The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology and the Parish Collective are gearing up to host the annual Inhabit conference, April 15-16 in Seattle. Inhabit is a two-day conference designed to engage, encourage, and empower innovative, missional practitioners as they go about practicing the way of Jesus in place.
Church planters, practitioners, and leaders from around the world participate in Inhabit to hear stories and insights about what the inbreaking of the kingdom of God looks like in the particularities of neighborhoods. This is not a one-size-fits-all conference with easy formulas or quick steps to success. This is a chance to dream together as we wrestle with the changing realities of our world and the specific needs of our neighborhoods, rooted in the belief that communities of faith are most capable of joining the healing work of God when they are thoroughly embedded in the needs and stories of their local contexts.
“We’ll know we’ve built the institution of responsiveness, the individual awakening that needs to happen, when we start to see more of the randomness of the overflow of compassion—not institutionally driven compassion, but random, almost revival type of kingdom consciousness, people literally in all walks of life doing what they can with what they have,” said Romanita Hairston, VP of United States Programs for World Vision and a keynote presenter at this year’s conference, in a recent interview. “We need a tsunami of compassionate efforts to grow the organic essence of true community and compassion where people are found. I think the church is God’s hope for that kind of tidal wave of compassion and justice-oriented action.”
Inhabit includes large keynote gatherings, breakout sessions, smart labs, music, storytelling, and more. This year’s keynote speakers include Shane Claiborne, Romanita Hairston, and Gideon Tsang—with more special announcements coming soon. Together with all of the Inhabit presenters and participants, we will wrestle with the big questions that led to the formation of this conference: How does change happen? How can our day-to-day practices and our faithful presence contribute to healing and reconciliation? What are the particular needs and stories of our places? How do we participate in God’s ongoing recreation of the world?
These are big questions without easy answers, but we all have so much to offer and so much to learn from each other. While we don’t know what the future holds, we do know that we are better together. That’s why we hope to see you April 15-16 in Seattle. In the meantime, stay tuned to the Inhabit blog for special announcements, keynote interviews, compelling videos, and ongoing conversations about practice, presence, and place.