12th ACWR Conference

Knowing the times: Crisis and Opportunity at the beginning of the 3rd Millennium

September 30 – October 1, 2022

Fully Online

FEATURED SPEAKER: Hugh Mackay AO

Hugh Mackay is a social psychologist and the bestselling author of 22 books, including eight novels. His latest book, The Kindness Revolution, was published in 2021.

He has had a 60-year career in social research, and was also a weekly newspaper columnist for over 25 years. He is currently an honorary professor in the Research School of Psychology at ANU, and a patron of the Asylum Seekers Centre. Among other honorary appointments, he has been deputy chairman of the Australia Council for the Arts, the inaugural chairman of the ACT government’s Community Inclusion Board and an honorary professor at Macquarie, Wollongong and Charles Sturt universities.

Hugh is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and the Royal Society of NSW. In recognition of his pioneering work in social research, he has been awarded honorary doctorates by Charles Sturt, Macquarie, NSW, Western Sydney and Wollongong universities. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015.

Friday evening’s session will include a presentation from Dr Mackay, followed by a time of Q and A.

conference THEME

The two Greek words for time are Chronos and Kairos. Unlike Chronos that describes sequential time – one event following another – Kairos signifies a moment of both crisis and opportunity. A time ripe for action. In both the Old and New Testaments leaders are lauded for “knowing the times” and acting accordingly. Alternately they are judged for not acting accordingly. At the beginning of the 3rd Millennium we find ourselves at a Kairos moment. As a world community we find ourselves at a moment of both crisis and opportunity and the Church cannot fail to “know the times”. We have suffered through a worldwide pandemic where death and suffering are a daily occurrence. The environmental crisis is affecting us all in ways we are only just coming to realise. Our politics worldwide is breaking down and there is increasing talk of societal collapse in more locations. The divide between rich and poor is ever growing and poverty is rife even in the richest countries where people are homeless even as the stock market and property values continue to grow. Of greatest concern is the breakdown of our structures of meaning and belief, the grand narratives that have directed our cultures. With a loss of the grand narratives provided by religion and philosophy we find ourselves in a situation where, in the words of William Butler Yeats “the centre cannot hold”.  

In addressing this topic the hope is that we will see a genuine coming together of the Christian community in working together to offer creative interpretation and solutions to challenges we face in every area of human endeavour at this time.