2026 Biennial Conference
SHARED WISDOM. SHARED PRACTICE.
ARPTE warmly invites you to gather at Vaughan Park, Auckland, for its 2026 conference, Shared Wisdom. Shared Practice. Held 16–18 November. As ARPTE continues to bring together theological educators alongside practitioners in supervision, chaplaincy, spiritual direction, and CPE, this conference offers a shared space for connection, encouragement, and renewal. In a context where many work in relative isolation, we gather to bridge divides, cultivate community, and rediscover one another as companions in reflective practice. Reflective practice is more than a technique or professional add-on—it is a way of being in the world, shaped in relationship. Come and be refreshed among colleagues and kindred spirits in a place of beauty, contemplation, and hospitality.
Information on our Call for Papers can be found here.
More conference details (accommodation, transport, etc.) can be found on the Humanitix booking page.
Keynote Speakers
The Right Reverend Te Kitohi (Kito) Pikaahu ONZM
We are pleased to announce that The Right Reverend Te Kitohi (Kito) Pikaahu ONZM, Bishop of Te Tai Tokerau (Northland Auckland) will not only open our conference but will lead the initial plenary gathering around the conference theme of Shared Wisdom. Shared Practice.
Bishop Te Kītohi “Kito” Wiremu Pikaahu ONZM is the Anglican Bishop of Te Tai Tokerau and one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most respected Māori church leaders, known for integrating theology, tikanga Māori, liturgical scholarship, and indigenous perspectives in church leadership and formation. His long-standing ministry, including international leadership in the Anglican Indigenous Network and contributions to liturgical development, offers a significant model of theological reflective practice grounded in faith, culture, and community engagement.
Dr Cath McKinney
Knowing and Not Knowing: The Pursuit of Certainty as a Resistance to Good Work.
A primary question present for me in the context of my role of teaching professional supervision practices is, “what gets in the way of people doing good work — together?”
Drawing on Wilfrid Bion’s concept of ‘hatred of task’ and the Winnicottian posture of ‘good enough,’ I will address a working hypothesis that:
A retreat into (the fantasy of) certainty is a response to the very real and present danger of being in a state of un-knowing. This state of unknowing can be so anxiety provoking that the idea of being and staying ‘certain’ becomes a way of existence through which anxiety is then managed. Consequently, it gets in the way of ‘good work’ and contributes to practices governed by binaries where collaborative endeavour is understood as working in agreement with, rather than in alignment to, to the service of a purpose.
About Cath
Dr Cath McKinney is the Director of the Partnership of Professional Practice at the University of Divinity. She has extensive experience as a group relations consultant where she is most interested in what gets in the way of people being good to one another.
Cath graduated with her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Divinity (through Pilgrim Theological College) in 2020. Her thesis, entitled Leading Saturday Lives is centred around the experience of disappointment as central to an authentic understanding of a Christian theology – from Mary as bereaved mother to the presence of the absence of God in the disappointment of Holy Saturday. Her research was stirred by her work as a prison chaplain and as a minister in an inner-city community church for many years.
Cath specialises in teaching Professional Supervision, Practical Theology, Feminist Theology, and Group Relations.
Rev Dr Sean Gilbert
Reflective Practice and the Contemplative Life: A Synergy of Vocation and Being.
It is not unusual to speak or hear of a ‘contemplative stance.’ And while that might mean different things to various religious and non-religious groupings, to contemplate given realities is to see at depth, resulting in a greater wisdom to share and a more reconciling disposition within the riven worlds of our making.
Interestingly, embedded in the Christian tradition exist streams of wise practice rooted in an aesthetic appreciation of God which values the contemplative stance as a mutual beholding. That is, we see more deeply as we are prepared to sit still long enough to be seen and loved in a graced state of beauty.
Sean’s keynote address will therefore suggest that such a dynamic and transformative experience need not be kept at arm’s length from our professional callings but intentionally shape them. Whereby, we are equipped by an indwelling spirit of wise graciousness. Comprehended in such an aesthetical light, reflective practice is by no means a learned technique or the ‘next best thing.’ Rather, it is a potent way of expressive being, radiant, yet attuned to the deep sufferings of the world. Practically speaking, it is notable for its en-couraging and ennobling characteristics.
About Sean
Sean Gilbert is currently the President of ARPTE. He recently retired from Uniting College, SA as Director of Pastoral Theology and Ministry Practice. His teaching and writing most often revolves around the possibility of theological reflection to not only activate the mind but to move the human heart to greater capacities of wisdom and compassion. His resources are numerous. The most significant presently being poetics, music, and voices from the Christian tradition that plumb the depths of human experience in relation to the Divine.
Morning Devotions Facilitator
Miriam Jessie Fisher
Miriam Jessie Fisher is an interdisciplinary lecturer in education and theology, a poet and textile artist at Laidlaw College. Her research interests include creativity and arts in education, spirituality and formation, and engagement between theology, the arts, and imagination. Her work often focuses on recovering and celebrating women in the Bible through research, poetry and textiles. She is interested in creative educational practices and theological expression that honours the context of Aotearoa/NZ. Miriam Jessie has a post-graduate qualification in ministry supervision, a Masters in Theology, and a Bachelor of Education.
