The English poet Philip Larkin, no champion of institutional religion, uses this phrase in his poem "Churchgoing". He imagines a world where churches still exist as buildings and wonders what uses they may be put to. In much of western culture we are asking such questions, but, even as we ask them, we need to recognize that the issue is immensely varied and complex. In deserts of dead churches there are vibrantly alive exceptions. As new secular religions form – eg. Environmentalism, where will they find their shrines? Outside the West, church life grows rather than diminishes. We need to remind ourselves of the late Chou En Lai's observation,” It is very dangerous to prophecy, especially about the future".

Herb O’Driscoll is a widely-read writer and speaker whose stimulating reflections about faith in our time have given many a new way of relating to faith.

God’s mind and heart are ultimately beyond words. Our metaphors and images are pale reflections of God’s Being. Yet, we do need to find words. And the words we use to talk about God invariably reflect our stage and state of consciousness. The philosophy of Ken Wilber and the psychology of Dr. Don Beck can help us to understand the stages of consciousness or worldviews that have emerged over the last 50,000 years. These worldviews determine the way we see God and therefore how we talk about God. In this talk, I will briefly describe these worldviews and the God each brings forth. We will even see if we can locate the “cosmic address” of God!

The Rev. Bruce Sanguin has served Canadian Memorial United Church for 12 years. He is the author of three books: Summoning the Whirlwind: Contemporary Sermons for a Relevant Christian Faith: Darwin, Divinity and the Dance of the Cosmos: An Ecological Christianity; The Emerging Church:

A Model for Change and a Map for Renewal. He is a Bikrams (hot yoga) practitioner, a guitar player and a golfer.

Charlene expresses her personal experience of the divine through her deeply respectful conversations between cultures. Her fabric art is a non-verbal way of inviting people into the conversation about the essence of what is most deeply true for the human spirit in every culture.

Dr. Charlene is from T’Sou-ke, a community that bridges the Coast Salish and Nuu-Cha-Nulth territories. Charlene works primarily in textiles but is constantly expanding this area; weaving, appliqué, embroidery, clothing/set designs, drawing and painting are but a small area of interest. She gains her inspirations for designs from culture and the world around her. As a child, Charlene was lucky to spend time with Grandparents learning culture, history and stories.

Some years ago, a very patient teacher of mine, while explaining a financial model said, ‘all you have to remember is that the market is based on two emotions; fear and greed!’ It was later that I wondered, perhaps that’s the problem! In a contemporary culture that frowns, often with good reason, on God in the workplace, what might it mean to bring a gospel of compassion and courage into the workplace, and how might that be accomplished?

The Rev. Alisdair Smith, is Deacon & Business Chaplain at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver. One of the most sought after speakers and workshop leaders in credit unions and co-operatives across Canada, Alisdair brings wisdom, experience, humour to his practice. He studies, works and teaches in human creativity and development related to leadership, governance and spiritual practice. He teaches and designs programs for CUSource, Credit Union Knowledge Network. He also teaches Leadership and Teamwork at the Masters level as guest lecturer at St. Mary's University in Halifax, and at The Vancouver School of Theology.

While churches worry about their futures and how to attract people, the cosmic God stalks abroad in our city seeking who may be devoured by the majesty of that unspeakable encounter. When people of faith have been set upon by the divine and heard its roar, they will find no difficulty speaking of God.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Harold Munn is the Rector of the Church of St. John the Divine, and former Dean of Edmonton. Harold's doctoral dissertation studied the nature of dis-belief in a scientific context. He holds a Doctoral degree from St. Stephen's College, Edmonton, and an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, Toronto. Harold is particularly interested in how the Christian faith can be expressed within the context of scientific knowledge.

In 2008, Paul Bramadat became the director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria. He came to British Columbia after 10 years of teaching in the religious studies department at the University of Winnipeg. His research interests include religion and public policy in Canada, religion and ethnicity, religion and post-colonialism, and religion and Canadian culture. He has been involved in two Centre book projects: Religion and Ethnicity in Canada (2005) and Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada (2008), and will release a new co-edited book International Migration and the Governance of Religious Diversity in 2009.