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General Information



Registration

Just Gospel 2020 offers both individual rates and group rates for 5 or more in your party. Just click register and follow the steps at EventBrite.

Donate

In previous years, generous individuals have asked if they could scholarship someone hoping to attend but unable to afford it or if they can contribute directly to The Front Porch and Just Gospel. If you would like to support our mission of brokering “conversations about biblical faithfulness in African-American churches and beyond,” you can also donate via our EventBrite page.




Area Hotels

Embassy Suites by Alexandria Old Town (1.8 miles)
1900 Diagonal Road
Alexandria, VA
703-684-5900

Hilton Garden Inn Alington-Shirlington (2.2 miles)
4271 Campbell Ave
Arlington, VA
703-820-0440

Holiday Inn Alexandria – Carlyle (2.8 miles)
2460 Eisenhower Ave
Alexandria, VA
703-960-2000

Hampton Inn & Suites Old Town South (3.9 miles)
5821 Richmond Highway
Alexandria, VA
703-329-1400




Location

Join us in beautiful Alexandria, Virginia—minutes outside Washington, DC. We can’t think of a better setting for this year’s conference. Our host location for the conference is:

Del Ray Baptist Church
2405 Russell Road
Alexandria, VA 22301

Make a weekend of it! Join us for the conference, then spend the weekend touring and enjoying the sites and amenities of the nation’s Capitol!



About

No one saw the 2016 presidential election coming. No one predicted the effect the election would have on the country—and the Church. To some extent, our tribalism has been exposed and perhaps deepened. Unity has become more fragile.

In all likelihood, the Church will face the same stark choices and the same potential for misunderstanding, disunity and tribal politics. This time, however, we have an opportunity to approach politics and the election differently… like Christians… like the pilgrims and aliens we are in the world.

The goal of Just Gospel 2020 is NOT to engage in partisan debate or endorse any party’s platform. Nor is our goal to bind the consciences of attendees to a particular policy prescription the Bible does not require. We will not recommend or even comment on any candidate.

The Just Gospel 2020 conference goal is to help Christians think biblically and deeply about being Christians and taking our Christian identity and perspective into our political lives. We hope to aid each other in our discipleship. We are “strangers and exiles on the earth” who “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:13, 16). We hope to model how Christians who differ in secondary and political matters can nevertheless do so charitably and in a way that preserves both unity and freedom of conscience. We hope to make a difference—for the Church and the country.

We need and want healing conversations that serve the Church We need pilgrim politics that bear witness to Christ and Kingdom to which we are headed. Join us!

WHERE
Del Ray Baptist Church
2405 Russell Rd
Alexandria, VA 22301

WHEN
Thursday – Saturday
March 5 – 7, 2020


Speakers

Jon Ward

Jon Ward

Mark Vroegop

Mark Vroegop

Jenny Yang

Jenny Yang

Esau McCaulley

Esau McCaulley

Nicola A. Menzie

Nicola A. Menzie


Duke Kwon

Duke Kwon

Garrett Kell

Garrett Kell

Jonathan Leeman

Jonathan Leeman

Gracy Olmstead

Gracy Olmstead

Roland C. Warren

Roland C. Warren


David Platt

David Platt

Darryl Williamson

Darryl Williamson

Vincent Bacote

Vincent Bacote

Justin Giboney

Justin Giboney

Russell Moore

Russell Moore


Kelly M. Kapic

Kelly M. Kapic

Andy Naselli

Andy Naselli

Thabiti Anyabwile

Thabiti Anyabwile

Conference Schedule

  • Day 1

    Thursday, March 5, 2020

  • The gospel of Jesus Christ gives us a home beyond this world. Christians are travelers, sojourners, pilgrims making their way to an eternal city whose builder and maker is God. We cannot be too at home in this world and we dare not be too entangled with its affairs. We must live as those passing through.

  • The first session traces a biblical theology of the pilgrim identity. This session provides a practical/pastoral theology and vision for Christian disciple-making that includes the pilgrim/alien/sojourner themes. What teaching and practical approaches to spiritual formation help develop this aspect of Christian identity, with an eye toward ‘pilgrim ethics’?

