Australian College of Theology Office Covid-19 Response Plan

ACT response

All the information contained in this response section and the finances section will also be distributed to colleges directly.

From 19 March 2020 until further notice, the ACT office is closed to visitors. This is in response to the current Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic and a dedication to the safety of our community. Please the video below for a message from the acting Dean, Rev Dr Graeme Chatfield.

Update 7.4.2020: All ACT staff members are currently working remotely.

 

Contacting us

Email or web forms on this site are the preferred contact method. However, phone calls will be directed to a senior staff member for any calls received at the office between 9am and 5pm on weekdays AEST.

Community Prayer

Prayer of the Day

We are stopping our other work tasks every day from 10:15-10:30 am (in your local time) to pray for the ACT and wider communities.  We would love our affiliated colleges to join us. We also have a prayer partner for every college, and they will be in contact with their colleges.

Prayer of the Week

In Reconciliation Week, but also during this particular time, a prayer from prepared by Wontulp-Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group, 13 March 1997.  Widely available on the internet, I found it here on the Sydney Anglican site.

Reconciliation Prayer

Holy Father, God of Love,
You are the Creator of this land and of all good things.
We acknowledge the pain and shame of our history
and the suffering of our peoples,
and we ask your forgiveness.
We thank you for the survival of indigenous cultures.

Our hope is in you because you gave your Son Jesus
to reconcile the world to you.
We pray for your strength and grace to forgive,
accept and love one another,
as you love us and forgive and accept us
in the sacrifice of your Son.

Give us the courage to accept the realities of our history
so that we may build a better future for our nation.
Teach us to respect all cultures.
Teach us to care for our land and waters.
Help us to share justly the resources of this land.
Help us to bring about spiritual and social change
to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities,
especially the disadvantaged.

Help young people to find true dignity and self esteem by your Spirit.
May your power and love be the foundations
on which we build our families, our communities and our nation,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

 

ACT Prayer Points

Pray for churches and leaders as they work through new allowances with church services, for wisdom, clarity and love.

Pray that during this time, we won’t forget the many other crises in the world which ask for our compassion and our justice.

Give thanks for how God’s people have been responding to changes and finding new ways to be God’s people in a changed context.

 

College Prayer Points

Pray for our colleges that they will be able to start thinking through what a changing situation will mean in their particular contexts.

CTCA

  • Pray for the mercies of the Lord so that the global pandemic of COVID-19 can be contained soonest possible. Pray that the patients be healed, the medical staff be safeguarded and the death rate be minimised. May God give peace to the city that we are living in.
  • Due to the rapid outbreak of the COVID-19, we have to urgently cancel our scheduled public events and temporarily lock down our office following the Government’s directives. Our staff will be working from home and all our classes are to be conducted online until further notice. Pray that the impact on our operation and the students’ learning is minimised.
  • With God’s blessings, the College is to celebrate its 20th Anniversary in September 2020. Pray for the preparatory work of the thanksgiving dinner scheduled for Sunday 13th September 2020 and the publication of a testimonial booklet and that we can proceed as planned.

Mary Andrews College

  • Give thanks and pray for MAC’s new college Principal, Rev. Dr Katy Smith, who started in the role in mid-March.
  • Pray for our lecturers and students as they adjust to teaching and attending classes online via Zoom during COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
  • Pray for other college staff working from home or taking leave while our office is closed temporarily.
  • Pray for those of our students who may be struggling to maintain momentum with their studies and assignments in the middle of all of the other changes brought on by this pandemic.
  • Pray for students who are finding it difficult to not have access to college library while our office is closed and classes taught online temporarily.
  • Pray for students who are struggling with technology and internet access required for classes online.
  • Pray for students who have their own and their family members’ pre-existing health conditions that still need to be managed and treated in the middle of this pandemic (and who may also therefore be at greater risk if they caught COVID-19).

Morling

  • pray for the process of finding and appointing a new Education Faculty Dean
  • In praise for God’s provision and sustaining grace to us all
  • In praise that as far as they are aware no one in the Morling community (including MRC) has been infected COVID19.
  • That they will be able to re-establish good rhythms of learning and engagement after ANZAC weekend as students come back from mid-semester break.
  • For Peter Friend as new Dean of Students as he finds his feet in this role and actively considers how to care and support students in this new environment
  • For staff communicating via zoom and email, that they will be clear and gracious in communication and decision making.
  • For students who are now facing significant financial hardship due to loss of jobs, reduction of hours and the like.

