Adrian Warnock points to what sounds like a great conference (particularly for those on the other side of the pond):
A 2008 New Word Alive Conference will be from April 7-11 at Hafan Y Mor Family Holiday Park, Pwllheli, North Wales. Confirmed speakers include D.A. Carson, John Piper, and Terry Virgo. There is a capacity for over 5000 attendees, says Warnock. The Conference is sponsored by UCCF and the Keswick Convention, and not Spring Harvest (which has historically been involved).
In his post, Adrian points to a fresh split in UK Evangelicalism which may have prompted the formation of this Conference without Spring Harvest’s involvement:
“This Easter a clear line was drawn in the sand in British Evangelicalism. For years, whenever the word ‘evangelical’ was mentioned, people in the UK would think almost immediately of Spring Harvest — easily the UK’s largest Christian conference. Part of that package has been Word Alive, a distinct all-age event run by UCCF (who owns the UK-based Intervarsity Press) and the Keswick Convention in partnership with Spring Harvest. At the heart of Word Alive has been a separate student track with up to 2,000 students. Beginning in 2008, there will be no more Word Alive at Spring Harvest.”
UCCF sheds some light as to why in this response:
“Steve Chalke has made his dislike of penal substitution very clear by likening God’s act of punishing Jesus in our place to a cosmic child abuser. In good conscience, we simply could not allow Steve to teach during the Word Alive week. We’re very sad that after 14 years of fruitful ministry, Spring Harvest has decided to end the Word Alive partnership because we feel unable to shift on this position.”
See Adrian’s post and the links for more details.
(HT: Between Two Worlds)
Update: N.T. Wright interacts with Pierced for Our Transgressions authors on penal substitution