The Kind of Churches We Need in the South

The building that housed St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia, was built in 1869. All that's left of the building today is the steeple, which sits neglected in a condominium parking lot. I see the steeple every Sunday morning on my drive into downtown Athens where our church gathers for worship. I don't know the history of the church—I do know that R.E.M played its first gig in that building in 1980. But I have taken that weekly reminder as an opportunity to pray for a movement of God in our city and beyond that reverberates 150 years from now.

That's why I'm so excited about Engage the South, a conversation for church leaders across the American South. Hosted by Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, we'll meet on Tuesday, September 24. This is a collaborative effort of the Acts 29 Network, Beeson Divinity School, and The Gospel Coalition to inspire and encourage leaders to develop churches faithful to the message and mission of God in our particular context.

The question bringing hundreds together is this: what kind of churches do we need in the American South? Engage the South seeks to answer that question as we discuss.... Read more