A weekend encounter between your faith, evolution and ecology. A mix of experiential and theoretical encounters for those who are open to the story of the evolution of life on Earth, and wonder about what it means for their place in the world, and perhaps their image of God. 

All people of good will are welcome. You do not need to accept the ancient, evolutionary origins of life on Earth, but it will be the presupposition of the weekend, and their will not be any time to debate the relative merits of the evolution account versus other accounts of our origins. The implications of the evolution account for those stories certainly will be considered.

Learning and experiencing the evolution story

Evolution talk: brief introduction to interesting aspects of our evolutionary story.
Evolution walk: this will be either a 200m or 1km round trip depending on people's mobility.
Guided contemplation of highlights of human (ie your) evolution, and our current ecology.

Bringing in God Spirit Faith

Reading God Evolution Jesus and So on (an online book for kids.)

The "image of God" through poems and a powerpoint talk.(proposing a "new" metaphor for God)

Rethinking human dominion/stewardship/priesthood/co-creation etc (proposing a "new" metaphor for humans)

Revisiting the idea of the Fall & Original Sin in the light of the story of evolution, through poetry and powerpoint

Ecological Peace (see here for a version close to what I used)- what is it? What is our purpose in life?

“Seven Core Concepts of Evolutionary Christianity" (excerpt from Michael Dowd DVD)

Some practical applications

How might the ideas and discussion so far shape how we live from here on?

sex and relationships

the Global Footprint Concept

Closing worship

"A realistically hopeful vision of the next 250 years." (excerpt from Michael Dowd DVD)