher West of the Pope John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, Washington, D.C., and author of Theology of the Body, “Theology of the Body: A Refreshing Biblical Approach to Sexual Morality.”
- Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality with Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, Colo., “We’ve Come Undone: Human Division and Sexual Disintegration.”
- Dr. Beverly Yahnke, clinical director of Christian Counseling Services in Wauwatosa, Wis., “When God’s Good Gifts are Defiled: The Sinner and the Sinned Against.”
- Dr. William Weinrich, professor of historical theology at the seminary, “Man and Woman: Spiritual Dimensions of a Fleshy Distinction.”
The conference also will offer workshops on a number of topics, including:
- How to deal pastorally with divorce, living together, homosexuality, pornography, and other sexual sins.
- How to build strong marriages.
- Cultivating chastity.
- Sexual ethics and teenagers.
- The vocation of being single.
- Courtship, marriage, and parenthood.
- Pre-marital counseling.
- Overcoming conflict in marriage.
- The body and image of God.
- Marriage, Christ, and the Church.
Registration is $150 per person or $225 for married couples; $75 for pastors emeriti, vicarage supervisors, and fieldwork supervisors; and $25 for seminary students. Meals and lodging are extra. Registration deadline is Sept. 1.
For more information and online registration, visit the Web site www.cranach.org (click on “Image of God” in the left-hand column).
Posted Aug. 11, 2006