  • Hebrews 11:16 reminds us that the great saints of faith looked to a better country, a heavenly one. Though they conquered kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, were mighty in way and put foreign armies to flight, yet the world was not worthy of them as the kept heaven in view. We discussed how an eternal perspective helps the pilgrim effectively live in temporary countries of residence.

  • Not Provided

  • This session focuses on the interplay of Christian identity and political activity. It answers the question: How do we bring our political activity under the Lordship of Christ on the way to the New Jerusalem? Which ideas about Christians engaging in politics might we need to adopt and which might we need to rethink?

  • Many pastors say, “We don’t do politics.” But there is a sense in which the church is inescapably political. We need a more comprehensive vision for the right and wrong ways we think about being “political” as Christian churches.

  • Day 2

    Friday, March 6, 2020

  • Many readers of the Bible fail to realize how deeply tribal identity and organization are woven into the biblical story. God’s old covenant people are the “twelve tribes of Israel” who encounter various other tribes along their sojourn. God’s new covenant people become a tribe of tribes, a people made from all peoples, transcending natural and ideological tribalism. What does it mean to deeply own our Christian identity without falling to identity politics and tribalism?

  • The Bible gives us many ways to speak to God. One way is lament. From the Psalms to the prophets to the Lord Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem, lament is a language used to express pain, sorrow, anger and ultimately hope in God. It’s a language many Christians have seldom used. But it holds great promise for helping the Lord’s diverse church understand one another and act together in more unified faith and hope.

  • In some ways, it seems we live in the most polarized time in the last generation or two. In other ways, our sense of polarization is overstated. No label comfortably fits over all the Bible calls us to be and do as Christians. This session addresses the polarization and categorizations Christians face in the public square.

  • In what ways should our corporate identity as the multi-ethnic people of God shape our political engagements and priorities? How should we apply Philippians 2:3-4 to our political engagement and concern? In what ways do political parties challenge the church’s corporate identity? What pitfalls, tensions and opportunities exist?

  • (By You)

  • What role does the Christian conscience play in matters of opinion the Bible does not definitively address? How do we maintain Christian unity when we do not have uniformity in gray areas?

  • Christians swim in a sea of podcasts, television and print news, blogs and hearsay. How do we think carefully about consuming media with discernment, prayerfulness, and Christian virtue?

  • In his book, Justice, Nicholas Wolterstorff coined the phrase “the quartet of the vulnerable.” The “quartet of the vulnerable” refers to the often-mentioned categories of widows, orphans, immigrants and the poor (Zech. 7:10). What does God’s word call Christians to do for people in these situations? Can we articulate a compelling biblical vision for Christian advocacy for multiple populations?

  • Immigration continues to be a major political issue over which Christians differ. But as pilgrims and sojourners ourselves, Christians should mine the Bible for workable postures and ideas in what otherwise can seem like an unworkable situation.

  • As hopefuls for the Democratic presidential nomination put focus on reparations for slavery and racial discrimination, the Church finds itself wrestling with the issue. What is the case for and against reparations? Are reparations biblical? If so, under what circumstances? How should it work and what role does the Church have? Answers to these questions vary. What we need are models of thinking that disciple the Church in resolving complex issues like reparations.

  • Day 3

    Saturday, March 7, 2020

  • With the proposal and passage of a number of state-level measures to curb abortion, the country and the Church has entered a fresh round of debates over abortion. The current debate highlights the needs and burdens some women would face should these measures pass, particularly measures that ban abortion under all circumstances. Does the Bible give us direction in both protecting the life of the unborn and alleviating burdens and distresses women may face?

  • Poverty is a sociological fact of life. At the same time, Christians have a biblical responsibility to care for those facing poverty. Whether we’re considering the local church’s ministries or Christian witness in the public square, there are helpful and harmful ways of expressing care. How do we bring the whole counsel of God to bear on this vital Christian responsibility and Christian political behavior?

  • Pastors stand at the helm of local discipleship and equipping efforts. Effective approaches to engaging the entire congregation as well as equipping individuals are needed. This session explores biblical strategies and one local church’s efforts at discipling the congregation to bear witness in the public square.

  • Every election season presents the church with certain challenges. The responsibility of pastors and Christians to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” continues no matter the election dynamics. This panel considers good and bad ways of shepherding our local churches through trying times.

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The last two conferences were life changing! Don’t miss out when we gather again on The Front Porch!