Church Leaders to Gather at Fuller Seminary for Forum on Rethinking the Role of Churches in Today’s World

Fuller Seminary announced Wednesday it will host a two-day President’s Forum on May 25-26 at its campus in Pasadena that will gather church leaders from across the country to discuss how to rethink the church’s role in today’s world.

The forum is the culmination of a year-long collaborative effort led by President Emeritus Mark Labberton, the President’s Forum Project, an initiative led by Fuller Seminary to engage with important issues facing the church in the United States and internationally.

Fuller Seminary serves as a convening space, providing a platform to catalyze the creativity and imagination of Christians for the benefit of the church.

A seminary statement said the Forum will focus on five ‘distinctives’ that characterize Fuller Seminary: Christ-Centered Faith, Holistic Formation, Biblical Justice and Biblical Evangelism, Transformative Community, and Catalytic Ministry.

The distinctives were designed to address contextual challenges such as secularism, fragmented discipleship, power abuses, cultural assimilation, and destructive societal forces. The goal was to equip leaders and communities to embody the transformative power of the gospel and serve the church and society with integrity, intelligence, and compassion.

Among other outcomes, the President’s Forum was conceived as a means to provide ongoing service and support to Fuller’s alumni. To ensure accessibility, funding was secured to enable alumni to be invited to the conference at no cost, with the option for congregations to send teams of up to four individuals with their expenses covered. Hugh De Pree Professor of Leadership Development Scott Cormode is convening the Forum.

To actively engage participating congregations, each applicant committed to undertake a project centered around one of the five distinctives. The conference will allocate dedicated time for each team to reflect on their distinctive, share insights, and develop a comprehensive plan to implement their project.

Speakers include President David Emmanuel Goatley, President Emeritus Mark Labberton, Professor of Leadership Development Scott Cormode, Dean for Centro Latino Alexia Salvatierra, Professor of Evangelism Soong-Chan Rah, Associate Professor of Psychology David Wang, and Fuller Youth Institute Executive Director Kara Powell.

The commitments made by the congregations during the conference will not be left unattended. Fuller Seminary is dedicated to providing ongoing support for congregations as they execute their projects, ensuring the transformational impact of the President’s Forum is sustained.

The President’s Forum and its focus on rethinking the church’s role in today’s world are part of Fuller Seminary’s multi-pronged approach to shaping the future of the church. Through their commitment to Christ-Centered Faith, Holistic Formation, Biblical Justice and Biblical Evangelism, Transformative Community, and Catalytic Ministry, Fuller Seminary aims to equip courageous leaders and Christian communities to embody the transformative power of the gospel in their local contexts.

Fuller Seminary is a leading evangelical institution dedicated to equipping Christian leaders to serve the church and society with integrity, intelligence, and compassion.

Fuller Theological Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary founded in Pasadena in 1947 by Charles E. Fuller, a radio evangelist. It has been situated on its campus near City Hall for seven decades.

The seminary offers a range of degree programs and initiatives designed to foster theological reflection, cultural engagement, and spiritual formation.