1. Biblical Studies (Hebrew Bible)

Conveners: Karen Strand Winslow and Valerie Bridgeman

Presentations:

Andiñach, Pablo R. “The Day of Yahweh in the Book of Joel. A Latin American Reading.”
Appler, Deborah. “The Widow and Single Mother of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16): A Wesleyan Call for Global Food Justice and Sustainability Amid a Hungry World.”
Bowen, Nancy R. “Reading Scripture with a Scientifically Informed Hermeneutic.”
Bridgeman, Valerie. “From Whose Womb? An Ecotheological Exploration of the Speech from the Whirlwind in Job 38-41.”
Cazombo, Elvira Moisés da Silva. “Psalm around the Campfire: The Charm of African Oral Literature (Psalms 149).”
Chernova, Natalia. “The Book of Job in the Slavonic Version.”
Kim, Hyun Chul, Paul. “The World is My Parish, or My Parish is the World? Isaiah’s Call for Ecclesial Repenting, Reckoning, and Restoring.”
Okyere, Kojo. “Wisdom, Salvation and the Environmental Crisis: The Case of Proverbs 2 and the Galamsey (Illegal Mining) Menace in Ghana.”
Shin, SuJung. “A (Dis)Unified Authorial Ideology of Psalm 68 in the Context of (Post)exile.”
Winslow, Karen Strand. “Gender and Hermeneutics: Gracious, Spacious Ambiguities.”

Associate Member:

Mwandayi, Canisius.

2. Biblical Studies (New Testament)

Co-Conveners: Janet Unsworth and Kara Lyons-Pardue

Presentations:

Ferrer, Pablo. “Sympsychos/Coexistence in Philippians through the Lens of Indigenous Argentinian Cultures and a Wesleyan Concept of Parish.”
Forster, Dion. “A Politics of Peace and Justice? Walter Wink’s Engagement with Matthew 8:38-42 as a Glad Tiding of Salvation in an Age of Crisis.”
Garcia, Paulo Roberto. “‘To be a pilgrim’ as a Criterion for Christian Belonging in a Hostile World: Challenges arising from the First Letter of Peter.”
Holmes, Laura. “Identifying and Resisting Evil: Judas and Peter as Models in the Gospels.” (publication pending)
Kandiah, Karunasekara. “Wesley’s ‘The World is My Parish’ as fostering Intellectual Curiosity and Mutual Understanding.”
Liburd, Amica. “Reading 2 Timothy 1:1-7 through Livity Gospel Hermeneutic: giving voice to silent spaces in the text and the church.”
Lyons-Pardue, Kara. “Calling ‘Hypocrite’: Jesus, Mark, and Accusations of Defilement in Mark 7:1-23, implications for boundary-making and fellowship-breaking today.” (publication pending)
Palmer, David. “‘Picking up where John Wesley awkwardly left off,’ Wesley’s Use of Bengel’s Tables and Revealing their Distinctive and Oftentimes Contradictory Contributions of NT Writers.”
Tavita, Apineru. “Interpretation of Mark 12:41–44 and Samoan concept of Fa’atoetoemuliola within the Context of the Methodist Church of Samoa (MCS).”
Works, Carla. “Amazing Love! How Can It Be? Disrupting the Status Quo in First Church Corinth.” (publication pending)

Associate Members:

Revd. Moses Agyam
Bishop Rudy Juan

3. Ecumenical and Interreligious

Co-Conveners: Edgardo Colon-Emeric & Robert Hunt

Presentations:

Choi, Jung. “Acts 15 and Gal 2: Strive for Unity, not Uniformity.”
Colon-Emeric, Edgardo. “Wesley and Angelology.”
Franklin-Ross, Tony. “From the Sin of Division towards Sanctification and a New Reformation.”
Hunt, Robert. “Artificial Intelligence and Mission in a Wesleyan Frame.”
Jaynes, Jeffrey. “Imagining the Indigenous: North American Mission for Moravians and Methodists.”
Kent, Elizabeth. “Wound and Gift: Methodist Learning from Receptive Ecumenism as a Contemporary Outworking of Wesley’s ‘Catholic Spirit.”
Kumalo, R. Simangaliso. “Ecumenism as a Challenge for African Methodism.”
Lim, Wan-Yin. “Christian Outside the Church: Exploring Prevenient Grace in Simone Weil’s Perspective.”
Orr, Kimberly. “Human Ascendancy: The Perfection Theologies of John Wesley and The Alter Rebbe in Context.”
Park, Jong Chun. “Presidents Report to the World Methodist Council 2024.”
Thorsen, Don. “The Dangers of Religious Nationalism.”

