Forum to look at the Reformation

John Armstrong

Five hundred years ago, the face of the Christian world changed forever. Do you ever wonder what inspired the Reformers, and what Martin Luther’s “Ninety-five Theses” were; what did Luther say and do; how did the Reformation change the world; and why is its symbolic 500th anniversary important today?

On Tuesday evening Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Pomerleau Alumni Center, Saint Michael’s College will host an ecumenical forum commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, sponsored by The Vermont Ecumenical Council (VEC), and featuring John Armstrong, an expert scholar on the Reformation. Armstrong will present about the recent film he helped produce about the Reformation, This Changed Everything, with responses and commentary by a panel of area Reformation scholars. The forum is free, and all are welcome.

Armstrong is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Reformed Church in America (RCA). He founded and became the first president of the ACT3 Network (Advancing the Christian Tradition in the Third Millennium) in 1991. This network is currently in the process of becoming “an intentional ecumenical community designed for the healing of the North American church.” He is the author/editor of 14 books, including his newest book, Costly Love: The Way to True Unity for All the Followers of Jesus (New City Press, 2017). He serves as senior adviser to the Christian History Institute and has helped to produce several documentaries on church history and renewal, including most recently This Changed Everything! in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. He was a keynote speaker at the 2017 National Workshop on Christian Unity in Minneapolis, MN in May 2017; and on Facebook for a “National Workshop on Christian Unity.” John is married to his wife, Anita (since 1970) and has lived in suburban Chicago since 1969. He is the father of two adult married children and the grandfather of two girls and two boys.

Armstrong will be in Vermont Jan. 21-23 as guest of the Vermont Ecumenical Council; during his visit he will meet with regional groups of Christian leaders and participate in classes at area academic institutions including at Saint Michael’s. He will join a January 21 VEC “Prayer Service for Christian Unity” at 3 p.m. at the Catholic Center at UVM, 390 S Prospect St, Burlington. This service is in observance of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and is co-hosted by Cooperative Campus Ministries – the ecumenical Protestant chaplaincy at UVM.