Conference 2012

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

from Monday 18th June to Wednesday 20th June 2012
(lunchtime to lunchtime)
at The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbys.

Singing's a metaphor for preaching; and the Lord's song book is the Bible. We're called to preach in a strange land. It's not a foreign or a hostile land, because it's God's world; it's holy. But it's strange in that it's biblically illiterate, secularized - and going through a communications revolution!

Delegates at this residential conference had the chance to hear.

The Right Rev. Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford, the new Chairman of the College, setting the conference going, with a call to have confidence in our preaching; yes, we can sing and we must!

Rev. Dr. Rosalind Brown from Durham Cathedral, believing that we preachers need to know and be sustained by the Lord's song ourselves before we can help others to sing it. Her talk can be downloaded here.

Rev. Dr. Stephen Wright from Spurgeon's College, listening to the different voices of the Bible, and sharing thoughts about how they indicate the agenda for preaching, the sort of music we need to be singing. His presentation can be downloaded here.

Professor J.W. Robertson, Professor Emeritus of biblical studies at Sheffield University, looking at some of the problems of interpreting the Bible in a strange land.

And Dr. Katie Edwards, also from Sheffield University, talking about 'biblical illiteracy' in our strange secular land. She surprised us; showing how the Bible speaks to many, many more people than we might think!

On top of all that, there were:

sermons to listen to and discuss, and Bible study breaks
an opportunity to sample new College of Preachers e-learning material
the AGM chaired by Bishop Stephen, where delegates could have their say in shaping the future of the College
entertainment and worship.