Description
Theology After Dark is an evening for women who want to keep growing in their knowledge and love of God, with space to think about how faith in Jesus speaks into everyday life.
Join us this October for a Mary Andrews College mini-conference that takes seriously the questions we carry in our everyday lives: that they are not separate from our faith, and that what we believe about God shapes how we understand ourselves, the people around us, and the world he has made.
The evening begins with an optional dinner and time to connect, followed by keynote teaching, elective sessions and a closing panel conversation. Across the night, you’ll hear from Mary Andrews College lecturers as they bring robust biblical scholarship together with warmth, pastoral care and practical wisdom.
Choose from sessions exploring how God’s Word speaks into areas such as anxiety and friendship, women in the early church, deaconess ministry, pastoral care, formation and faithful Christian living.
Whether you’re a current student, alumna, or simply someone who wants to keep growing in God’s Word, come on your own, bring a friend, or gather a group from your church community.
We hope you learn something new and connect with like-minded people, but most of all we hope you leave encouraged in your walk with God.
Bring a friend, or gather a group from your church community for an evening of learning, encouragement and fellowship.
Come with questions.
Come with curiosity.
Come to the well with us.
Talks
Co-workers: The Women of Romans 16 - Rev. Natalie Ray
In his letter to the Romans, Paul commends ten women as fellow workers in the gospel, including a deacon and even an apostle. Who were these women, and what roles did they play in the life and mission of the early church? This paper explores the contribution of these first-century women leaders, examining how they served alongside the apostles and other believers in bearing witness to the Lord Jesus. By recovering their stories, we gain a fuller picture of the people through whom God established and strengthened the early Christian movement.
Diaconal Ministry and the “the Re-Discovery of woman”: The Deaconess Revival and the “Woman Question” in Late Nineteenth Century Sydney - Dr Nicole Starling
This talk will look at the beginnings of deaconess ministry in Sydney and consider the various ways in which the discussions at the time were informed by and engaged with the cultural changes and conversations of the day, including the wider cultural conversation about what was referred to at the time as the “woman question.” It will consider what we can learn from these discussions as 21st-century women, engaging with the cultural conversations of our own time as we seek to follow faithfully in the way of Christ and commend it to others.
Could You Not Watch One Hour? What Friendship Does to Anxiety - Ali Courtney
Neuroscience has discovered something remarkable: when we're anxious, the mere presence of someone we trust — a friend, a spouse, a partner — measurably changes how our brain processes threat. Studies using brain imaging show that a familiar hand to hold can ease the mind's experience of dread in ways that being alone simply cannot. What might this tell us about Jesus in Gethsemane — a moment when he was overwhelmed with anguish to the point of death? This talk brings recent research on the biology of anxiety into conversation with one of the most human moments in the Gospels, exploring what it means that Jesus faced anxiety, and what that could mean for how we understand our own. Expect some science, some theology, and some genuinely practical thoughts on facing anxiety — and supporting others through it.
A Framework Worth Living By: Christian Ethics for Life in This World - Rev. Dr Dani Treweek
As Christians, we don't just live in this world, we're shaped by it. Without us even realising, its priorities, values and assumptions often form our instincts, our reflexes, our sense of what's normal and right. This means that, as disciples of Christ who want to live and love faithfully, we need more than good intentions or our own gut sense of what feels right. We need a Christian ethic: a way of thinking and living shaped by what God says, not by what the world assumes. In Romans 12:1-2, the apostle Paul gives us a compact but striking three-step framework for faithful and fruitful Christian living. In this session, we'll step through each part of it: not conforming to the pattern of this world, being transformed by the renewing of our minds, and offering ourselves to God as true and proper worship. As we do, we'll discover why it's a biblical framework worth living by.
Speakers
Dr Laurel Moffatt, Mary Andrews College Principal.
Laurel will offer a keynote to help frame the evening and draw together the invitation to keep growing in our knowledge and love of God. A lecturer, teacher, writer and researcher, Dr Laurel Moffatt has spent the last decade combining her research and writing skills with her love of Jesus and the Bible. With a background in tertiary education and more recent experience as the Diocesan Researcher for the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, she brings strengths of not just qualifications and experience, but curiosity and grace to lead Mary Andrews College as Principal.
Rev. Natalie Ray
Nat will explore the women of Romans 16, recovering a fuller picture of the women who served as fellow workers in the life and mission of the early church. Nat lectures in our Biblical Studies department. She holds Bachelor degrees in Biblical Studies and Theology, and a Master of Arts in Theology. She is also a graduate of our own Graduate Certificate in Pastoral Care for Mental Health. Nat has been in pastoral ministry for over twenty years, and has a great passion for seeing people love God more through rich study of His word. She is also the Magnification and Maturity Pastor at Toongabbie Anglican Church.
Ali Courtney
Ali will connect insights about anxiety, friendship and the body with Jesus’ experience in Gethsemane, offering pastoral and practical reflections for caring for ourselves and others. Ali teaches in the areas of mental health and wellbeing and is a trained counsellor. She studied at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, USA, where she was taught to thoughtfully integrate the areas of psychology and theology. Ali is also a freelance author who writes on themes related to mental health and pastoral care for a Christian audience.
Dr Nicole Starling
Nicole will look at the beginnings of deaconess ministry in Sydney and consider what nineteenth-century conversations about women, ministry and culture might have to teach us today. Nicole has lectured on Christianity in History for over ten years. Her PhD on the temperance movement in Australia (completed through Macquarie University in 2022) formed the basis of her first book, Evangelical Belief and Enlightenment Morality in the Australian Temperance Movement 1832-1930 (Routledge, 2024). Her published research includes articles on evangelical history, the temperance movement, and the ministry of women in early colonial Australia, and she is currently researching the history of the deaconess movement in Sydney. She is the editor of the Evangelical History Association’s journal, Lucas.
Rev. Dr Becki Philip
Becki will help host and guide the evening, drawing the teaching sessions together through conversation, reflection and response. An educator and theologian, Rev. Dr Becki Philip is passionate about the intersection of education, theology, and Christian ministry. She holds a PhD in curriculum from Sydney University and theological studies from Moore Theological College. As Dean of Education at Mary Andrews College, she brings a distinctive blend of theological insight and innovative learning design to shape the college’s educational offerings with depth, creativity, and purpose.
Rev. Dr Dani Treweek
After studying at Moore Theological College, and serving in women’s ministry at a church for almost seven years, Dani completed a PhD focusing on a theology of singleness. She is the founder and executive director of Cross Related (formerly Single Minded) and the author of Single Ever After, The Meaning of Singleness and a forthcoming commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians. She serves as the Executive Director of Cross Related (formerly Single Minded), the Sydney Anglican Diocesan Research Officer, and is an honorary Senior Research Fellow with Mary Andrews College. When she's not writing, reading, speaking, and training on how the gospel shapes us and our relationships, she's probably drinking a good cup of chai, listening to an endless stream of podcasts, or getting cuddles from her nephew and niece.
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