I’ve been asked to give an attendee’s personal view of this conference. So, let’s begin with a question: Why go to an academic conference? There are many reasons and motivations, not least of which, very often is to give a paper and be recognised for that, at the conference, in the academic community and back at the home institution. Since this can turn into a very utilitarian transaction and because I have never had a “career” based on full-time employment in an academic institution the reasons I go to conferences are much more broadly conceived.
I’ve been involved, with varying degrees of commitment, with the International Association of Mission Studies (IAMS) since I began thinking about taking up a professional doctorate programme in missiology in the year 2000, while I was working in Tanzania. As an Anglican priest, then based back in the UK, I used my doctorate to develop a working life as a ‘priest-theologian’ between ministering in a local church setting and in national and international theologically reflective networks. From the very beginning the aspects I have appreciated about IAMS conferences in general are…

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