Associate Members:

Fernandes, Roland
Henry-Crowe, Susan

4. Methodist History A

Co-Conveners: Tim Woolley & Rachel Cope

Presentations:

Bruno, Daniel A. “Glad Tidings of Salvation as Public Theology of Methodism in Argentina (Case studies 1880-1980).”
Dharmaraj, Glory E. “Mission Education: The Agency and Legacy Of Women Organized For Mission In The Methodist Church.”
Flores, Daniel F. “Nathan Bangs and The Suppression Of Abolitionist Voices In The Methodist Episcopal Church.”
Hartley, Benjamin. “An Earnest and Undiscourageable Effort: Diplomatic Crises of John R. Mott’s Ministry During and after World War I.”
Kisker, Scott. “Methodism, Division, and the Nature of the Church.”
Mthembu, Simphiwe. “Political Consciousness in The Methodist Church of Southern Africa.”
Norris, Clive. “‘The world is my parish’ Revisited: John Wesley and the Eighteenth-Century Global Economy.”
Oliveto, Karen. “Something About the Women.”
Payk, Christopher. “The Complicated Legacy of Methodism in the Life of Wang Mingdao.”
Strong, Doug. “Holiness Abolitionism: A Compelling Theological Paradigm for Its Generation (and for Ours?).”
Travis, Nathan.“British Methodism’s “Progressive” Traditionalists: Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Clergy, and No Schism.”
Wellings, Martin. “Colin Morris (1929-2018) and the Crises of Colonialism, Culture, and Communication.”
Woolley, Tim. “‘The World is Our Home’: Ann Lucy Wheatley and Methodist Leadership in the Free Church League for Woman Suffrage.”

Plenary Panelist:

Lewis, Tamara

4. Methodist History B

Conveners: James Pedlar and Priscilla Pope-Levison

Presentations:

Coitinho, Mirtha Elizabeth Machiarena. “The World is My Parish: Glad Tidings of Salvation in an Age of Crisis.”
Dobson, Thomas. “Nehemiah Curnock’s Glass Plate Negatives: The Best Visual Collection of Wesley Manuscripts?”
Hoskins, Steve. “‘That Real Holiness Will Not Lose Sight of Its Catholicity:’ The History of the National Holiness Association (U.S.A) as Catalyst of Unity in An Age of Crisis.”
Hung, Shin-Fung. “Public Spaces and Public Spheres: The Dismantling of Chinese Methodism in the Early People’s Republic of China (1949–1953).”
Macquiban, Tim. “‘Babylon Fallen.’ British Attitudes to Catholicism in the mid 19th Century: The Reaction of William Arthur and William Gladstone to the Irish and Italian.”
Mesaros-Winckles, Christy. “A Case for the Mediated Study of the Progressive Era Holiness Movements: The Impact of Periodical Culture on the Fragmentation of Late Nineteenth Century Methodism.”
Obong-Oshotse, Greg. “A Broad Church in A Straight Jacket? A Gentle Look at The Seven Models of Biblical Authority in British Methodism.”
Paye, Allen. “Rethinking the Concept of ‘Economic Community’ in the UMC Social Principles: Implications for the Poor in the UMC in Liberia.”
Pedlar, James. “Revival, Regeneration, And Reform: Samuel Chadwick on Social Mission.”
Pope-Levison, Priscilla. “The Emergence, Growth, and Decline of the International Methodist Deaconess Movement.”
Tzan, Doug. “Seminary Presidents J. T. Ward and Hugh Latimer Elderdice in the Public Square: ‘A Time to Keep Silence, and a Time to Speak.’”

