Report on MATS 2011: the Inaugural Conference of the Melanesian Association of Theological Schools

Abstract

The idea of organising and hosting a non-denominational theological conference at Pacific Adventist University (PAU) was first raised in 2009. The university was in the process of developing postgraduate degree programs and promotion of research and publishing was high on the agenda. Perhaps all of the enthusiasm led to some overreaching - early plans for the conference were Pacific-wide and too ambitious. The cost of travel is prohibitive and attracting national faculty and postgraduates from the Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Polynesia would be very difficult. After PAU added conference funding to its budget in the first half of 2010, finding an appropriate conceptual framework for the conference became a matter of priority. A concept was needed that would attract participants from around PNG, and, hopefully, further afield. Slowly, a plan to revive and reconstitute the Melanesian Association of Theological Schools (MATS) began to take shape. If an annual conference were to come under the MATS "banner", then it would be "owned" by everyone. Further, if an annual meeting of the Association were to be held in conjunction with an annual conference, then theological faculty and postgraduate students from all over Papua New Guinea might be persuaded to attend both. MATS had been inoperative for more than ten years, so this was an important initiative for the whole region.