2020 Barnabas Connection Conference FUNDING
“Spirited Women”
7 - 9 august 2020
Nazarene Theological College, Brisbane, Australia.
Funding details
Barnabas Connection has generously provided an opportunity for a person (or persons, depending on funding requested) to attend this year’s ACWR Conference. The funding is to the value of $500 AUD.
Applying for funding
Anyone interested must provide their details, and write a paragraph about why they want to attend the conference and how attendance will enhance their ministry and work.
Either submit using the online form on this page, or send details via email to: ijemila@hotmail.com
Scholarship funding applicants are also warmly welcome to submit a conference paper proposal. Papers are invited that focus on the theme of ‘Spirited Women’ from a range of disciplines including gender theory, feminism, biblical studies, history, systematic theology and all cognate disciplines (see www.acwr.edu.au/abstracts for more details on paper proposals)
Conference Theme
Churches in the Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal traditions have sometimes congratulated themselves on the licensing and ordination of women for ministry and yet gender inequity remains an entrenched reality. Though John Wesley (somewhat reluctantly at first) gave limited permission for women to preach, it took more than a century for Methodists to begin to ordain women as elders/presbyters. The nineteenth-century Holiness Movement, informed by a Spirit-focused doctrine of ministry, gave rise to an unprecedented number of women preachers, evangelists, pastors, missionaries and teachers. A similar pattern emerged in early Pentecostalism. These were not only ‘Spirit-filled’ women but ‘spirited’ women – feisty, courageous, disruptive figures who were quite prepared to stand up to patriarchal authority in order to follow their calling. In the succeeding period beyond this radical beginning, there was a return to more male-dominated authority. Today, there are fewer women in positions of authority in Holiness and Pentecostal churches than in the earlier formative period. On the other hand, Methodist and Uniting/United churches have increased the number of women clergy and The Salvation Army has sought to address gender inequity.
Important dates
18 May 2020 - Last date to submit applications
30 June 2020 - Successful applicant(s) will be notified
Selection Criteria
The ACWR Conference is a safe and respectful space for theological conversation. It is expected that there will be a wide range of views expressed through papers and in responses from delegates. The aim of the Conference is to explore ideas rather than convince others of the rightness or otherwise of any particular position. Therefore we are looking for participants and presenters who are able to clearly articulate their ideas in a respectful manner, allowing space for disagreement and discussion with others. We will also be selecting papers which represent a range of views. All submissions will remain confidential to the ACWR selection committee and the Barnabas Connection.