Spring Lecture Series
Online Weekly Lectures: May 2 - 22, 2024
Online Weekly Lectures: May 2 - 22, 2024
Join us this May as we continue to explore Community of Christ's fascinating history. This spring we will launch a new series of storytellers called "Your Story is Church History" and welcome Everett Graffeo, former apostle and presiding evangelist, as the first storyteller in the series. The remaining three lectures in the Spring Lecture Series will explore the evolving history of communion in the RLDS Church, Frederick M. Smith's views on the social gospel movement, and the story behind the first woman baptized in French Polynesia. This spring's lecture series will leave any church history enthusiast wanting to learn more!
Preserving the Historic Sites, One Lecture at a Time
Although the online lectures are free and open to the public, donations received from the lecture series go to support the development and expansion of new educational resources. Please consider contributing a $10 donation per lecture. Click "Donate" at the top of the page to learn more about how you can help support Community of Christ historic sites. Thank you for helping preserve Community of Christ history!
Although the online lectures are free and open to the public, donations received from the lecture series go to support the development and expansion of new educational resources. Please consider contributing a $10 donation per lecture. Click "Donate" at the top of the page to learn more about how you can help support Community of Christ historic sites. Thank you for helping preserve Community of Christ history!
Image of Everett Graffeo courtesy of Community of Christ Archives.
|
May 2 Lecture: "Something Lost, Go and Find It" with Everett Graffeo Our first storyteller in the “Your Story is Church History” series is Everett Graffeo, former presiding evangelist in Community of Christ. Everett best describes his life story as: “Life is not a goal toward which we reach, but a response to a voice in our hearts and minds that sets us on a journey of discovery.” Everett’s personal path began in Iowa and expanded across the globe to include living in French Polynesia, and Hawaii, responsibility for Pacific Islands, Australia, the Philippines, and India mission centers. Take the time to hear Everett Graffeo's unique story as shared by the former presiding evangelist himself. Click the button below to hear Everett's story. |
Communion service held in India, 1968. Image courtesy of Community of Christ Archives.
|
May 9 Lecture:
The Lord's Supper in the Early RLDS Church with Michael Nielsen Join Michael Nielsen as he explores the procedural and doctrinal aspects of the Lord's Supper in the nineteenth and early twentieth century RLDS Church. Using sources such as church periodicals, letters, and diaries, the lecture shows that the Reorganization, through continuous dialogue and experience, forged a broad understanding of how the Lord's Supper fit in the spiritual life of the church. Click the button below to view the recorded lecture. |
Image of Frederick M. Smith at the Auditorium construction (Independence, MO) in 1925. Image courtesy of Community of Christ Archives.
|
May 16 Lecture:
Facing Modernity: Fred M. Smith and the Theology of the Social Gospel with Tony Chvala-Smith Could a tiny church from the American Midwest, steeped in its premodern worldview of preaching charts, sectarian certainty, miraculous healings, hope for 'Celestial Glory,' and well-guarded doctrinal boundaries say anything meaningful to a modern industrial society characterized by an impoverished urban underclass, child labor, unregulated capitalism, and the exploitation of industrial workers? Fred M. Smith thought so. But to find a theological language suited to this monumental task he looked beyond the Reorganization to the the work of Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), a Baptist minister and professor of theology at Colgate Divinity School (Rochester, NY), and the chief architect of the theology of the Social Gospel Movement. The result was a remarkable synthesis of the Reorganization's distinctive Zion traditions with Rauschenbusch's politically charged, state-of-the-art Liberal Protestant thought on Jesus' message of God's kingdom on earth. Stepping beyond the safety of Restoration borderlands would have a permanent, transformative impact on Fred M.'s church. Click the button below to view the May 16th lecture with Tony Chvala-Smith. |
Susan Oxley and Mareva Arnaud Tchong posing with a historic marker on the island of Tubuai.
|
May 24 Lecture:
The Voice of Terii: First Female Baptized in Oceania, c. 1800 - 1860 with Robyn Spears On July 22, 1844, in the harbor village of Mataura, on Tubuai, the main island of the Austral Island group located four hundred miles south of Tahiti, a woman known simply as Terii became the first female baptized into Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oceania. This study of Terii informs and instructs us on the truly global influence of the Restoration movement. Click the blue button below to view a recording from the May 24 lecture with Robyn Spears. |