Summer Conference

Last weekend we were in Corning, NY for the conference that I described in my posting of June 11 (see below). The drive was long but we avoided most of the traffic jams. We stayed at a Days Inn in Corning and traveled a few miles to a local firehouse where the conference was held in a community room. For our early morning walks we were able to walk along a nice canal that runs through the city and through a redone section of the old downtown.

At the conference, there were folks from Pennsylvania and various parts of New York. We were the only ones from Connecticut or New England. The teaching and the fellowship were very good. Two of the ladies there, from Rochester, had been in our home several years ago for lunch. They had come to Connecticut for the house church conference that we and another family had organized and hosted. That was in 2001.

Saturday night most of us (about 25-40 adults) went to an Italian restaurant for supper. My son (15) was the only teen for most of the weekend, but everyone made him feel welcome.

Some of the folks there had stopped attending any church on a regular basis- some were discouraged about the superficial nature of some fellowships and some described having been hurt or abused in some way. Many were house-churchers who feel that that sort of "non-institutional" setup does a better job of forming Christian relationships and avoiding the pitfalls of "Churchianity."

It was an interesting group of folks who have done a lot of thinking about their faith life and a fun time. The teaching was well-thought-out and in-depth, emphasizing both Scripture and church history. Jon Zens was our teacher.