Please note that we have changed the venue for these seminars this year.
Five seminars are planned for this year, with a variety of subjects being covered. Everyone is very welcome to attend any of these seminars but they are aimed at those involved in regularly communicating the Bible to others. Our hope is that church leaders will particularly benefit, not only from the sessions, but from meeting up with a range of people from other churches in the area.
Each seminar comprises two one hour sessions with time for questions. Coffee is served from 9.30am with the first session at 10am. There is a coffee break before the second session which finishes at 12.30pm.
We encourage people to stay behind so that friendships might be built and further interaction take place. We believe this is valuable in getting to know each other with the desire that this might further gospel partnership in this region. Refreshments and cakes are provided, but not lunch.
We have reduced the price of the seminars for this year to £8 per person, and we have also changed the venue. Please note, we now meet at Cowplain Evangelical Church, Durley Avenue, Cowplain PO8 8XA. To book your place on a seminar please contact us using the Contact us. And, if you want a copy of the programme, or directions to Cowplain Evangelical Church please download it here.
We aim to add to this programme relevant training mornings or days, and may, if it becomes possible, extend this to regional events that target particular groups or subjects. Watch this space!
Christian Zionism is that understanding of scripture which teaches that because the Jews are God’s chosen people, they have a divine right to the land of Israel. It is an understanding that influences the view of many Bible-believing Christians towards the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East. It causes some to give uncritical support to Israeli Government policies, believing that it is right for Christians to side with Israel if they are to know God’s blessing. This view is fuelled by a steady stream of popular Christian books. How can church leaders respond to such understandings? Stephen Sizer will contend that Christian Zionism is based on misinterpretation of the Bible. He will give us an introduction to its theology and history and will outline a positive, Biblical response that doesn’t favour one people group over another, but rather promotes peace and reconciliation for both Jews and Palestinians. Time will also be made to look at the implications of Christian Zionism for the proclamation of the gospel and for considering how to deal in a pastoral way with those who hold this belief in local churches. Stephen is vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water in Surrey, and the author of Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon? and Zion’s Christian Soldiers: The Bible, Israel and the Church. He is an active member of the South East Gospel Partnership.
Do people need to be convicted of their sin? If we listen to Christians, sometimes you’d think that it was only the world that had a problem and not us! At other times, when we speak with people who do not follow Jesus Christ, we find an unembarrassed assertion that they are really alright, it’s just others that do real wrong. How important is it that all of us realise that we are sinners? Peter Woodcock is one of the pastors of Fairfield Church in Kingston, and is also actively involved as an evangelist—particularly seeking to reach the students at Kingston University. He has also spoken at the London Men’s Convention, and Evangelists’ Conference. We look forward to him coming to unlock these chapters and to help us see the significance of what they say to us, and to our society that treasures a good sense of self-esteem.
It would be something else to have the crowds running to hear preaching as they did in the times of Whitfield and Wesley. A day when men took the gospel so seriously that they went and preached it in the open-air to whoever was there. And what a response there was!
Robert Oliver comes to speak on this subject from his background as lecturer in Church History at London Theological Seminary. Robert has also preached and taught in various countries, has lectured at the National Portrait Gallery, and served as a pastor for some 35 years. He will be looking not only at the historical realities of the events of the 18th Century, but he will also apply some of the lessons seen there to us today—with the hope that will inspire us, and give us confidence in the power of the Living God, and His gospel, to change lives today.
Even though Jesus told us to go into the world and make disciples, it often seems ingrained in us as Christians to talk about people coming to Christ, and then to discuss the need to disciple them. Yet, didn’t Jesus proclaim a gospel that called people to become disciples straight away? And surely he did not simply come to give people a ticket to heaven?
Stephen McQuoid is principal of Tilsley College where he lectures in Theology and World Views, and is also the author of six books. He helped plant a church at Bellshill, Glasgow, where he remains an elder on the leadership team. He will be exploring this issue and looking at practical ways we can shape our teaching and church life around Jesus’ disciple-making command. Not only will he be asking us difficult questions, but also seeking to give practical insight into how we can be disciple-making disciples.
When considering Missionary work abroad, there are a whole host of questions that are asked in order to be able to reach the people in a relevant way. These questions will include thinking through where people are located, how they live, as well as all the cultural issues that are relevant to someone seeking to communicate the gospel in another land.
Mark Pickett lectures at WEST in South Wales where his main subjects are to do with Mission, and cross-cultural communication. He will be looking at how those sorts of questions are worked out in other cultures, and then how they might be used in thinking through how we reach the people, of our day, in this country. Mark was involved in evangelism, leadership training, and research in Nepal and India for some 20 years. He can also inform us on the delights of buffalo curry!
'Missional capacity is directly related to your relational capacity.'
'Busy-ness is the
biggest killer to
missional work.'
'You need space in
your life.'
From the Seminar
'Future Church' by Mike Frost