ANZAMS Symposium

Laidlaw College hosts ANZAMS Mission Symposium

3 November 2009

Missions Practitioners and Academics gathered at Laidlaw College’s Auckland Campus in late October for a day and half symposium on the mission of witnessing for Christ. The event was held under the banner of the Aotearoa-New Zealand Association for Missions Studies (ANZAMS), a chapter of the International Association for Missions Studies (IAMS), and at the instigation of Laidlaw College’s School of Mission and Ministry. This was the first ANZAMS gathering in five years.

“The symposium was a great chance to hear from a wide range of people involved in mission and mission studies,” said Aaron Galey-Young, a delegate at the event. “There was a good energy about what the future holds for those involved in praxis and reflection of the Mission of God.”

Special guest, Professor Ross Langmead, shared a paper on Christian Communities in Contemporary Contexts. Langmead is Dean and Professor of Missiology at Whitley Baptist College of Victoria, Melbourne and is the executive secretary of the Australian Association for Missions Studies. Among others, George Wieland and Andrew Butcher spoke on Migrant Theologies – How Migrant Christian Communities in NZ Interpret their Experience Theologically. Rosemary Dewerse challenged all to rethink the way theological education is done in her paper on Missiologists as key-holders for Theological Education Reform. Dewerse encouraged a greater engagement with the voices and experience of the majority world. The symposium concluded with Professor Peter Lineham sharing outlines on mission to and from New Zealand for a forthcoming entry in Te Ara – The New Zealand online encyclopaedia.

Event organiser, Ian Dally said, “the objective of this event was to reactivate the Association and to provide the space for academics and practitioners in the field of missiology to stimulate thinking on the subject. I’m confident that this was accomplished.” Many of the papers presented at the symposium are being prepared for publication and a committee was appointed to spearhead the ongoing work of ANZAMS. A full list of papers and presenters is available on the link below.