it began with a conversation

Transforming Vocation began as a conference that emerged from a conversation between three Australian academics: Andrew Sloane from Morling College, Kara Martin from Mary Andrews College—both in Sydney—and Dave Benson from Malyon College in Brisbane.

In our long journey in the faith–work space, we were concerned that what was needed to move the conversation on was deeper reflection, and some evidenced-based research.  We also felt that there were three parties to the conversation who needed to hear each other: those in the workplace, those in theological colleges, and those leading churches.

We were particularly concerned that theological colleges in Australia were not participating in and resourcing the conversation as well as they could.

which led to a forum with 17 Australian colleges.

A forum of the 17 colleges in the Australian College of Theology was held in November 2018 to discuss results of a survey on faith–work initiatives that had been collated from the colleges.
The forum endorsed the holding of the inaugural Transforming Vocation conference in 2019, and the formation of this website hub to ensure resources were available.

Additional recommendations included:

• Commitment to prayer, as this is a major kingdom concern
• The need for shared language and a broad theological frame
• Significant partnerships between theological colleges, Christian higher education providers, parachurch organisations, churches and denominational bodies to increase capacity for equipping believers in this area
• Fine tune college units, share curriculum, look for models of integrative education
• Championing best practice in churches and in the workplace
• An audit for colleges
• Promoting interdisciplinary teaching and research

We are grateful to Michelle (Mish) Koh, who later joined the coordinating team. Mish has significant experience at Macquarie Bank, within the RICE Movement and lecturing at C3 College. She has resourced the development of this website and is continuing to help us navigate this space with a particular focus on practitioners.