Most of the work on the conference theme is done in Working Groups, to which full members are expected to contribute a paper. Further focus of the general call is given in each Working Group description below:

1. Biblical Studies – Hebrew Bible/OT

Co-chairs: Karen Strand Winslow and Valerie Bridgeman

As one “leg” of the Methodist quadrilateral, it is incumbent upon us to consider the ways, in the 21^st century, the Scriptures inform and are and/or could be in conversation with the church’s call to address and treat a host of interconnected global crises. How do we use these sacred, albeit ancient texts, as scholars/preachers, to envision, and build communities of faith that resist racism, sexism, classism, ecological degradation, misogyny, social violence, discrimination against LGBTQIA+ persons, civic instability, and the like. Submissions may choose to show how Scripture(s) may be adapted and applied to current global and domestic crises; how they may be nuanced or critiqued, given the challenges of today’s far different cultural and geopolitical contexts, or how the principles and themes expressed persistently in Scripture may ground Wesleyan resources and resolution.

2. Biblical Studies (NT)

Co-chairs: Janet Unsworth and Kara Lyons-Pardue

The Biblical Studies (New Testament) Working Group invites papers that engage with scriptural themes of God’s salvation in the face of crisis from a Wesleyan-Methodist perspective. Proposals that interact with a variety of texts would be welcome. These might include, though not be limited by the following:

• apocalyptic passages that evoke judgment and hope in the midst of present or impending hardship,
• epistolary exhortation toward believers as agents of divine renewal in the world despite internal or external obstacles, or
• narratives that describe Jesus and his followers’ embodiment of holy love and truth-telling in the face of systemic oppression.

3. Ecumenical and Inter-religious

Co-chairs: Edgardo Colón Emeric and Robert Hunt

This working group welcomes papers arising from the Institute theme as it intersects with the many crises presently plaguing our world, with an emphasis on the ways in Methodist/Wesleyan involvement (whether the works of John and Charles Wesley, the legacy of those works, or the larger ecclesial and theological tradition that grew out of that legacy) in ecumenical and/or interreligious movements reflects (1) God’s love for the world from a Methodist perspective and (2) a distinctively Methodist understanding of sin and salvation.

Relevant questions include but are not limited to: How do Methodist understandings of sin and salvation inform Methodist approaches to ecumenism or interreligious dialogue? How have Wesleyan-related churches bridged the gaps which divide them on issues of race? Ethics? Social policy? How have Wesleyan bodies and communities engaged in interreligious work on these social issues and the numerous other crises listed in the institute theme?  How have Methodists/Wesleyans engaged in either ecumenical or interreligious dialogue and work to address these crises, and how do these approaches and efforts vary in different regions of the world? Does Methodism matter any longer in either ecumenical or interreligious dialogues, or is it again to be rediscovered as a movement for renewal? What might be same—and different—for ecumenical and interreligious approaches to global crises, especially when we keep distinctively Methodist understandings of sin and salvation in mind? Do our approaches to either ecumenism or interreligious work need to adapt to the current global scene, and how might we do so in ways that stay true to our Methodist callings?

 4. Methodist History

Co-chairs: Tim Woolley and Priscilla Pope-Levison

In exploring the theme of the Institute from a historical perspective, a number of approaches are open for exploration. These include (but are not limited to):

• How have Methodist and Wesleyan communities responded in times of political and social crises in the past? For example, during the American Revolutionary War, in the struggles for independence from colonialism, during the social and political upheavals of the 1960s, in the era of Apartheid in South Africa, in periods of conflicts in Ireland.
• What theological and ecclesiological resources have Methodists and Wesleyans drawn upon to sustain their engagement and how have they dealt with differences of opinion in their responses? What contributions have been made by distinctive Wesleyan theological and ecclesiological emphases like prevenient grace, entire sanctification, and connexionalism in all its varied forms?
• Who have been the women and men whose contributions have been transformative, and why and how?
• How has been the balance between the needs for social change and personal salvation and holiness been held in addressing the human condition in times of conflict and upheaval?
• What are the lessons to be learned from Methodist and Wesleyan responses in times of social, political, and moral dissonance and division since Wesley’s day; and how do we faithfully apply them as Methodist and Wesleyan followers of Jesus today?

5. Mission and Evangelism

Co-chairs: Arun Jones and Taylor Denyer

The current age is marked by a host of interconnected global crises. These include widening economic inequity, systemic racism, the collapse of earth systems, the broad yet unequal impact of climate destabilization, political corruption, misogyny, discrimination against LGBTQ persons, and related forms of social violence, psychological distress, and civic instability. Wesleyan and Methodist communities have often drawn impetus and insight for addressing such issues from their core inherited convictions about the nature of salvation and holiness. Encouraged by this precedent, the 15th Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies will take up the work of public theological, biblical, historical, moral, and pastoral reflection on matters of sin and salvation, attentive to the distinctive resources of Wesleyan-Methodist traditions, for the sake of the threatened world God so loves.

In keeping with the theme of the 2024 Oxford Institute, the Mission and Evangelism Working Group seeks papers that explore Methodist understandings and practices of mission and evangelism as this relates to glad tidings of salvation in an age of crisis.  The following questions may be considered, though they are certainly not meant to be exhaustive:

• How have Methodists understood and undertaken mission and evangelism, so as to proclaim salvation by word, deed, and sign in times of crisis?
• How has the proclamation of salvation through mission and evangelism itself created crisis in the world?  Has the proclamation been for good, for ill, or some combination?
• What has been the relationship between praxis and theology in Methodist mission and evangelism as these relate to proclamation of salvation in crisis?  For example, how has the eschatology of those involved in mission affected their response to crises?
• How has mission and evangelism in the Methodist movement changed or confirmed people’s understanding of the nature of salvation in the context of local, regional, national, and international crises?
• To what extent has mission and evangelism been inwardly directed to responding to crisis within the church, and outwardly directed to crisis in the world?
• What has been the effect of the proclamation of salvation through mission and evangelism on Methodist understandings of crisis?
• How has the salvation proclaimed through mission and evangelism been received by local persons and communities in contexts of crisis?

