This year’s Festival of Learning was held in a fully online mode and attracted over 100 registrations from all around Australia.
Built around the theme, Speaking Many Languages, Hearing One Voice, the Australian Lutheran College (ALC) program offered participants an introduction to a number of subjects offered by the college. They also were able to attend a wide variety of elective sessions, ranging from deaf ministry through to a presentation on the hidden language of bias.
Daily panel discussions on current issues facing the church also proved popular, with topics including ‘Church planting in the variety of Lutheran school contexts’ and ‘Changing ministry contexts’.
Many participants made the most of attending ‘conversation hour’ at the end of each day, where they could discuss topics that had been offered throughout the day. It was in these sessions that the comment, ‘We need to keep having this conversation [in the church]’ was mentioned again and again. One of the aims of the annual festival is to open up theological conversations, and these remarks demonstrate that ALC is being successful in this endeavour.
Feedback received from the event was overwhelmingly positive and included comments such as ‘stimulating’, ‘powerful’, ‘fabulous’, ‘interactive’, ‘I learnt so much’ and ‘I never knew that’.
ALC plans to hold another Festival of Learning in 2023. The date claimer and program outline will be available later this year.
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