What is "mission" to christians? Sept. 22-24 Williams College conference considers "Haystack Meeting"

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- In 2000, shortly after he was called to serve as chaplain at Williams College, Rick Spalding recalls receiving a letter from an alumnus. The 200th anniversary of the Haystack Meeting was upcoming in 2006. The alum wrote: What will you do to mark it? Now six years later on Sept. 22-24, at least 100 people will gather at Williams to consider the meaning of the word "mission" and, hopefully, inspire young and old alike to take on as their mission contributing to a better world. Spalding and Carrie Bail, minister of Williamstown's First Congregational Church, have been spearheading the Haystack Bicentennial Celebration for two years. What is the Haystack Meeting? A stone pillar topped with a globe in a field on campus commemorates the spot where, in 1806, five Williams students took refuge under a haystack in a storm that interrupted their prayer meeting. A pledge made together inspired the founding of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. Today, tens of thousands of Christians worldwide -- evangelicals as well as main line progressives -- identify the Haystack meeting with the founding of hospitals, schools and agricultural stations as well as churches. Is the point of christian "mission" to change peoples' faith, or, to use Spalding's phraseology -- "what we would now call social justice -- a sense of humanitarian solidarity and compassion?" The balance between those two thoughts is the intellectual flashpoint for the weekend, culminating in a five-person panel discussion at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday moderated by Williams Religion Professor Denise Buell and including theologians from Vanderbilt and Drew universities, the head of the United Church of Christ and a professor of Chrisitian missions at Gordon Conwell Seminary. "Part of our desire in celebrating the history of this is to find a way to light a spark under some young people -- or old people as the case may be -- to say they want to go out and change the world, too," says Spalding. "Kids are bound by material culture," he adds, asking: "How do we move that?" You can register for three days of services, meetings, talks and musical performances is $50 and the details are at the website -- haystack.williams.edu (no www). Or call event registrar Susan Schneski at 458-8220.  HOW TO REGISTER.  (Photo by Robert A. Chadbourne, courtesy Williams College)