Discipleship at the intersection of Seminary and Sanctuary, Streets and Soil
The (second) Festival of Radical Discipleship
On May 23-26, 2025: Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in eastern PA hosted the Festival of Radical Discipleship (the first was at the 2015 BKI). As a transition from the BCM led Institutes, we co-sponsored the first Festival at Kirkridge. Around 150 speakers and participants experienced a wonderful weekend together.
BCM put together a small photo essay you can view here.
Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute: Feb 2024 “Deep Dives”
Our final Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute was held in the Ventura River Watershed and returned to its roots as a smaller study week. It ran Mon Feb 19, 5pm to Thu Feb 22, 8 pm and was held at local St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ojai.
We ran with two intensive tracks:
– Luke’s vision of “Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy” (with friends from Faith & Money Network); and
– A unique opportunity to participate in a training for facilitators of Healing Haunted Histories.
You can see photos from the Institute in our 2024 Photo Essay.
About the Bartimaeus Institute
The “slow food” and “slow money” movements have worked to recover more holistic and relational approaches to important life practices. Since 2007 our Bartimaeus Institutes have sought to do the same for discipleship education in a world of impersonal conferences and insular tertiary institutions.
The Institute was named after Gloria and Ross Kinsler in 2014–two mentors and friends whose work and witness exemplified liberatory pedagogy in the Americas. Institutes provide an opportunity for interactive and in-depth study of scripture and social justice in the Ventura River Watershed with Ched Myers, Elaine Enns and friends. Building capacity for both proclamation and practice, we seek to integrate the disciplines of seminary, sanctuary, streets and soil. Academic credit and limited scholarships are available; space is limited. Join this village of learning and engagement!
Past Institutes
The titles, themes and photo essays or reports of all our past Institutes follows:
