New Hope Presbytery Retreat for Pastors and Educators with Dr. Beverly Zink-Sawyer

“Looking Back to the Future: Wise Words for the 21st Century Church from the Voices of Proclaimers Past”

It is no surprise to those of us who are in ministry that the church is struggling under the weight of challenging cultural shifts and forces. The church we have known and loved, the church many of us were raised in and covenanted to serve, is changing in many ways. In the midst of our despair and confusion, we often forget that the church has faced similar challenges throughout its 2000-year history and yet prevailed, by the grace of God!

By looking back to the words and work of preachers and church leaders of the past who encountered significant crises in the American church, we can find hope for the challenges we face. In our time together, we will learn about and from voices of the past as we seek to discern how to respond to present issues and work with the help of God to insure a future for the church.

Dr. Beverly Zink-Sawyer is Professor Emerita and Adjunct Professor of Preaching and Worship at Union Presbyterian Seminary where she served on the faculty for twenty-one years. An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), she served churches in Pennsylvania and Tennessee for fifteen years. She is a graduate of Dickinson College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Vanderbilt University. During the 2000-2001 academic year, she was a Lilly Faculty Fellow of the Association of Theological Schools. She is the editor of Series 3 of the Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual (Abingdon Press), the author of From Preachers to Suffragists: Woman’s Rights and Religious Conviction in the Lives of Three Nineteenth-Century American Clergywomen (Westminster John Knox Press), and one of the authors of the 2008 New Proclamation Commentary (Fortress Press). Her more than 60 other publications include essays, book reviews, and articles, many of which focus on the role of preaching in shaping American culture and on the history of women in the American church. Beyond academic work, she enjoys reading, the arts in all forms, traveling, making and listening to music, and practicing Tai Chi with her husband, Dr. Stephen Sawyer.

Through the support of the White Fund for Continuing Education, established by Karl Hudson, the registration fee to attend the event is being held to only $50. The fund supports the continuing education of pastors and educators in the Presbytery of New Hope who pursue continuing education opportunities with Union Presbyterian Seminary.