RTC

  • Thank God for the encouraging student growth we have had this year.
  • Praise God for the desire our students have to grow in their faith and their usefulness to God. Pray RTC may be effective in preparing many faithful gospel workers.
  • Ask the Lord to lead many more to take up study at the RTC in 2020.
  • Praise God for the capable and united staff team he has blessed us with.
  • Pray that RTC lecturers would be faithful and godly in their teaching and ministry.
  • Praise God for his provisions for 64 years of RTC’s ministry.
  • Thank God for the events RTC is able to hold each year and pray they may be a great help and encouragement to those who come.
  • Pray that God would provide for the financial needs of the College.
  • Pray that RTC’s ministries, Barkley Hall and The Way discipleship program, would bear gospel fruit

Ridley

Please pray for the Online preaching conference starting 22 April on preaching the cross, and the 70 people enrolled.

Pray for learning and teaching which is back on zoom again this week after Easter.

Pray for staff, faculty and student wellbeing morale in these testing times.

Vose

Pray for staff at Vose Seminary as they face two significant changes and one challenge common to all ACT.

  • Vose which is part of Baptist Churches WA, like all BCWA staff have had their hours cut by 20% due to Covid but still have the same amount of work to do.
  • Vose is exploring a merger with Morling. As with any change, a source of uncertainty and thus anxiety for those concerned.
  • Like all colleges, Vose is working hard at improving their enrolments for semester 2.

Please send any prayer points to either your college prayer partner or to Megan Powell du Toit. mpowelldutoit@actheology.edu.au

Direction for ACT meetings and staff

  1. Attending meetings in person to be avoided where possible
  2. All ACT meetings (Board of Directors, Audit and Risk Management Committee, Academic Board and its committees, the ACT Annual General Meeting, and ACT staff meetings) to be undertaken in virtual mode rather than face-to-face
  3. No domestic or international travel for any ACT purpose (except with the express permission of the Acting Dean)
  4. ACT staff to work from home where feasible, except for senior staff as directed by the Acting Dean.

Resources for Learning and Teaching

We have created a folder accessible by ACT faculty, with resources for teaching and learning during this time

It can be found here. You will need to log in with your staff ID.

 

Important information

National Coronavirus Hotline: 1800 020 080

For general advice about COVID-19 including how to protect yourself and others, symptoms, and when to get tested, visit the Australian Government’s Department of Health.

Factsheets for tertiary students and staff are regularly updated by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment.

For information and responses particular to independent higher education providers, please also see IHEA.edu.au (ACT is part of the IHEA network and our response has been informed by their publications).

Finance

Graduation documents

Certified transcripts

  • All graduates will be sent a physical certified transcript on conferral of their award.
  • Students who request a certified transcript while the office is closed will, by default, have their transcript digitally encrypted and sent to them electronically. Physical transcripts can be distributed by the Registrar where required but will take some time to produce and post.

Australian Higher Education Graduation Statements

  • All graduates will be sent a physical certified Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS) on conferral of their award.
  • Students who request a reissue of their AHEGS while the office is closed will, by default, have their AHEGS digitally encrypted and sent to them electronically. Physical copies can be distributed by the Registrar where required but will take some time to produce and post.

Testamurs

The production of testamurs has been temporarily paused. This is because testamurs need to be produced by the ACT’s Academic Services team, physically signed by the ACT Dean, distributed to the graduate’s primary sponsoring college for co-signing, and then physically presenting the document to the graduate.

Given the intention to increase social distancing between individuals, and the processes involved in preparing these documents, production of testamurs is paused. All graduates, and their current or potential employers, and any education institution, can contact ACT to verify that a graduate has been issued with a particular qualification. We understand that this is not ideal, but is a temporary measure to maintain the ability to verify the conferral of qualifications while at the same time protecting our staff. Graduates can contact ACT to verify their awards by choosing the “student enquiry” option on the contact page.

When the ACT office re-opens, all testamurs in waiting will be produced and distributed.

Event announcements

  • The ACT Ltd Members’ AGM on 5th May 2020 has been re-cast as a hybrid meeting and members will be sent an e-invitation to attend via videoconference.
  • The ACT Consortium Conference and Principals’ Day 2020 which was due to be held 12-13th June 2020 in Sydney, has been postponed to a later date in 2020 (exact date TBA).
  • Being and Belonging: Disability, Church, and Community, our conference which was due to be held on 16-17 April 2020, has been postponed.
  • The Registrars’ Conference, which was to be held on 3 April 2020, is changing format. A series of interactive video conferences will be held with ACT Registrars to facilitate professional development and provide updates and information for ACT college Registrars.
  • All upcoming scheduled meetings of the Academic Board, Coursework Committee, and Research & Research Studies Committees will be held by Zoom video conference.

Higher Degree by Research Candidates

As the COVID-19 crisis has evolved the ACT has been carefully monitoring University responses to the disruption of HDR candidates’ research. At the meeting of the Research and Research Studies Committee on 17 April 2020 it was decided to extend all ACT HDR candidates’ course end date by one semester. This has been communicated to all HDR students and colleges. We are thankful for the support by supervisors for students facing disruptions both to research and to life in general. We continue to assess how best to support research and our research students within this new and changing environment.