Questions? Contact Samantha Clare at [email protected]
Forma is a community of generous, bright, creative, and faithful folks. Within and around our network there are amazing ideas and programs happening — and we want to highlight them as workshops during the 2027 Forma Conference!
This year’s conference theme is “Sanctified Imagination” and is rooted in Ephesians 3:20. We are excavating the transformative role that theological imagination plays in shaping our ministry — both how we engage the communities we serve and how we sustain our own vocational and spiritual lives.
Theological imagination encompasses the communal and embodied habits that enable us to perceive God’s activity, embody Christian virtues, and envision gospel-rooted alternative futures. As formation ministers, cultivating this imagination is not merely aspirational — it is essential, directly shaping our ministry mission, vision, culture, and practices.
We are designing workshops that help participants engage their ministry contexts with renewed creativity, care for those in their pastoral charge, and sustain their own spiritual vitality through the power of sanctified imagination.
We would love to hear: how are you cultivating theological imagination in your ministry context? If you have a workshop idea that would support and further this work within a formation context, please complete the workshop proposal form.
Strong workshop proposals will:
The 2027 Forma Conference is a radically hybrid conference taking place January 25–29, 2027. The online schedule runs Monday through Thursday from 1:00–5:00 PM Eastern, with Regional Hub gatherings aiming for at least one per province. Spanish language translation and interpretation will be provided throughout the conference.
We have a limited number of workshop slots. Proposals that best meet the criteria for a dynamic Forma workshop will be given priority. Workshop presenters will receive one ticket to the conference as honorarium for their contribution.
Workshop proposals will be read and evaluated by the 2027 Forma Conference Workshop Reading Team. Our goal is to offer conference participants a diverse range of workshop options, especially in terms of ministry context, age group, theory, praxis, topic, and presentation style.
In addition, we are actively seeking diversity among our presenters in terms of geographic location, ministry context, age, race, sexual orientation, gender, and ability.
One of our core goals is to increase the level of interactivity in workshops. To that end, selected workshop presenters will pre-record a portion of their presentation and use the remaining live time to engage participants directly via Zoom. Workshops are scheduled for 75 minutes each, with a maximum of 30 minutes of pre-recorded content.
All workshop recordings will be scheduled, recorded, and edited with our Tech Producer, Michael Ozment of Polymnia. Presenters will have an opportunity to review their recording and request minor edits before the conference.
By agreeing to present, workshop presenters acknowledge:
We will not consider workshops that are advertisements or pitches for particular curricula, books, organizations, or businesses. These types of offerings are a better fit as sponsors or exhibitors. Please contact [email protected] for more information.
Thank you for your ministry and your willingness to share your gifts!
June 1 – Workshop Request for Proposals Opens
July 31 – Workshop Request for Proposals Closes
September 1 – Workshop Decisions Made and Accept/Decline Sent to Presenters
September 15 – Workshop Agreements Due
September 30 – Workshop Slate Set
October- Introductions made between presenters and Project Lead and all recording times scheduled
November 25 – Deadline to record Workshop videos
November 30 – Deadline for any worksheets, PDFs, or other assets to be translated
December 7 – Recordings sent to presenters for edits
December 14 – Deadline for edits to Workshop videos
January 8 – Deadline for any worksheets, PDFs, or other assets to include on Conference Platform
January 11 – Complete post production of Workshop videos
Questions? Contact Samantha Clare at [email protected]