THE REV DR ABRAHAM:	THE REV DR WAINWRIGHT:	THE REV DR TUCKER:
The Albert C. Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology.	The Robert Earl Cushman Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School	Appointed recently as Professor of Worship at Boston University School of Theology.

PLANNING has already begun for the 2005 Aldersgate Convention, which will also mark the 120th Anniversary of The Methodist Church in Singapore.
Scheduled from May 24 to May 28, the 2005 convention will gather three well-known speakers from the United States, the Rev Dr William Abraham, the Rev Dr Geoffrey Wainwright and the Rev Dr Karen Westerfield Tucker.


There will be several evening talks and a two-day seminar, all of which will be held at Methodist Centre. The Aldersgate Service on May 24 will be held at the joint premises of Faith Methodist Church/Queenstown Chinese Methodist Church at 7.45 pm next to the Commonwealth MRT station. Bishop Dr Robert Solomon will be the speaker.


The Aldersgate Convention, an annual event commemorating John Wesley's heartwarming experience, brings the Methodist family together and promotes his vision of Christian discipleship. In previous years the Aldersgate Convention focused on Scripture, Tradition and Experience in Wesley's thought and the 2003 convention also commemorated the 300th Anniversary of his birth.

The 2005 theme, "Faith and Reason: Wesleyan Perspectives", incorporates some of the plans that were put on hold because of the SARS outbreak in 2003. At that time many events were cancelled because of travel constraints and fears of infection.


The Rev Dr Abraham, originally from Ireland, is a leading evangelical Methodist and the Albert C. Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Texas. He teaches Philosophy of Religion, Systematic Theology, Wesley Studies and Evangelism. An ordained elder in The United Methodist Church, he is a dynamic preacher.


He will address the convention during several evening talks.


Methodism came to Singapore in 1885 when two missionaries from the South India Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, James Thoburn and William Oldham, planted a church at Coleman Street. It eventually became known as Wesley Methodist Church.


The other two speakers, the Rev Dr Wainwright and the Rev Dr Tucker, will lead a two-day seminar on worship on May 27 and 28 for both pastors and laity who lead worship.


The Rev Dr Wainwright, the Robert Earl Cushman Professor of Christian Theology at Duke Divinity School, in Durham, North Carolina, has written and spoken extensively on Christian worship and ecumenism. Originally from England, he is an ordained elder in the British Methodist Church.


The Rev Dr Tucker, an ordained UMC elder, chairs the Worship and Liturgy Committee of the World Methodist Council. After 15 years at Duke Divinity School she was recently named Professor of Worship at Boston University School of Theology.


Both the Rev Dr Wainwright and the Rev Dr Tucker have spoken in Singapore before.


The convention will conclude on May 28 with a hymn festival to be co-ordinated by the Methodist School of Music.