Live streamed at https://youtu.be/y3A-W-p3u4A

Aaron Stokes

The Robert Barclay Institute has announced its Spring Symposium to be held Tuesday, March 8, 7:00-8:15 p.m. CST live streamed and in person at the Ross-Ellis Center for Ministry and Arts in the North Atrium.

Dr. Debby Thomas

Aaron Stokes, M.A. Quaker Studies and Registrar at Barclay College, will present “Countering the Secular when it invades the Sacred.”

Dr. Debby Thomas, Dean of the College of Business at George Fox University, will respond. Jakob O’Brien, Intercultural Studies major at Barclay College, will be the student responder, speaking on John Woolman as an example of theological Christian leadership. Dr. Derek Brown, VP of Academics at Barclay College, will be the moderator.

Jakob O’Brien

Stokes’ thesis claims that many churches and faith-based institutions look to the corporate sector and popular culture to influence leadership style, organizational structure, and measurement of success. Looking to these sources is a theological choice with theological ramifications and not simply the means through which theology is communicated. The current institutional and personal sins being revealed in faith-based institutions are the direct results of systems built on a theologically void foundation. This paper will argue that the traditional Quaker structure, decision-making process, and qualifications for leadership subvert the popular methods and, though not perfect, create a different framework that eschews the tendency toward scandal seen in many organizations today. Instead, Quaker framework centers in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Robert Barclay Institute offers academic symposiums that cater to upper level undergraduate students, graduate students, and professional workers at large who want to advance the conversation concerning topics vital to current Christian practice.

The Fall Symposium 21-11-16 “The Christian Heart of Quakerism” can be found at https://www.barclaycollege.edu/resources/seminars/.