It was a great joy to take the “Confident Christianity conference” to the town of Kirkintilloch Baptist Church (KBC), in East Dunbartonshire, North of Glasgow. The church did a great job in promoting the event to bring a good crowd together, making everyone welcome, and providing refreshments and a great lunch for everyone too. As ever the focus of these events was to encourage and equip Christians to share their faith more confidently and joyfully.
The day began with a devotional message from KBC’s Pastor Mark Fyfe, and some sung worship. Then progressed with a mixture of practical sessions on conversational evangelism from Andy Bannister, a look at a “Biblical Approach to Apologetics” from me and an overview of how to respond to the objection to Christianity raised by suffering. Andy was suffering from a throat infection and so this talk was handed to Steve Osmond – an experienced apologist visiting Solas from South Africa 
that week. That was a great relief for Andy, which enabled him to also deliver a final talk on ‘Can life have meaning without God?” Before ending the day with worship and prayer, conference organiser Chris Morrison had invited the audience to submit their questions to the speakers online or via the roving microphone! The Q&A was really thoughtful, with many of the questions picking up on the themes of the talks, others probing into issues as diverse as, talking to Jehovah’s Witnesses, the place of prayer and experience in evangelism, the reliability of texts and language, and handling emotive topics like sexuality with grace, truth and compassion.
Conference organiser Chris Morrison wrote:
“We had an excellent Confident Christianity Conference at Kirkintilloch Baptist Church. Gavin, Andy, and Steve brought a level of energy, expertise, and passion to the conference that engaged everyone in attendance. The feedback has been universally positive, everyone I have spoken to found the talks encouraging, informative, and helpful in their mission to reach their friends, family, and colleagues with the hope found in Christ. The speakers did an excellent job of addressing common challenges and providing practical tips and strategies for sharing one’s faith. The Q&A session was a particular highlight, as it allowed attendees to ask questions and receive advice from experts on the topic. As a church we are grateful to have been able to partner with Solas to run this event and I would highly recommend the Confident Christianity Conference to other churches looking to equip their members to be more confident in sharing their faith with others.”
Pastor Mark Fyfe added, “I echo what Chris has already said, it was a fantastic conference and hugely helpful with equipping us to confidently share our faith. A Huge thanks to the Solas team for all your input”.
From Solas’s perspective, we were hugely grateful for the welcome at KBC, the engaged, enthusiastic and supportive congregation as well as the opportunity to serve and encourage the church in its mission to take the gospel to the world.
We have had the joy of taking the Confident Christianity conference to many parts of the UK now, from huge cities to remote villages. If holding an event like this might be of use to your church community, please do get in touch by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you.
