Convocation 2025

Flipping the Script: Claiming Our Voices, Telling Our Stories

Thursday & Friday, October 16 & 17, 2025

Begins at 10 am (Eastern) on Thursday • concludes at 3:30 pm (Eastern) on Friday

In person at Maple Hill Farm Inn and Conference Center, Hallowell, Maine
+ Online Companions

In-person registration 

Note: In-person registrations will be limited to 100 participants. Plan to register early to reserve your spot! 

Registration is now live!
In-person Early Early Bird: $160  •  Register by August 1, 2025
In-person Early Bird: $210  •  Register by September 1, 2025
In-person Standard registration: $260  •  Register by October 5, 2025

Note: In-person registration includes lunch and dinner on Thursday, coffee and tea on Friday morning, lunch on Friday, and snacks. Lodging arrangements, if needed, should be made on your own. Hotel and alternative lodging options will be made available soon.

Online Companions registration

Registration opens August 1, 2025
Online Companions Early Bird: $55  •  Register by September 1, 2025
Online Companions Standard Registration: $75  •  Register by October 14, 2025

“Stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.” 
— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author

Throughout human history, people have told stories to make meaning of the world around them, to create and nurture bonds with one another, and to shape the ways in which they engage with the natural world. 

At a time when the crises we face are myriad and the structures we once thought stable are crumbling, storytelling offers us a powerful practice for slowing down, for paying deep attention, and for recognizing and honoring the dignity and wisdom held within each of us. In times such as these, imagination is a superpower and a lifeline to a world of healing, wholeness, and kinship. 

So it is precisely in these moments of rupture that we must summon the courage to tell our stories and to find inspiration and strengthen solidarity in receiving the stories of others.

We invite you to join us for Convocation 2025 — Flipping the Script: Claiming Our Voices, Telling Our Stories, where we will gather for two days of deep practice, listening, sharing, and storytelling. While we have valued the amazing contributions of past keynote speakers, we know everyone has profound wisdom to share, and we are choosing to amplify your voices and stories this year. Convocation 2025 will be filled with opportunities for each of us to deepen our connection with one another by sharing meaningful personal stories — casually during sessions and more formally as presenters. 

We hope you’ll consider sharing your story with us for Convocation 2025 — or in joining us as an attendee to be a part of the collective conversation. As Bayo Akomolafe, philosopher, poet, and the Executive Director for The Emergence Network says: “Storytelling and story listening are not two different things.” We are all part of the ecology of stories that shape us!

Register now to join us for Convocation 2025. Over the course of two days — Thursday and Friday, October 16 and 17 — we will gather to deepen our wisdom through listening and sharing, to celebrate the gifts of community, and to find respite and renewal. Gathering in the spirit of friendship, seeking nourishment in spiritual practice, and committed to paths of honesty and vulnerability, together we will explore what it means to live, love, and lead in a climate-changed world.

As always, Convocation 2025 will include music, poetry, and ritual; plenary sessions and small-group conversation; opportunities to engage with nature; and contemplative practice. We hope you will join us!

Held annually, continuously since 1905, Convocation is a legacy program of Bangor Theological Seminary, predecessor to The BTS Center. We are delighted to carry on this tradition, 120 years in the making, drawing upon the enduring wisdom of the generations of leaders who have come before us while honestly engaging the challenges of the present day and courageously orienting ourselves to the future.

Accommodations

Hotels:
The BTS Center has arranged for a limited number of rooms under a special discounted rate of $193 plus tax per night on October 15 or October 16, 2025 at the Hampton Inn Augusta, just 10 minutes from Maple Hill Farm Inn and Conference Center. Please book your room directly with the hotel by the cut-off date of September 15, 2025. Note: only a limited number of rooms are available, so if you wish to reserve a room at this rate, please book as early as possible, using one of these options:

• • By telephone: Call Hampton Inn Augusta at 207-622-4077 and request the BTS Center Group Block Rate for the dates you wish to stay, and the reservation agents will be happy to assist.
  • Online: Please visit The BTS Center - Hampton Inn Augusta - Online Booking Link, and choose the check-in / check-out date. This link will bring you directly to the BTS Center Group Block Rate on the hotel's website.

Alternatively, other nearby options for accommodation include Maine Evergreen Hotel, Senator Inn & Spa and Homewood Suites. You can find a full list of area hotels on Google here. Please contact these hotels directly for their current prices.