Celebrating Talking Faith as a Synod
Caption: Talking Faith Day opens at Hoole URC
Over 100 URC (United Reformed Church) Mersey Synod members gathered at Hoole URC for a day of encouragement and to challenge how we can talk faith with each other and those we live amongst.
Keynote speaker Sam Ward, Director of Ministry at The Message Trust, delivered his message before the day’s workshop began. He gave advice on talking faith including ‘let’s not forget that we are sent by Christ and chosen by him to do his mission’ and that ‘mission and discipleship works better in teams’.
Caption: Keynote speaker Sam Ward , Director of Ministry at The Message Trust
The Café Jam Band performed uplifting singing and contemporary songs to open and close the event, with everyone joining in for two brilliant singing as ‘talking faith’ worship sessions.
Four workshops then took place throughout the day:
Talking Faith with Confidence was led by Revd Stuart Nixon, Birchwood Minister and Emma Howarth, Synod Training and Development Officer. They looked at ‘sharing our faith naturally’ and how ‘a good starting point is talking faith with each other and to know what we believe’.
Revd Mark Greenwood (National Evangelist for Elim) led the Difficult Conversations workshop. He discussed the lessons of street evangelism through to different approaches to talking faith, looking at apologetics and systematic styles. He said that talking faith should be ‘about gentleness and respect’.
The Talking Faith with Children and Young People workshop was with Steven Mitchell, Synod Children and Youth Development Officer and Emma Jackson from West Kirby URC. They asked questions including - what age did you become a Christian? And looked at the statistics of how many people do before the age of 18 (76 %) and in other age brackets. They then put to the groups – ‘if we’re talking faith to children now, what will happen to this percentage? What will churches look like? What can we do?’ They also considered how people are coming to faith. It happens mostly in the home so are we helping parent, grandparents, and other relatives to bring messages of faith?
The Talking Faith in Everyday Life workshop with Revd Stuart Radcliffe, Synod Missional Discipleship Enabler and Revd Louise Franklin, Minister of West Kirby, and Eastham URC, discussed their own experiences of faith and how we can communicate ours. This included an idea someone gave Stuart to ‘gossip the Gospel’ to everyone as there is no forcing talking faith then because it’s part of who you are and your life.
Many brilliant talking faith conversations between different churches took place throughout the day.
Karen Jones said: “I'm so glad I went to this. It was such an uplifting day exploring an important topic. This was my final event with Mersey Synod as I will move into West Midlands Synod from September. Thank you all for the way you have supported me and encouraged me through my training journey.”
Mersey Synod Moderator, Revd Geoff Felton commented: “This was a fantastic and inspiring event celebrating and building on our synod theme of ‘Talking Faith’ and exploring this as both individuals and churches. Thank you to everyone for coming and contributing and to Hoole URC for the brilliant hospitality.”
Here are some ideas from the workshop leaders for further use: Download Here
Caption: Talking Faith conversations taking place throughout the day