Steve McAlpine

Stephen has been reading, writing and reflecting ever since he can remember. His first published piece was his Grade 2 story about a family of mice being terrorised by a shark on the beaches of Perth. He is the lead pastor of Providence Church Midland, and in his writing and speaking dabbles in a number of fields, notably theology and culture. Stephen and his family live in Perth’s eastern suburbs, where his wife Jill runs a clinical psychology practice. In his spare time (aka early in the morning) Steve enjoys running.

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Keynote:

Practise Re-imagining

Central to the goal of re-imagining practice as Christian educators is the practice of re-imagining. Our imaginations have shrunk to what Charles Taylor calls the “immanent frame”. Transcendence has been reduced to our ability to create autonomous, self-curated lives, impervious to the influence of society, institutions, or other people. Yet it’s not working.

When the goal of choice is simply the right to choose, what then? When the opportunities come so thick and fast that FOMO kicks in, what then? What if meaning and purpose lie outside the immanent frame, yet come to us within in? What if central to the task of Christian education is to enable students to practice re-imagining a world bigger than they ever dared dream existed, where choice has a goal beyond itself, and opportunities are seized, not on the basis that they can be, not on the conviction that they are good, noble and true?