THE Societas Homiletica, an international society of preachers, pastors and professors of homiletics, will hold its 6th International Conference at Trinity Theological College from June 12 to 17, 2004.


The college will host the conference, which is entitled "Preaching as Shaping Experience in A World of Conflict".


The Societas Homiletica had its origin in the celebration of the 600th anniversary of Heidelberg University in 1986. But it actually came into being at the International Conference held in Oslo, Norway, in 1993.


The keynote speakers for the Singapore conference are Professor Song Choan-Seng, Professor of Theology and Asian Cultures at the Pacific School of Religion at Berkeley, the United States, and Professor John S. McClure, who leads one of the few doctoral programmes in the field of homiletics in the US as the Charles G. Finney Professor of Homiletics at Vanderbilt University School of Divinity in Nashville, Tennessee.


Prof Song has made seminal contributions to the exploration of interactions between the Christian faith and contemporary social-political and cultural-religious situations in Asia. He lectures internationally, particularly in Asia, and has served as visiting faculty at Princeton Theological Seminary and Doshisha University in Japan.


He is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, where he was born, and currently serves as the President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.


Prof McClure has perfected a model of collaborative preaching, a method which includes laity in sermon brainstorming and development.


The methodology is outlined in his book, The Roundtable Pulpit: Where Leadership and Preaching Meet, which has inspired many preachers and colleagues within the church to incorporate this process in their sermon preparations.


Arrangements are being made available for delegates who wish to go on regional tours to do so after the conference. Available are tours to Malaysia (Penang, Langkawi, Malacca, Desaru, Sibu Island Resort and Kuantan), Indonesia (Bali and Bintan), Thailand (Bangkok and Chiang Mai), and China (Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen).


For enquiries and registration, please call Trinity Theological College at tel: (65) 6767-6677 or fax: (65) 6767-6477 or email: admin@societashomiletica.com