Associate Member:

Debra Wallace-Padgett

5. Mission and Evangelism

Conveners: Arun W. Jones and Taylor Walters Denyer

Presentations:

Bishau, David. “Towards a Transformative Mission and Evangelism Strategy for the Empowerment of the Mutare District United Methodist Church, Zimbabwe.”
Clutterbuck, Richard. “Worship, Doctrine and Mission: The Contribution of Geoffrey Wainwright to a developing Methodist Theology.”
Dedji, Valentin. “Reverse-Mission and Migration: A Contemporary Wesleyan Missionary Mandate.”
Denyer, Taylor W. “The Salvation of The United Methodist Church.”
Härtner, Achim. “Preaching in an Age of Authenticity. Homiletical Reflections on Communicating the Gospel in a Time of Hyper-Individualism.”
Jones, Arun W. “The Crisis of Mass Movements for Methodist Missions in North India, 1890 – 1930.”
Lear, Heather and Gunter, Stephen. “Combining the Best of Evangelism Education from the Academy with Accessible, Practical Skills and /Assessment Tools to Help Smaller Congregations Thrive in a Changing Religious Landscape.”
Maddix, Mark. “The World is Not My Parish: Toward a Post-Colonial View of Christian Witness.”
Moore-Koikoi, Cynthia. “Black United Methodist Responses to Dual Crises: COVID-19 and Disaffiliation.”
Morris-Chapman, Daniel Pratt. “Methodism in Uganda, Past Present and Future: Probing the Roots of Ugandan Methodism in the Search for an Authentic Wesleyan Identity.”
Rutlidge, Karl. “Towards a Methodist Approach to Trans Liberation.”
Saunders-Hindley, Richard J. “‘The labourers are few’: A Wesleyan Vision for Unity in Mission in the Contemporary Church.”
Scott, David W. “A Missional Connectionalism for the Present Age.”
Stone, Bryan. “Toward a Wesleyan Theology of Evangelism and Social Action: Lessons from the ‘Finding Faith Today’ Project.”
Teasdale, Mark R. “John Wesley’s Evangelistic Theology of Severe Storms.”
Wilson, David. “The Invisibility of Native Americans and Methodism.”
Wingeier-Rayo, Philip. “The Mission Theology and Vocational Growth of Bishop Thomas Coke: The Case of Ministry Among People of African Descent.”

Plenary Panelist:
Shin, Daniel D. “Coming to Our Senses: Cultivating Bloom Spaces in a Time of Global Crises.”

6. Practical Theology

Co-Conveners: Fulgence Nyengele & Peggy Mulambya-Kabonde

Presentations:

Bell, Mindy. “Mapping the Gaps Between Young People and the Church About Sex: An Anonymous Online Survey of Christian Young Adults’ Views on Sexual Ethics.”
Dobson, Melanie. “A Heritage of Belonging: Reclaiming the Means of Grace in Methodist Class Meetings through the Practice of Group Spiritual Direction.”
Edie, Fred. “Faith Formation for ‘New Creation’ Discipleship: Three Essential Elements.”
Johnson, Madelyn. “A Wesleyan-Methodist Response to Survivors of Sexual Misconduct within the United Methodist Church.”
Khalonyere, David Baraza. “Ecclesiastical Politics: An Agency’s and Stakeholder’s Theories Perspective from East Africa Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church.”
Kimpinde, Claude. “Global Perspectives on Modern Slavery: A Reflective Narrative on John Wesley’s Thoughts Upon Slavery and Social Justice.”
Laporta, Hector. “Slavery and Human Dignity.”
LeMaster-Smith, Jonathan. “Bless This Land to Which We’re Bound: An Expanded Understanding of Wesleyan Sanctification for Rural Renewal.”
McNish, Isaac. “Ecclesial Belonging as Salvific Praxis: Toward a Dogmatic and Empirical Methodist Ecclesiology.” (publication pending)
Mount Elewononi, Sarah. “Naming and Reclaiming the Methods of Methodism to Bless the 21st Century World.”
Nyengele, Fulgence. “Cultivating Postcolonial Consciousness: Reading John Wesley’s Thoughts Upon Slavery Side by Side with Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth with Eyes on DR Congo.” (publication pending)
Palmer, Lauren. “Social Holiness for the Sake of the World: John Wesley in Dialogue with N.T. Wright Regarding Sanctification Expressed in Christian Community.”
Pickard, Bonni-Belle and Oscar Siu. “Being Host and Guest: Salvific Hospitality with the Chinese Diaspora and British Methodism.”
Rankin, Stephen. “Motivation to Justice: Wesley’s Soteriology and Congregational Mission.”
Zavala, Pedro. “Towards a Wesleyan Praxis in Times of Missing Lives and Clandestine Graves.”
Zubkova, Ekaterina. “Family Values: Making a Difference in Western Siberia.”

