Conference Mania

March is just about over and this weekend March Madness will come to a close with the Final Four part of the NCAA basketball tournament. April is just around the corner and with it a new kind of mania known as Conference Mania (sorry I could not think of a word that starts with "c") is about to begin. From across Canada and the United States the faithful (men) will gather for a few days of indoctrination and fellowship. This is not a new phenomena. Not so many years ago the evangelical world was abuzz with "Promise Keepers" and anybody who wanted to be somebody made the pilgrimage to the nearest conference. Promise Keepers has gone the way of the dodo but in its place there are a new array of options that are presently all the rage.

Now, of course, there is nothing wrong with conferences, in fact, such things are necessary for a variety of reasons. But these new assemblies are more than just conferences, they are happenings that define for the participants who they are and who they belong to. As I have written before we are living in a time when traditional denominational lines are being downplayed and in their place new alliances and allegiances are being formed. To some degree, this reorientation of a part of the evangelical world is doctrinal and reflects a concern to "correctly handle the word of truth." However, there is also a large personality-driven component that some of us find worrisome. And it is hard to miss the evangelical entrepreneurial component and the concern to make sure everyone is branded with the right bibles and is supporting the right authors and publishers.

As a theological educator the timing of some of these events is most curious. The academic year is drawing to a close and students have research papers to complete and exams to write. In most instances what they are doing in class is far more significant than anything they will hear at a conference, but alas, students being students and not wanting to miss out on the festivities will skip classes in significant numbers to hear speakers who have already written all that they are ever going to say in their books that can be read at any time. It is hard to resist the conclusion that the timing of these events speaks volumes about the attitude of the organizers about the value of what the rest of us are doing compared to the value of what they are doing. Time will tell who is right.

When I think about it I suspect that Conference Mania is more about meeting other needs than it is to hear some brilliant, earth-shattering revelation or articulation of the truth. It is about feeling significant and important in the world. It is about belonging to a group and hence finding meaning. It speaks to the longing to succeed just like the men on stage have apparently succeeded. It is about the search for leadership and answers even by those who are in leadership positions. It is about the need to have one's ecclesiastical ideas re-affirmed and reinforced when at least some of them need to be subjected to more serious scrutiny. Yes, Conference Mania is upon us, and those of us who cannot participate because we are working can only keep on working and wondering if when all is said and done if it will live up to the hype. Once again, time will tell. But I cannot help but what wonder if this is what the apostles had in mind when they thought about the work of the gospel, a work that desperately needs to be done in our day.