Bigger, Better, Wider, Stronger — being part of Forever Family

It’s a danger when you return home from the mountain-top experience of a Christian camp or conference. Things that seemed so clear and obvious suddenly get a little murkier. The glow of supportive like-minded fellowship is replaced by the often colder reality of ordinary life.

Bigger: But for me, the excitement of being at the Growing Young Disciples Residential Conference has not yet faded. The conference was bigger than ever, having moved to the new venue of the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. Almost 300 youth, children's and family workers gathered for four days of teaching, training, mutual pastoring and support.

Better: Main speaker Christopher Ash was on sparkling form as he walked us through a biblical theology of the family: the first family, a failed family and, for those in Christ, a forever family. Theology, leadership and ministry streams, together with plenty of seminars, offered practical and biblical insights into ministering to children, teens and whole families.

Wider: This year we also welcomed a wonderful team of Hungarian youth workers and pastors, and had several more delegates from mainland European countries. How wonderful to experience the unity we have in Christ that transcends nationality.

Stronger: Our aim with this conference is to support a movement to put joy-filled, exciting, Bible-centred ministry at the heart of churches in the UK. We pray that delegates left feeling strengthened to pursue their ministries in the local church.

You can now listen to the main session talks on The Good Book Company App - available to download for free on the App Store or Google Play. Do encourage anyone involved in full-time ministry to pencil in the dates for next year: 15-18 January 2017. And don’t forget that our first Growing Young Disciples training day of 2017 takes place at Nottingham on March 4th. Full details and booking info here.