Plenary Presentation:

De Paula, Blanches

Associate Member:

Dutton, Christine

7. Theological Education

Conveners: Jeff Conklin-Miller & Amos Nascimento

Presentations:

Conklin-Miller, Jeffrey. “Revisiting the Course of Study: Resourcing Imagination for Theological Education in An Age of Crisis.” (publication pending)
Costa-Renders, Elizabete Cristina. “Inclusive Education as a Provocation for an Ethical Leap in Christian Education.”
Davies, Mark. “The World is Our Campus: Climate Justice and United Methodist Higher Education.”
Liu, Gerald. “Heartland New Church Development as Artifact for Wesleyan/Methodist Theological Education.”
Lombardo, Claudia. “La Educación Metodista Como Alternativa de Futuro.” (“Methodist Education as an Alternative for the Future”)
Nascimento, Amos. “Intercultural Connectionalism in a Postsecular Era – Perspectives for Dialogues between Theological Education and Higher Education in the Wesleyan and Methodist Traditions.”
Oliver, Christopher. “Theological Education as a Means of Grace.”
Ostlund, D. Scott. “White Racial Formation and the Future of Methodist Theological Education in the United States.”
Phillips, Thomas. “Theological Librarianship Moving Beyond Unjust, Inefficient, Unsustainable, and UnWesleyan.”
Rao, Naveen. “Theological Education in a World of Artificial Intelligence, Crypto Currency, and Pride Community.”
Weaver, Michael. “’In Every Solid Truth Abide’ – A Wesleyan Reflection on Christian Study Centers.”

Plenary Panelists:
Jeong, Dong Hyeon
Mutambara, Maaraidzo

Associate Members:

Bergquist, Greg
Conklin-Miller, Shannon
Dutton, Christine
Viera, Javier

8. Theology and Ethics

Co-Conveners: Lizette G. Tapia-Raquel and Darryl W. Stephens

Presentations:

Bailey, George. “Critical Analysis of the Wesleyan Concept of Growth from Environmental, Economic, and Theological Perspectives.”
Davis, Richard A. “The Grace of Methodist Social Ethics and the ‘Just Desserts’ of Neoliberal Capitalism.”
Eberhart, Timothy. “Who Shall Convert Us? Indigenous Knowledge, Methodism, and the Nature of Salvation.”
Field, David N. “‘Wicked Crises’ and ‘Complicated Wickedness’: Towards a Contemporary Methodist Theology of Sin in Dialogue with John Wesley and James Cone.”
Jiménez-Jiménez, Leonel Iván. “The Planet Is My Parish: Hope and Renewal Facing Planetary Crises.”
Maia, Filipe. “John Wesley and the Political Economy of Enclosure.” Methodist Review 17 (2025): 29–56.
Mwita, James. “African Perspectives on Wesleyan Environmental Ethics.”
Oord, Thomas Jay. “My Response to Bill of Charges.” Revised publication: Thomas Jay Oord, “I Was Expelled from My Church. I Was Found Guilty, but I Do Not Feel Sorry.” Newsweek, September 2, 2024.
Oviedo, Pablo G. “New Creation and Liberating Grace in Jesus Christ: Christological and Ecclesiological Challenges from Latin American Wesleyan Theology.”
Renders, Helmut. “Anthropocene, Great Acceleration, and Social Acceleration: ‘Redeeming the Time’ in an Unbridled Speed-Society.”
Rieger, Joerg. “Beyond the Holocene: Implications of Determining Our Geological Age for the Future of Methodism and the Planet.” (publication pending)
Soendker Nicholson, Trista. “Renewing Connections: The Methodist Movement in a Time of Polarization.”
Stephens, Darryl W. “A Wesleyan Ethic of Response to the Trauma of Climate Crisis.” (publication pending)
Tapia-Raquel, Lizette. “The Online Sexual Exploitation of Filipino Children: A Silent Pandemic.” Publication: Tapia-Raquel, Lizette G. “Online Sexualization.” In World Christianity and Covid-19: Looking Back and Looking Forward, edited by Chammah J. Kaunda, 151–62. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.

