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PreachFest is a three-day festival created to inspire and enliven the craft, art and vocation of preaching across churches in Australia. The event involves a series of speakers and workshops for attendees.
PreachFest is organised by the Uniting Church Synod of NSW & ACT in partnership with the Synod of Vic/Tas and is open to anyone across Australia and beyond to attend. There will be in-person venues in Sydney and Melbourne and online ticket options for those who would like to attend remotely.
Stan Grant and Amy-Jill Levine will be the keynote speakers for PreachFest 2023.
Stan Grant is Vice Chancellor’s Chair of Australian/ Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University. He has worked in journalism for over 30 years and has authored several non-fiction books.
On 17 July 2021, he delivered the inaugural Gladys Elphick Memorial Oration as a keynote address at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas.
He recently made headlines with his departure from hosting ABC TV’s QandA series.
Rabbi Amy-Jill Levine is a University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies, and Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, Graduate Department of Religion, and Department of Jewish Studies; she is also an Affiliated Professor, Woolf Institute, Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge UK.
Her books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2007; audiobooks); Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, among others.
She was the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute; in 2021, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Taking place from 1 to 3 November, PreachFest is a festival focusing on the vocation of preaching. People gather from around Australia to hear from preachers and learn more about the craft.
The event will take place across locations in Sydney and Melbourne. St Stephen’s Uniting Church will host the Sydney event, while Melbourne’s will attend Wesley Church. Some parts of the event will also be available to stream online, including the keynote speaker sessions.
As well as the keynote speakers, guest speakers will include Megan Powell Du Toit and Michael Jensen (the hosts of the With All Due Respect podcast), Sally Douglas- Associate Lecturer and Honorary Research Associate at Pilgrim Theological College, and Uniting Church President Elect Charissa Suli.
Amy Jill Levine will be speaking remotely.
Early bird tickets are now on sale until 31 July for the three-day event.
Preachfest takes place from 1 to 3 November. For more information about Preachfest, visit the official website here.
