26th & 27th February 2025

An online two-day symposium for practitioners and academics in the field of Congregational Studies. 

The event is ‘by invitation’ but please contact the event administrator if you have an interest or experience in the field of congregational studies and would like to be invited: [email protected]

Keynote Speakers:

Nancy Ammerman is Professor Emerita of Sociology of Religion. Her most recent research – published in her edited 2006 book Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives (Oxford University Press) and her 2013 book, Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life, (Oxford University Press) — explored the ways religion and spirituality are part of the everyday world of work, home, health, and public life. Following on that research, she has articulated an invitation to “re-think religion” based on sociological theories of practice and a body of research on “lived religion” (American Journal of Sociology 126(1), July 2020). Pulling all of this together is her book Studying Lived Religion: Contexts and Practices, which was published by NYU Press in 2021.

Helen Cameron is a practical theologian  interested in participatory approaches to research, working with groups and teaching and learning. She is involved in the development of Theological Action Research and the four voices of theology as an approach to practical theology.
She has published in the field of congregational studies spanning theological and social scientific approaches. She recently co-edited a volume highlighting evangelical engagement with practical theology. ​She is on the editorial boards of two journals: Practical Theology and Ecclesial Practices

Mark Cartledge is a Church of England minister with extensive experience in ministry over many years. He has taught in seminaries in Nigeria and the USA, as well as St John’s College, Durham. He has also worked in departments of Theology and Religion at the Universities of Wales (Lampeter, now called Trinity Saint David) and Birmingham. He is a practical theologian who has specialised in the study of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity. His most recent book is entitled: The Holy Spirit and Public Life: Empowering Ecclesial Praxis (Minneapolis, MN: Lexington Books / Fortress Academic, 2022).

Korie Little Edwards is a University Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Sociology and leading scholar of race and religion in the United States, with a particular focus on multiracial churches and the black church. She is the author or co-author of numerous books and articles, including The Elusive Dream: The Power of Race in Interracial Churches, the awarding-winning Smart Suits, Tattered Boots: Black Ministers Mobilizing the Black Church in the Twenty-First Century, and Estranged Pioneers: Race, Faith and Leadership in a Diverse World. Little Edwards is also a highly sought-after national and international speaker and co-host of The Elusive Dream Podcast.

Andrew Root is the Olson Baalson Associate Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in Minnesota and a prolific writer. His book The Theological Turn of Youth Ministry won Christianity Today’s Book of Merit award and he has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. He is most recently the author of Christopraxis: A Practical Theology of the Cross (Fortress 2014) and Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker, 2014) and he has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs.