LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAITHFUL: CONFRONTING CLASSISM IN MISSION
2019 W. Don McClure Lectures in World Mission and Evangelism
SPEAKER
Al Tizon, Executive Minister, Serve Globally, and Affiliate Associate Professor of Missional and Global Leadership, North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, Ill.
OVERVIEW
The Rev. Dr. Tizon will be helping us to think about reconciliation as the primary paradigm of the missio dei – especially needed at this time when civil discourse is a limited resource. He argues that theology needs mission practice as much as mission practice needs theology, and his teaching intends to form scholar-practitioners who are equipped to bear witness to the gospel holistically, contextually, relevantly, and faithfully.
SCHEDULE
Oct.1, 2019
4:00 p.m. Lecture, Knox Room, Long Hall, PTS
“Lifestyles of the Rich and Faithful: Confronting Classism in Mission”
In light of the rich-poor gap that defines the reality of our world, how can we align our lifestyles and mission practices with God’s special concern for the poor? Based on an image of Christ among the classes, this presentation proposes ways toward economic Christlikeness in our lives, churches, and organizations.
5:15 p.m. Reception, Long Hall, PTS.
All are welcome to attend; advance registration not required.
Oct. 2, 2019
11:30 a.m. Chapel, Hicks Chapel Sanctuary, PTS
All sessions are free and open to the public. Contact the Seminary’s Office of Continuing Education at ConEd@pts.edu or 412-924-1345 for more information.
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SPEAKER BIO
Al Tizon is executive minister of Serve Globally, the international ministries arm of the Evangelical Covenant Church. As executive minister, he oversees the 125 missionaries and six ministries, serving in more than 50 countries. This position includes a faculty appointment as affiliate associate professor of missional and global leadership at North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago, Ill. â
Tizon has engaged in community development, church leadership, advocacy, and urban ministry in the United States and in the Philippines. He previously served as community development missionary with Action International Ministries (1989-1998, Philippines), lead pastor at Berkeley Covenant Church (2001-2006, Berkeley Calif.), holistic ministry director and then president of Evangelicals for Social Action, and associate professor of holistic ministry at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University (2006-2015, Philadelphia). He is the author or editor of six books, including Whole & Reconciled: Gospel, Church, and Mission in a Fractured World (Baker Academic, 2018).
Dr. Tizon received his bachelor's in religious studies and his master's in church leadership studies from Vanguard University of Southern California (Costa Mesa, Calif.). He received his Ph.D. in missiology from the Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley, Calif). Ordained in 1989, Tizon began serving the Evangelical Covenant Church in 2008.
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO HEAR DR. TIZON DURING HIS VISIT
Sept. 30, 2019 “Reconciliation: The New Whole in Holistic Mission - A Pastor’s Workshop,” Old Stone Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, Ohio (sponsored by Presbytery of Western Reserve). Details available at https://www.preswesres.org/reconciliation.
Holistic mission has been historically defined as the integration of evangelism and justice ministries. It is time to build on this important integration with an understanding of reconciliation as mission. What does it mean to participate with God in healing the deep divisions and bloody conflicts between peoples, tribes, and nations?
Oct. 1, 2019, 10:00 a.m. Keynote presentation at “Making a Space for Rest,” a pastor's retreat from Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at Crestfield Camp and Conference Center, Slippery Rock, Pa. Registration (If you do not have an account with Crestfield, you will need to create an account in order to register). Further details are available by e-mail ( or phone (724-794-4022).
ABOUT THE W. DON MCCLURE LECTURES
These lectures honor the Rev. Dr. W. Don McClure, a 1934 graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, who served as a missionary in Africa for nearly 50 years. McClure’s years in Africa spanned dugout canoes to jet boats, in an arc through Sudan and Ethiopia equal to the distance between Pittsburgh and Dallas. After retirement he continued as a volunteer at Gode, Ethiopia, until guerrillas killed him on March 27, 1977. Don McClure's life story is told in Adventure in Africa: From Khartoum to Addis Ababa in Five Decades (1990; now available in Kindle format) written by Charles B. Partee, P.C. Rossin Professor Emeritus of Church History at the Seminary.