Head of Southlands College Christopher Stephens is currently serving as Vice-President of IAMSCU, (International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges and Universities, a global community of Methodist educational institutions). In August, he joined IAMSCU for their meetings in Gothenburg, Sweden, on the theme ‘Community, Conciliation and Connectionalism: Methodist education in Scandinavia and around the world’. Discussions focused on building relationships, exploring the legacy of colonialism and examining the connection between Methodist education, theological discussion and church activities. Christopher chaired one of the panel sessions, responding to a plenary talk on the impact of AI.
He was then joined by Sue Miller and Emma Pavey of the Susanna Wesley Foundation and around 2,000 others at the World Methodist Conference in Gothenburg, a global gathering of Methodist-Wesleyan denominations that happens every 5 years. The theme was ‘On the Move’, divided into days around ‘pilgrimage’, ‘migration’ and ‘guiding lights’.
In one of the sessions, Sue and Christopher presented aspects of their recent research around chaplaincy in higher education, with good conversation and questions following.
The World Methodist Conference was a rich and diverse opportunity for good conversations, international musical contributions and Swedish hospitality, which built a positive, joyful outlook. In addition, informative presentations on a wide range of topics included aspects of Methodist education, explorations of biblical stories from different perspectives, the experience of the Methodist church around the world and contextual understandings of Methodist Christian faith.
In the light of the discussions in both IAMSCU and the WMC, Bishop Kennetha Bigham-Tsai’s presentation on Hagar was particularly thought-provoking, as she highlighted poetry by American Honoree Jeffers and Syrian-American Mohja Kahf:
