Huntingdon Hosts AFTE Conference

Photo: Huntingdon President J. Cameron West, left, with Dr. Scott Jones, Bishop of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church

Montgomery, Ala.—Huntingdon College hosted the annual John Wesley Fellows Christmas Conference for A Foundation for Theological Education (AFTE), December 9–11, 2022. The event welcomed 65 participants, with attendees from as far away as Africa and Russia.

AFTE is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization founded in 1977 to strengthen the classical Christian witness within the United Methodist Church. The organization was founded by Dr. Albert C. Outler and Dr. Edmund W. Robb Jr. in the belief that support of theological education in the evangelical Wesleyan tradition was important to revitalizing the church. The foundation awards John Wesley Fellowships to selected doctoral students. Since 1977, grants totaling more than $3 million have been awarded. There are 141 John Wesley Fellows, many of whom teach in colleges and seminaries. Four members of the Huntingdon College Department of Religion faculty are John Wesley Fellows: Dr. Stephen Sours, Dr. Sarah Sours, Dr. Diana Abernethy, and Professor Lane Davis, Huntingdon Class of 2003.

This is the first time Huntingdon has hosted the conference. Dr. Stephen Sours, working with Sandy Kelser in the Office of the President, made the conference arrangements. Attendees toured Montgomery’s Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, with issues of peace and justice as central themes for the conference. President J. Cameron West was among the conference presenters.

“It was an honor to host this group of scholars at Huntingdon College,” said President West. “The discussions and presentations were thought-provoking and enlightening, representing the diverse breadth of the international Methodist Connection.”

Huntingdon College, founded in 1854, continues a legacy of faith, wisdom, and service through a liberal arts academic tradition grounded in the Judeo-Christian heritage of the United Methodist Church.

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