Aldersgate Convention 2002
                 start of more such events

 It will be held at Paya Lebar MC from May 21-25

          THE Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS) will be organising an annual Aldersgate Convention, which will be held in May.
The convention will have a two-fold purpose:
It aims to help church members explore scriptural holiness and Christian discipleship in our                Wesley heritage, and
It wants to bring the Methodist family together each year in this church-wide event.

 
Dr Thomas Oden: An experienced teacher and prolific writer.		            The series will kick off with the Aldersgate Convention 2002 to be held at Paya Lebar Methodist Church in Boundary Road from May 21 to 25 this year.
           The speaker for Aldersgate Convention 2002 will be Dr Thomas Oden, the Henry Anson Buttz
Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, in the United States.

            The theme is "The Tradition of the Church from a Wesleyan Perspective". The week-long programme will be held in the evenings from 7.45 pm to 9.30 pm.
            Among other topics, Dr Oden will be talking on "Wesley and Christian Unity", "The Holy Spirit in the Church" and "The Renewal of the Church".

             On the morning of May 22, there will be a combined pastors' meeting at which he will speak on "Pastoral vocation in the 21st Century: Lessons from my Theological Pilgrimage".

            At the Aldersgate Service on May 24, which will be a combined bilingual service, he will speak on "The Church and Sanctifying Grace".
            The convention will end with a Wesleyan Hymn Festival on May 25.

            Bishop Dr Robert Solomon, whose office is organising the event, said: "The Aldersgate Convention 2002 will be a major and exciting event for the MCS this year. Our church members can look forward to an enriching experience. All our local churches should mark the dates and encourage their members to attend."

            Dr Oden has wide teaching experience, having taught at various top universities in the United States and given addresses in various parts of Europe. He started teaching at Yale University in 1956.
            His expertise stretches across various disciplines such as counselling and psychotherapy, systematic theology, pastoral theology and church history, especially patristics (Church fathers). A prolific writer, he has written numerous books and contributed many articles on these subjects.       

            He is the Consulting Editor of Christianity Today and Contributing Editor of Journal of Christian Counselling.     

            He was ordained as a deacon of The United Methodist Church in 1954 and became an elder of the Oklahoma Conference in 1956.