Plenary Presenters:

Greggs, Tom
Keller, Catherine
Vaai, Upolu Luma

Associate Members:

Charlton, Matthew
Lancaster, Sarah (Institute Leadership)
Stobart, Andrew

9. Wesley Studies

Co-Conveners: Ashley Boggan D. and Geordan Hammond

Presentations:

Boggan, D. Ashley. “Back to the Method of Methodism: A New Wesleyan (Practical? Missional?) Quadrilateral.”
Bryant, Barry E. “#sumofallvillainies: A Wesleyan Meme Goes Viral.”
Carter, Kenneth H. “Conferencing: A Means of Grace in Process.”
Cherry, Natalya A. “John Wesley’s Singleness and Soteriology, Considered amid Crises over Sexuality Today.”
Cunningham, Joseph W. “Wesley’s Compendium of Natural Philosophy: Aesthetics and Ecology Strangely Warmed.”
Hammond, Geordan. “John Wesley’s Appropriation of Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ.”
O’Brien, Glen. “‘You Writ this Sermon for Hetty’: Reclaiming the Wesley Sisters.”
Oh, Gwang Seok. “The Church, the Means of Grace in the World: Wesleyan Ecclesiology in an Age of Crisis.”
Opalinski, Brett. “The Monastic Wesley: Asceticism in Wesley’s Character of a Methodist.”
Park, Changhoon. “The Development of 18th-Century British Hospitals and John Wesley’s Medical Activities: Focusing on Mental Illness.”
Reinert, Jonathan. “Wesley’s ‘Theology of the Heart’ in Historical Perspective.”
Stalcup, Erika K. R. “‘Begging to Speak Plain’: Methodist Practices of Plainness as Expressions of Social Holiness.”

10. Worship and Spirituality

Co-Conveners: Ron Anderson & Brent Peterson

Presentations:

Anderson E. Byron (Ron). “‘Lest our hymns should drug us’: Congregational Song and the Imagination of the Church.” (publication pending)
Clarke, Martin V. “Singing Justice? Congregational Song and Social Justice in Contemporary British Methodism.”
Grimm, Tammie. “Concerning Catechesis: Just What Are We Committing Ourselves to Do?” (publication pending)
Hendricks, Stephen. “The Interface between Public Theology Practice and Public Health Practice.”
Kim, Sangwoo. “A Wesleyan ‘School of Prayer’ (scola orandi): Shaping Methodists Through Prayer.” (publication pending)
Moul, Miriam. “How might the Hymnody Methodists use Shape the Social Conscience of the Church Today to ‘serve the present age’?”
Peterson, Brent. “Lament as Dangerous Memory: An Eschatological Hope and Sanctified Vocation.”
Smith, Jennifer. “Preaching God’s Providence in an Age of Chaos: ‘God is in control’.”
Westerfield Tucker, Karen. “Faithful People, Claim God’s Promise”: Six Methodists and Hymns of their own Composing” (publication pending)

Associate Members:

Allen, Lisa
Flores, Thelma