6. Practical Theology

Co-chairs: Peggy Mulambya-Kabonde and Fulgence Nyengele

How do our various fields in practical theology convey convictions about the nature of salvation and holiness in light of this current age of crisis? How might we equip individuals, congregations, institutions, and our neighbourhoods to embrace the baptismal vows by which we are called to turn away from evil and turn toward good? Where is this turning currently happening in Wesleyan-Methodist traditions? Where is there good news from the past and present of Wesleyan-Methodist intersections with public life that might be shared? What practices from our various disciplines can be brought to bear as we privately and publicly address issues of our world? What critical reflections could assist our contemporary contexts to speak and act more clearly with a distinctly Wesleyan-Methodist voice about “glad tidings of salvation”?

 7. Theological Education

Co-chairs: Jeffrey Conklin-Miller and Amos Nascimento

The Theological Education Working Group invites reflection on the Institute’s theme with particular focus on the impact of Wesleyan/Methodist theologies of holiness and salvation on understandings of the theology, mission, organisation, and the potential future(s) of Methodist and Wesleyan higher and theological education with attention paid to the contemporary context of crisis in an expanding global scope.

Applicants might consider some of the following prompts as examples of topics or frameworks for potential presentations:

• What is the “mission” of theological education in the broader context of Wesleyan/Methodist soteriological mission in an “age of crisis”? What remains the same and what is changing in this mission?
• Drawing focus to the theology of sin in the broader context of a Wesleyan theology of salvation, what is the work of theological education in relation to confession and repentance? What does confession and repentance require of institutions of theological education that participate in and perpetuate global crises? How might theological education address the realities of racism, sexism, and classism in a Wesleyan/Methodist frame?
• What might it mean to consider theological educational institutions as “means of grace” in a Wesleyan theology of salvation? What are the ecclesiological implications for these institutions as part of a church called to proclaim the “glad tidings of salvation”? Can they draw focus to Wesleyan soteriological identity in broader contexts of secularised higher education?
• Wesleyan and Methodist soteriology draws focus to the importance of the formative community as the context of “social grace” in the development of holiness along the way of salvation. How has such a focus impacted expressions of Wesleyan theological education around the world? How might such a focus give shape to new/fresh expressions of theological education in different contexts? What kinds of leaders are required to guide contextual embodiments of global crises/changes in theological education? How might such leaders be formed?

Papers might offer practical theological reflection on adaptation and innovation in theological education in response to these questions.

 8. Theology and Ethics

Co-chairs: Elaine Robinson and Joerg Rieger

This Working Group solicits papers that engage the following: What is the nature of the “crisis” we face? How can theological and ethical reflection help to surface, define, and describe the crisis? How can theological categories such as sin and evil, salvation, grace, and holiness offer constructive solutions that address causes of the crisis as well as the flows of power that mark our age? We encourage papers that address both personal and structural considerations of sin and evil, salvation, and holiness, with an eye towards specific problems and solutions.

9. Wesley Studies

Co-chairs: Geordan Hammond and Ashley Boggan Dreff

Methodism emerged in an age of societal instability that at times was in crisis through violence and war, as well as systemic poverty and discrimination. In this environment, the Wesleys and the wider Methodist movement addressed with urgency matters of sin and salvation. How did the early Wesleyan movement confront eighteenth-century societal crises in a theologically robust manner that took seriously the reality of sin alongside the even greater reality of God’s love for all creatures? How did Wesleyan soteriology serve as a theological resource for addressing personal, local, regional, national, and international crises? What resources and lessons might early Methodism provide for reflection on contemporary global crises and the future direction of Methodism?

10. Worship and Spirituality

Co-chairs: Ron Anderson and Brent Peterson

New Zealand hymnwriter Sheila Erena Murray wrote the following:

• Wounded world that cries for healing here we hold each other’s pain,
• wounded systems, bruised and bleeding bear the load, the scars of strain;
• dollars ration out compassion, hard decisions rule the day,
• Jesus of the healing Spirit, free us to another way!
  • (© 1996, Hope Publishing Co.)

The larger Methodist movement has responded to the wounded world and social systems, to global and local crises in song, prayer, and preaching throughout its history. Each age has required the church to respond to such crises in some way. Charles Wesley wrote apocalyptic hymns in response to the 1750 London and 1755 Lisbon earthquakes, “in times of trouble and persecution,” and against the rioting and destruction that occurred in response to a proposed Catholic Relief Act in 1780. John preached on the “danger of riches,” “the right use of money,” and published a tract against slavery. For the Wesleys, the transformation of tempers and habits occurs in the very rhythm of works of piety especially in communal worship and works of mercy that participate in the renewal of all things, doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

The basic question for this section is the role of worship, prayer, and preaching in responding to social/global crises today. How do historical precedents help us or hinder us from addressing such crises? Other questions we might pursue in this section include: How are worship, preaching, and song shaping the social imaginary of the church today? How has worship changed or not changed in response to racial and economic injustice, climate change, etc.? How should it change? What and how should the church preach in a time of global crisis? How can we more fully unite our concerns for personal holiness and piety with social engagement to address racism and other ‘isms’ that fragment the church? How can/should the church lament and what would it mean to recover a stronger sense of lament for the wounded world? In what ways might our baptismal renunciations provide a renewed foundation for spiritual formation to confront the world’s ills? What does worship mean and what is its purpose in a time of pandemic?