‘God’s Glory our Joy’ Conference 2009

The 9th and 10th of October saw a good number of Christians from all over the North West of England gathering at the Emmaus Church Centre in Warrington for this year’s ‘God’s Glory our Joy’ conference. The conference has been running each year since 2000, and is subtitled ‘Building Biblical Churches for the 21st Century’, which sums up the nature of the conference addresses. Each of the addresses covered an aspect of Christian living in the context of our changing society, with a particular emphasis on our individual and collective contributions to the life of our local churches. The conference is aimed as much at ordinary church members as at church leaders, apart from the first session on Friday afternoon, which was aimed specifically at church leaders.

This year saw addresses from Chris Hand (Crich), Ian Higham (Belvidere, Liverpool), Oliver Allmand-Smith (Ramsbottom), and Stephen Rees (Stockport). The Conference Sermon was preached by Steve Wood (Ulverston). In each of the addresses we were challenged to live differently from those round about us, being obedient to Scripture, and in so doing to witness for Christ to those who need to know him. The content of the addresses was not just Bible teaching, but very practical application of that teaching to everyday life, and in particular to our church lives. This is so needful in our present society where we are surrounded by challenges to our Christian faith. Our churches need to be our spiritual homes, where we gain strength, support, and fellowship, to enable us to go out into the world and live for Christ.

As well as enjoying the ministry, it was good to renew fellowship with those from other churches around the North West, and to make new acquaintances while we browsed the bookstall or sat together at lunch. Many have been coming to the conference for several years, but it was good to see a number of new faces as well. Facilities for babies and children meant that whole families could come together, without one parent having to stay home to look after the children.

Next year’s conference is provisionally booked for 8th and 9th October 2010 at the same venue. The addresses from the conference can be downloaded from www.ggoj.org.uk. Addresses from previous years’ conferences are also available on this website.