Nearly 800 people attend “timely and urgent” forum on financial and environmental stewardship

The struggling economy did not prevent 772 people from participating in the 2009 Annual Theological Forum held by the Asian Theological Seminary (ATS), Philippines, recently. The theme was “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it: Reflections on stewardship in the Asian context,” focusing on environmental and financial/resource stewardship, governance/management, global economics and lifestyle. ATS asks, “As the world now faces a global, financial crisis and destruction of the earth due to irresponsible human activities,…what can the Church do to help avert the destruction of the earth? How can we better manage our organizations and financial resources? How should we live as better stewards of God?”

Many participants said the topic was timely and urgent. A pastor and ATS student said, “It’s my first time to have attended such an affair, and I was blessed exceedingly. I got fired up with a burning passion to do something for the preservation of the environment.” An editor of a Christian publishing company said, “Our Editorial Department…attended both days expecting to learn much from the plenary and breakout sessions. We were not disappointed. In fact, we deepened our resolve to do our part as a publisher in educating the evangelical community about caring for God’s creation.”

This year’s forum was extra special for ATS because the event marked the beginning of ATS’ 40^th anniversary celebration.

To see more pictures from the event, click here. 

About the Forum - In the past several years, over 2,000 Christian workers, pastors and lay leaders from the Philippines and other parts of Asia have engaged in discussions on crucial topics and global theological issues through the annual forum that affect all Christians in the Philippines and the greater Southeast Asian context. In addition, the reach of the forum is extended by having selected essays from past forums published in book form in partnership with OMF Literature, Inc.

OC helped launch these annual ATS forums five years ago. The school is “grateful for [OC’s] support as we now are able to continue with the support of so many local groups. Praise God.”

Previous themes include:

• “The Church and Poverty in Asia” (2008)
• “Principalities and Powers: Biblical Reflections in the Asian Context” (2007)
• “Naming the Unknown God: Christians and People of Other Faiths in Dialogue” (2006)
• “Doing Theology in the Philippine Context” (2005)