The Hartford Forum

[Page 174]

     For a number of years, the congregation of saints, at Hartford, Illinois, has sponsored an annual open forum during the Christmas vacation. This is not a gathering of a particular clan or faction but a convocation of free men who are willing to share their insights and differences in a spirit of openness and Christian charity. Speakers are not invited because they agree but because they do not. The sisters in the congregation provide three meals without obligation, so that all who wish can continue to meet together and talk with one another about the cause of Jesus Christ, which brings them together.

     Hartford is just across the Mississippi River and slightly north of the Saint Louis metropolitan area. It is just south of Alton, Illinois. There are good motel accommodations in easy reach of the meetinghouse. The forum this year will be held afternoon and evening of December 29 and three times on the following day. A question period will follow each session of two speeches. W. Carl Ketcherside and Hershel Ottwell will preside over the sessions and preserve decorum, although there has never been one untoward incident occur in the years of dialogue, despite intensity of interest in some of the themes, which are especially chosen because of their controversial nature. You are invited to write to Berdell McCann, 118 East Second Street, Hartford, Illinois, or you may call him at (618) 254-6454.