Leaders Matter (EHA/ Ridley Melbourne Biennial Lecture)

The lecture was delivered in two parts by Rhys Bezzant, lecturer at Ridley Melbourne, and Wei Han Kuan, CMS State Director.

You may listen to the audio for each lecture, download the transcript for Dr Bezzants lecture, and download the slides for Dr Kuans lecture.

Dr Rhys Bezzant  – ‘The Better Hour is Near: Wilberforce and Transformative Religion”

Please see transcript of the lecture Wilberforce and Transformative Religion

Dr Bezzant is Dean of Missional Leadership and lecturer in Christian Thought at Ridley Melbourne, and the founding director of the Jonathan Edwards Centre for Australia. His paper will take us back to a crucial period in evangelical history – the early nineteenth century – when a group of wealthy London Anglicans moved into the same suburb and formed the nucleus of a protest movement with the goal of abolishing the slave trade. Their petitions, mass publicity, networks and sheer determination left a lasting impact on the British Empire and the evangelical movement worldwide. William Wilberforce, one of the greatest speakers in English history, embodied the spirit of the forward-looking revivals but was not able to secure successors for the movement: a fascinating case study of leadership and its limits.

Dr Wei Han Kuan  – “Alf Stanway and the CMS League of Youth”

with Audrey Grant, Janine Stewart and Iain Payne

Please see corresponding slides in pdf  EHA Lecture – Stanway and LOY

Dr Kuan holds degrees in arts, law and theology, and a doctorate in history. He is currently serving as the State Director of the Church Missionary Society, Victoria. His paper will evaluate Alf Stanway, a man described by an Archbishop of Sydney as one of the most gifted, devoted and dynamic servants of the Gospel of his generation.  Missionary bishop and statesman in East Africa, college deputy-principal in Melbourne, and college founder in Pittsburgh are but three job titles that barely describe the span of his activity.  Stanway was converted and nurtured through the ministry of the CMS League of Youth in Melbourne.  The League was perhaps the most powerful force for evangelical spirituality in Melbourne through the middle of the twentieth century.  Its story, and Stanway’s, provide insights into the way in which evangelical societies like CMS functioned to encourage and enable leadership for the wider church.