Andy and I had the opportunity to head over to Ballymoney in Northern Ireland for a Confident Christianity Conference at the beginning of November. The conference was held over two days, and hosted at Trinity Presbyterian Church by Pastor David Irvine. Between Andy and I, we spoke on six different topics.
I kicked things off with an equipping talk on conversational evangelism and asking questions Jesus’ way (a great resource for this is Andy’s latest book, “How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like and idiot”). This is a great way to set a strong foundation for people as it gives tools for evangelism that can be used in just about any conversation, no matter what the topic. It also sets things up well for the talks that follow.
Andy then spoke on Sexuality: Is Christianity Oppressive? Which led to a lively and lengthy time of Q&A before we closed the evening. There is so much confusion and fear when it comes to the topic of sexuality given the current cultural climate – but we went away from the evening encouraged by the clarity that Andy could bring through the talk and then through the Q&A time where there were many questions around how we can practically love those around us given that we may disagree on sexual ethics.
The following morning we made the long journey across the car park from the manse to the church building to pick up where we left off. After warming up with some coffee and a time of worship, the morning saw Andy and I speak on Evangelism to the Apathetic, Science & God, Where is God in a world of Suffering?, and finally Living for God While Being in Babylon. Again, we had a great time of answering questions after the talks which ranged from practical questions on evangelism, to Islam, and science.
We look forward to visiting Northern Ireland again soon as we partner with more churches there in equipping the Saints for the work of evangelism. If your church would benefit from a day or halfday of encouraging, equipping and training in sharing the gospel in today’s world – then we’d love to bring a Confident Christianity conference to your city, town or village. We work with churches in every corner of the UK, and would be happy to hear from you about what would be most helpful for your church.
