Join the Being a Multicultural Circle and Assembly Resourcing Unit for our second webinar looking at the Church and COVID-19.
The focus of this webinar will be our ministerial practices and how they have been impacted by the pandemic and new understandings that have emerged. The webinar will take place on Thursday 30 July from 7-9pm.
Our speakers will include:
Panellists:
Rev. Karen Ross
Rev. Valamotu Palu
Rev. Alexandra Sangster
Samuel Miao
Rev. Dr. Seforosa Carroll
Rev. James Bhagwan
Rev. En Shuo Zhu
Theological Listener: Rev. Dr. Ji Zhang
Moderator: Rev. Dr. Matagi Vilitama
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Learn more about our speakers below
Rev. Alexandra Sangster
Alex has been working as a Minister of the Word with the Uniting Church in Australia for over 15 years and as an actor and facilitator for over 20 years.
Alex has taught at the National Theatre, The Center for Theology and Ministry and Whitley College and has facilitated many retreats and workshops, in both corporate and community sectors, designed to awaken, inspire and challenge.
Alex is passionate about breaking open Story in ways that liberate, inspire and awaken and in ways, which create connections with the emerging church and those who are spiritually hungry but culturally anti-institution. She is currently the Minister at Fairfeild in Melbourne and is the Advocate for the Transforming Worship Circle. Alex also works as an activist with Love Makes A Way and ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change) and most recently has been arrested while blocking the gates up at the Adani frontline.
Rev. James Bhagwan
James is married to Maelin and the father of Francisco Xavier and Antonia. James is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Fiji and currently serves the churches in Oceania as General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches. He is a keen Stand Up Paddler and volunteer for the Fijian voyaging society, the Uto Ni Yalo Trust where he serves as a crew member, chaplain and mentor.
Rev. Karen Ross
Karen has served 7 years in ministry in mining towns in Central West QLD. She spent 16 years in multi/cross-cultural ministry in Sunnybank QLD and for the last 2 years has been in placement at Beenleigh Uniting Church, halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Karen was ordained 9 months ago. Karen is passionate about spiritual direction and formation and interested in learning the principles and practices of monastic communities that promoted personal and societal transformation in their religious and social context and how we can apply that to our current postmodern, multicultural, digital context.
Samuel Miao
Samuel has a degree in clinical psychology and a Master of Divinity and currently is studying for Master of Theology, integrating the two professions. Samuel worked as a counsellor in hospitals and organisations, and is now serving in the UCA Brisbane Taiwanese congregation, with his wife, who also has a Master of Divinity degree. Together, they minister in Taiwanese, Mandarin and English across three generations, from children, adolescents to adults and retired senior citizens.
Rev. Valamotu Palu
Currently serving as Minister of the Word for 10 groups of the Tonga Parish Uniting Church, Valamotu (Val) is former General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) in Suva, Fiji, for 14 years. Val served in the World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee, Central Committee, Commission for Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation for years and has participated at regional and international campaigns for Climate Change, Nuclear Testing and Violence Against Women (Sisterhood Network). She is former Chairperson of the International Committee for Fellowship of the Least Coin and a member of Sydney Presbytery UCA.
Rev. Dr Seforosa Carroll
Seforosa (Sef) is a Fiji-born Rotuman who spent her formative years growing up in Lautoka on the Western side of Viti Levu in Fiji. These formative experiences continue to inform Sef’s theological reflections on interfaith and cross-cultural relationships, and gender and culture from a diasporic perspective of a migrant who calls Australia one of her homes. Sef is a Research Fellow of the Public and Contextual Theology Research Center (PaCT), Charles Sturt University, Australia and was formerly a visiting lecturer with the School of Theology, United Theological College Charles Sturt University in theology. Sef is a CTI Fellow and was a resident member of the 2017-2018 Inquiry into Religion and Migration at the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton. Sef has served in congregational placements and as Chaplain at MLC School, Burwood. Sef worked with UnitingWorld where she worked as a theological researcher (climate and gender) and facilitating church partner relationships in Australia and the Pacific. Sef’s research interests are in the challengers of gender-based violence, climate migration/displacement and justice, and religious pluralism/interfaith dialogue. Since January 2020, Sef began with the the World Council of Churches in Geneva in the role of Programme Executive, Mission and Evangelism, specifically, Mission from the Margins/Indigenous Peoples. Sef is a great believer in the powerful role theology can play in bringing about transformative change.
Rev. Dr Matagi Jessop Vilitama
Matagi hails from Niue Island in the liquid continent. He was a member of the Pacific Conference of Churches Executive Committee for many years representing small churches in the Pacific. A Minister of the Georges River Presbytery, NSW, he has served in CALD congratulations in the past 11 years. He is a former Chairperson of the Niue National Conference, and the Advocate of the Being a Multicultural Circle of Interest. Matagi is passionate about crosscultural ministry and loves all things aesthetic. Art and design was his background before entering ministry and he continues to dabble in the creative space.
Rev. Dr Ji Zhang
Ji is the Uniting Church Assembly's Theologian-in-Residence. He works in collaboration with national agencies UnitingCare Australia and the Assembly Resourcing Unit and provides theological leadership through a number of national committees.
Ji was born in Shanghai and studied theology in Melbourne and Boston, and completed his PhD in comparative philosophy/theology. His postdoctoral research was published in the book One and Many: a comparative study of Plato’s philosophy and Daoism represented by Ge Hong. Ji is a doctoral supervisor at the University of Divinity.
During his ministry within the Uniting Church, he served in rural communities and urban parishes. In the last five years, Ji worked for the UnitingWorld as the manager of partnerships in Asia, and coordinated the partnership with China Christian Council. He was a Chaplain to the 14th President Stuart McMillian, and previously served in the same role to the 12th President Alistair Macrae.
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