The FORUM is a successor to the Seminary of the 3rd Age and continues to offer a unique opportunity to explore issues which challenge people of faith personally and are of concern to the church and its mission in the 21st century. Each FORUM topic will be presented by a thought-provoking presenter who will encourage those present to reflect on their own faith journey.
The FORUM is held at 7 pm on the first Thursday of each month from February to December throughout 2026.
WHERE
Effective Living Centre, 26 King William Road, Wayville, SA.
WHEN
On the first Thursday evening of each month from February to December 2026, from 7pm– 8:30pm.
5 February 2026
Emelia Haskey and Ella Anderson
The Future of Progressive Christianity: Generation Y, Z and Onwards
ABOUT EMELIA and ELLA
Emelia Haskey is a 25 year old candidate for ordination as a Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church in Australia. She currently serves as the Youth Worker at Brougham Place Uniting Church, and has recently started as the Pastor of Unley Uniting Church in a part time capacity. Emelia has completed a Bachelor of Media (Journalism Major) and is in the process of completing a Bachelor of Ministry at Uniting College for Leadership and Theology.
Ella Anderson is a 22-year-old Events Technician who attends the ACC Church Futures Church Paradise, previously known as Influencers or Paradise AOG. She volunteers as a technician and youth leader across Fridays, Sundays, and most major events, recently becoming head of the youth tech team. While looking for the 2025 Uniting Church rainbow service, Ella found the Anglican rainbow service. Connecting over good food and coffee afterwards, Ella got herself on the Anglican Rainbow Network mailing list and found friendships with the other members.
TEASER
Join Emelia Haskey and Ella Anderson, two young adult Christians who grew up in very different denominations as they discuss their journey to discovering progressive theology, and the future of progressive Christian faith communities. This panel discussion will be open to questions and commentary from the audience to enable a thorough conversation around the future of progressive Christianity.
5 March 2026
Panel Presentation
What does Progressive Christianity mean to me?
ABOUT THE PANEL
Panel presentation by Marion Millin and Michael Dowling, with Maureen Howland chairing.
Marion Millin and Michael Dowling are two people who fit John Pfitzner’s description (see teaser below) – two people for whom the journey to Progressive Christianity has been both challenging and fulfilling.
“Someone remarked recently how our older generation had been through one of the
greatest changes ever in human existence – I can look back and see how my own spiritual
journey has progressed within it to now being on what I call the left wing branch of the
vine! But it has also left me wondering how and in what form Christianity will continue into
the future.” Marion Millin
“On my very non-linear journey into ministry, I discovered within myself a passion to make
sense of this life that we live! I developed an almost insatiable curiosity about the
intersection between our lived human experience; the workings of the natural world of
which we humans form an integral part; the ever-changing scientific understanding of the
same; and our understanding of and faith in the God who loves us.” Michael Dowling
TEASER
“People with a more progressive outlook tend to see the need for the tradition to keep
evolving in response to changes in the world.
I would describe progressive Christians as generally being people who are open to new
ideas, who are adventurous and exploratory in their thinking. In many cases they are
disillusioned with the more traditional, orthodox forms of church, whose doctrines, in many cases, they no longer find convincing and helpful. They tend to be people who are looking
for a way of being Christian that fits with their 21st-century worldview.”
The late John Pfitzner
PCNet Progressive Groups Network Day, Effective Living Centre, Saturday 12 November 2011
2 April 2026
Rev Prof Bart Bruehler
Jesus Did Not Conquer Death: Reassessing the Agency of the Resurrection
ABOUT BART
Bart B. Bruehler is the Director of Biblical Studies at the Uniting College for Leadership and Theology. He and his family moved to Adelaide from America where he worked with schools and churches in the Wesleyan tradition. He is the author of A Public and Political Christ and Holding Hands with Pascal as well as several academic articles. His research interests include sociorhetorical interpretation, spatiality in biblical narrative, and affect/emotion in rhetoric. He is married to Anne, and they have three children. They love it when he bakes bread and listen nicely when he plays his trombone.
TEASER
The image of Jesus defeating the powers of sin, death, and the devil has been a recurring theme in the Christian church’s portrayal of salvation. Recent liturgy and worship have focused strongly on Jesus conquering death in the resurrection—that Jesus arose in his divine power and defeated the power of death. Such a view forms a problematic basis for the Christian life and fuels movements like Christian nationalism, which seeks to exercise political and cultural power to achieve spiritual and ethical ends. However, this idea of Jesus conquering death does not reflect the consistent testimony of the New Testament that it was God (the Father) who raised Jesus from the dead. Reassessing the agency of the resurrection can transform the way we approach discipleship, ethics, and politics from a Christian perspective.
7 May 2026
Dr Ruth Sims
Is followership progressive?
ABOUT RUTH
Dr Ruth Sims is the Followership Whisperer. Since completing her PhD on followership behaviours Ruth has developed a professional practice which makes followership ideas and research accessible through writing and workshop development and facilitation. She has presented her work at international conferences and in peer-reviewed journals as well as on substack. Ruth is an active member of the Christ Church Uniting congregation and a non-executive director of Uniting Communities.
TEASER
Can followership be progressive?
Traditional approaches to leadership don’t always deliver what leaders, teams or organisations need. If being progressive means asking a larger set of questions (and not necessarily agreeing the answers) our understandings of leadership can be scrutinised.
How does taking followership seriously question tradition and orthodoxy in organisations? Are there faith-based implications? In this interactive conversation Dr Ruth Sims will challenge how you think about leadership relationships and roles.
