Folks, there are days when the Oikonomia Network has news to share, and then there days when it really has news to share. Today is the latter!
First things first: Karam Forum 2021 registration is officially open – register today!
Chris Brooks, Jennifer Powell McNutt, David French, Michael Wear and more will lead us in catalytic conversation as we gather this November 18-19. Join us live and in person in Ft. Worth, or via Zoom from wherever you are! Read more about our plans for connecting, inspiring and equipping our community, and register now to join us.
But that’s not all – not by a long shot.
The ON has had an amazing decade, joining hands and working together to connect theological education to the way people actually live their lives. We’ve brought into our classrooms a commitment to whole-life discipleship and human flourishing, expressed in ways like fruitful work, economic wisdom and serving the common good. We’re looking forward to a second decade of communion in mission and mission in communion, as we work toward a vision that brings the holy love of God to God’s people and God’s world.
However, times change, and the time has come for a new stage in the life of our community.
In our first decade, the Oikonomia Network was supported by the philanthropy of a visionary donor family. That family’s generous support allowed us to get off the ground. We’ll always be grateful for the investment they made in us because they saw our potential.
From the beginning, our donors made it clear that their support was time-limited. Their goal was always to launch us, not keep us in long-term dependency. The long-anticipated point of transition is now arriving.
The time has come for us theological educators to take full ownership of this mission ourselves. Reforming theological education to serve human flourishing is our job, ultimately, and nobody else’s.
A decade is plenty of runway. Now is our time to fly.
We have created a brand-new, totally independent nonprofit organization, Karam Fellowship. It’s a community of theological educators working together to cultivate scholarship, teaching, mentoring, institutional service and personal wholeness as people who embrace a calling to steward theological knowledge seeking wholeness, well-being and flourishing for our students and for the individuals, organizations and communities around us.
We’re about theological learning for the life of the world.
With the grateful blessing of the ON steering committee, which has stewarded the mission and vision of the ON up to this point, Karam Fellowship is now in the process of assuming responsibility for all that we’ve built in the ON over the past decade. This includes our annual Karam Forum event, our new peer-reviewed journal of theology for human flourishing, our library of Economic Wisdom Project video and print resources, and the monthly newsletter you’re reading right now. When the handoff is complete, the ON steering committee will dissolve itself and Karam Fellowship will be the sole body carrying the mission forward.
What’s different in the new dispensation? Not the people, not the community, not the vision and not the mission. But where the ON has relied on philanthropy up until now, Karam Fellowship is designed as a member-supported organization. We have a solid plan to stand together on our own feet. We can carry our work forward without a dime of philanthropy.
To do it, all we need is the only two things we’ve ever needed: our Lord, and you.
We’re asking you to join Karam Fellowship today. For only $4 per month, you can be part of the community that will carry our mission forward into a second decade. It’s a small price to help build a bright future for theological education.
Not to mention it’s a small price for the great benefits you’ll receive!
- Subscription (digital and hard copy) to our new peer-reviewed journal of theology for human flourishing, launching in Spring 2022;
- Discount on tickets to Karam Forum;
- Weekly messages of inspiration and equipping for our members;
- Webinars just for our members with leading voices on the future of theological education;
- Full access to all articles in this monthly newsletter, new and archived; and
- A special gift for Founding Supporters who join before November 19!
Have we mentioned that Karam Forum registration is open? Register today! Remember, you can join us live in Ft. Worth or via Zoom.
Your very first benefit of signing up as a supporter of Karam Fellowship will be discounted admission to this life-giving gathering for inspiration, connection and equipping! In our new, post-philanthropy era, we won’t be able to continue giving our partners free admission to the Forum, as we have in the past. We believe in paying our bills! But we’ve set the ticket price as low as we think we can go, because we want to serve as many of you as possible.
In addition to the discount on tickets to Karam Forum and a subscription to our new peer-reviewed journal, you’ll also enjoy a new weekly message that provides inspiration, intellectual equipping and useful links. We’ll be continuing our successful series of webinars on the future of theological education, which will become exclusive to Fellowship members starting this fall.
You’ll also get full access to the content of this long-running monthly newsletter, including both new and archived articles. Starting soon, while parts of this newsletter will remain free for anyone to read, other parts will be available only to supporters of Karam Fellowship. This will apply to the large archive of published articles on our website as well as to new newsletters going forward.
And on top of all that, we have something special to show our thanks for your support.
Click the image for a closer look!
We know how much joy it brings when we can occasionally find some time, in between teaching and writing and institutional service, to read an actual book. So we’ve designed these five elegant Karam Forum bookmarks, double-sided, with striking and memorable quotes from speakers at our meetings in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, as well as our special, pandemic-adjusted Zoom “gathering” in January 2021.
Sign up before November 19 to become a Founding Supporter of Karam Fellowship. We’ll be delighted to give you these five thought-provoking bookmarks as a special gift to show our thanks!
The images you see here are printer’s samples. We’re still tinkering with the colors and printing options. The final bookmarks will look even better. Wait until you see what we’re cooking up – we have a shiny surprise up our sleeves!
The governing board of Karam Fellowship includes:
- Chris Armstrong, Christian History
- Vincent Bacote, Wheaton College
- Greg Forster (chair), Trinity International University
- Donald Guthrie, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
- Michaela O’Donnell Long, Fuller Theological Seminary
- Kara Martin, Alphacrucis College
- Jules Martinez, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
- Jay Moon, Asbury Theological Seminary
- Charlie Self, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary
- Philip Thompson, Sioux Falls Seminary
The founding editorial board of our new peer-reviewed journal includes:
- Uche Anizor, Talbot School of Theology
- Chris Armstrong, Christian History
- Darrell Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary
- David Buschart, Denver Seminary
- Lynn Cohick, Northern Seminary
- Matthew Croasmun, Yale Divinity School
- Denise Daniels, Wheaton College
- Greg Forster (chair), Trinity International University
- P.J. Hill, Wheaton College
- Abson Joseph, Wesley Seminary
- Jennifer Powell McNutt, Wheaton College
- Richard Mouw, Fuller Theological Seminary
- Jonathan Pennington, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
- Scott Rae, Talbot School of Theology
- Michael Thigpen, Phoenix Seminary
- Brent Waters, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
There will be a transition period as we hand off responsibilities. We’re still figuring out how best to carry forward the legacy of our first decade while also inventing new missional modes for our second. For example, will we keep using the “Oikonomia Network” brand, perhaps making it an initiative of Karam Fellowship? Or will “KF” take the place of “ON”? We don’t know yet. If you have thoughts, we’re listening.
Speaking of which, as we carry out this transition, we’ll always continue listening to your feedback and concerns. If you’ve got questions, we’re at your service – even if the only answer we have is, “we haven’t figured that out yet!”
Stewardship of theological knowledge is not just a high honor, it’s a vital calling for the life of God’s people and God’s world. Working together in the past decade to improve our theological stewardship has been more fruitful than any of us could have guessed.
Join Karam Fellowship today to partner with us to carry this community into the next decade – and beyond.
Thank you for your generosity and support over all these years. We look forward to what the Lord has in store for all of us!