4 June 2026
Dr Carl Vadivella Belle
What can Christians learn from the Hindu faith?
ABOUT CARL
Carl Vadivella Belle was born in Adelaide in 1949 and lived in rural South Australia prior to commencing an Arts degree at Flinders University in 1967. This was later completed at the Australian National University. As an employee of the Department of Foreign Affairs, he served between 1976 and 1979 in a diplomatic capacity in the Australian High Commission, Kuala Lumpur, a period which stimulated his interest in Asian societies and religions. He later engaged in periodic journalism and editing for various regional publishers and was for some time Australian correspondent for the magazine Hinduism Today. His doctoral thesis, Thaipusam in Malaysia: A Hindu Festival Misundertood? was accepted by Deakin University in 2004. He was subsequently elected Deputy President of the Hindu Society of South Australia and appointed as the initial Hindu Chaplain at Flinders University. In more recent years he was appointed Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. He has written several books and contributed several chapters and occasional papers to various publications. In 2019 his book Thaipusam in Malaysia: A Hindu Festival in the Tamil Diaspora was runner-up for the Penang Book Prize. He has worked as a consultant to various television and radio agencies advising on the production of documentaries on the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. He has also mentored several postgraduate scholars. He has lived most of the past twenty years in rural South Australia, where he has taken a keen interest in civic affairs, especially in conservation, artistic and welfare community groups.
TEASER
Carl Belle became the first Hindu chaplain at Flinders University in early 2004, so he is well acquainted with matters interfaith. He responded with “I would be delighted!” when asked if he would like to present for PCForum, adding “I am actually going to offer a couple of similarly themed lectures in Malaysia during my forthcoming trip.” He is a published author on the topic of Hinduism in Malaysia, and has formerly worked for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. He is an alumnus of Flinders University, a conservationist, South Australian born and bred, and a very engaging speaker; well qualified to throw some light on the question “What can Christians learn from the Hindu Faith?”
2 July 2026
Rev Dr Lorraine Parkinson
Made on Earth: How the gospel writers created the Christ
ABOUT LORRAINE
The Rev Dr Lorraine Parkinson (BA; B.Theol.; D.Theol.) is a retired ordained Parish Minister of the Uniting Church, and a writer and teacher. She was for two years Chaplain at Melbourne University, five years Minister of West Hawthorn Uniting Church and nine years Minister of St Aidan’s Uniting Church (Now North Balwyn UC), North Balwyn. She was for 18 years Chair of the Uniting Church Victorian and Tasmanian Synod’s Working Group on Christian-Jewish Relations, six years Secretary of the Victorian Council of Churches Working Group on Christian-Jewish Relations, nine years member of the UCA Assembly-Executive Council of Australian Jewry national Dialogue. Her doctoral research on the historical Jesus and the Elijah tradition in early Judaism was conducted in Melbourne, Jerusalem, Cambridge University (UK) and Episcopal Divinity School (Cambridge Massachusetts, USA).
Lorraine is an Associate of the Westar Institute and for 12 years a member of the committee of the Progressive Christian Network of Victoria. She was for 10 years a member of the committee of Common Dreams Progressive Christian conferences.
TEASER
Doctrine remains the byword for Christians world-wide. The gospels are believed by most Christians to be the inspired-by-God historically true record of the life and death of Jesus, who became known as the Saviour Christ. To sustain this belief, the story of Jesus Christ and doctrine must align. The result was extensive editing and additions to the four canonical gospels. Gospel and doctrine have aligned to the extent that extensive 4th century theology is commonly and often unknowingly read back into contemporary understandings of the gospels. Lorraine Parkinson will explain the work of New Testament editors and the purpose and intended readership of each gospel.
6 August 2026
Rt Rev'd Prof Stephen Pickard
A Christian future for the church: at what price?
ABOUT STEPHEN
Watch this space
TEASER
Watch this space
3 September 2026
Panel Presentation
Relevant worship for people with disability and neuro-divergent people
ABOUT THE PANEL
Watch this space
TEASER
Watch this space
1 October 2026
Rev Dr Sarah Agnew
Do we need more poetry and less doctrine?
ABOUT SARAH
Watch this space
TEASER
Watch this space
5 November 2026
Fergus McGinley
New Romans: is it time to update Paul’s great letter?
ABOUT FERGUS
Watch this space
TEASER
Watch this space
3 December 2026
Rev Dr Gary Stuckey
Living Contemplatively: For the Good of Human Community
ABOUT GARY
Gary is a retired Uniting Church minister from Adelaide, South Australia.
In 2005, after serving several congregations in SA and interstate, he helped found Stillpoint, a contemplative worshipping community. In 2008 the Stillpoint Faith Community co-located with the Stillpoint Centre of Spirituality where Ann Siddall was the director. On Ann’s retirement in 2010 Gary became the Director of the centre as well as being the minister with the Faith Community.
He has had over 30 years’ experience as a spiritual director and nearly that long teaching meditation and leading retreats. He has taught the History of Christian Spirituality and an intensive on Benedictine spirituality at Uniting College of Leadership and Theology and co-taught in an ecumenical program for the formation of spiritual directors. He serves as a tutor with the Monos Foundation (UK), a centre for the study of monastic spirituality. He is a Brother in the Community of the Transfiguration, a Baptist Monastery in Victoria (Aus), endeavoring to live a monastic lifestyle in the world.
TEASER
Watch this space