Last updated 9th February 2024

Diocesan Conferences: Livestream recordings and other resources for ongoing use

IMPORTANT NOTE: MANY OF THE RESOURCES AND MUCH OF THE INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE REMAINS VALID AND USEFUL, SO WE ARE RETAINING IT AS A RESOURCE FOR PARISHES AND SCHOOLS TO LOOK BACK ON AND UTILISE AS REQUIRED. 

Introduction to the Diocesan Conference 2022  #havefaith22

Our Diocesan Conference took place from November 7-10, 2022

It was the first 'in person' conference since our last time together in 2018.

• Watch the official conference highlights video above! 

As well as those attending in person, people from across the Diocese could participate in the conference through regular livestreams every day, including all the key speakers  

• This page has all the livestream recordings in one place to make it easy to watch everything ... just click on the embedded video. 

Meanwhile, this page you are on now will remain live as a resource for our parishes.

The conference - with the title 'That you may have faith: Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of John' was a chance to be together as a Diocesan family; for learning and refreshment. 

The venue is The Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. 

On social channels, the conference hashtag was #havefaith22 and please continue to use it and post comments/thoughts/feedback on the conference to social media using that hashtag. 

And now, a word from our sponsors ... 

Sponsors of our conference

Ecclesiastical Insurance know that what’s truly special needs specialist expertise to care for it.

That’s why they offer dedicated solutions, expert risk management and award-winning service to their customers and partners.

Find out more about Ecclesiastical Insurance here and we thank them for their sponsorship. 

CCLA is the UK’s leading fund manager for charities, church and public sector organisations* with a long history of managing assets for Christian organisations.

CCLA provide the Secretariat for the Church Investors Group, that helps Christian investors world-wide develop and implement investment policies based on their faith.

They aim to deliver sustainable returns in a way that aligns with their client values. Find out more about CCLA here and we thank them for their sponsorship. 

*Charity Finance Survey 2022.

Message about the conference from Bishop Philip

The Diocesan Conference had a range of outstanding speakers to inspire, challenge and help us rejoice in God’s Word all the more.

There were times of worship when we were all together and opportunities to explore different traditions.

There were three ways each morning of studying the scriptures. We delighted in excellent music, art and a range of entertainments including a wonderful new dramatic presentation of John's Gospel to open the conference. Workshops also explored John from every angle imaginable.

Wine almost as good as Cana was tasted. Whisky played a brief but memorable role too!

John gives as the purpose of his Gospel, ‘That you may have faith,’ which was the title of our conference. So our time in Swanwick was not about dusty, dry words and worthy speeches.

It was a time when we could seek deeper faith in the Word made Flesh and delight anew in the mystery of salvation.

During the Covid pandemic, our clergy and lay leaders have been heroic in their work and ministry and there is plenty of evidence that demonstrates this to be true.

This conference was a wonderful time to get together, celebrate, build friendships and express a shared commitment to the ministry of the Church in Lancashire.

It's a Bishop's job to love their priests and their laypeople.

Well, as I said in my closing remarks at the Eucharist on the last day, you all make it very, very easy indeed to do that with your kindness, your affection, your honesty and your absolute passion for the Gospel and passion for ministry.

You are the most wonderful, beautiful church leaders and it's an utter privilege, delight and honour to serve you.

All my love and prayers. 

+Philip

Social media and digital, including livestreams 

We were delighted to welcome a wonderful selection of speakers across the four days to educate and inform us at the Diocesan Conference.

We also had a fantastic range of workshops running throughout the event too and a big thank you to everyone who led or participated in those. We are gathering any handouts and slides that workshop leaders want to send us.

Any handouts we get will be added to the workshops resources section further below as we receive them.

Our keynote speakers (biographies below) were ... 

• Rachel Gardner,  Youth Innovation Lead at St Luke’s, Blackburn; on the team at Youthscape
• Rev Canon Dr Michael Leyden, Dean of Emmanuel Theological College
• Dr Ruth Valerio, Global Advocacy and Influencing Director at Tearfund
• Rev Canon Dr Anderson Jeremiah, Senior Lecturer of World Christianity at University of Lancaster
• Prof Richard Bauckham, Biblical scholar and theologian
• Dr Deborah Lewer, Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Glasgow

We have gathered all the livestreams of the above as recordings in one place here on the diocesan website.

Also on that page are the Choral Evensong on the Wednesday and the final Eucharist (in two parts) from the Thursday.

Note that Michael Leyden's talk is part of the Thursday Eucharist and Debbie Lewer's two talks precede Richard Bauckham's and Anderson Jeremiah's on those livestream recordings.

• Why not have a 'watch event' at your church to catch up with the talks if you haven't already done so?

Bishop Jill's commissioning sermon

You can watch the full sermon delivered by Bishop Jill during the Eucharist at the close of conference as part of the final livestream (link to the livestream page above). And here is a text version. 

Social media

We were active throughout on the diocesan social media accounts.

You can still see everything on Twitter @cofelancs and Facebook/BlackburnDiocese ... either scroll back through the feeds or search for comments and updates using #havefaith22

There's also a flickr album of pictures from across the four days now available to view ... see if you can spot yourself if you were there! 

Thank you for the many positive comments on social media about the conference. A small selection follows and if you want to comment yourself you still can using #havefaith22 or send an email to: communicate@blackburn.anglican.org 

• @alexdjfrost: Massive thanks to @cofelancs for a 'reet good conference'
• @RachelGardnerRA: Comedy night, theatre production, murder mystery, whiskey tasting, contemplation, ted talks, wine tasting, worship, study, amazing food, deepening friendship… this is what happens when @BpBurnley and @JillLCDuff throw a party (otherwise known as our Diocesan Conference).
• @TomkinsonLinda: Home from a wonderful life-giving Blackburn Diocesan Conference. Lovely to meet up with so many different people across the breadth of our Diocese. God was greatly at work. Thank you to everyone who played a part in making it all happen!
• Anderson Jeremiah @TheOutsider40: It was a wonderful privilege to be with the diocesan conference.
• Ian Sarginson @Sargy7: And with that the @cofelancs conference concludes. The programme has been engaging and challenging, yet the most life-giving part for me was to connect with passionate, talented and gifted colleagues. Let’s continue to use those things ‘…so that they may have faith…’ #HaveFaith22

New dramatisation of John's Gospel

One of the standout moments of the four days was a surprise dramatisation of St John's Gospel to open the whole conference.

Masterminded by Rev. James Gwyn-Thomas, formerly of Buckshaw Village Church in our diocese and now in Leeds Diocese, it was performed by actors and musicians from both Dioceses (some pictured). Thanks to all involved.

The whole production was stunning and really well received by delegates.

Script, suggestions for props and also music will be made available soon via downloads here on the Diocesan website so parishes can have a go putting it on locally. We will alert you when the downloads are available through a future edition of Parish Update.

For copyright reasons, sadly we weren't able to livestream the production as presented at the conference; but it was still recorded and we hope to be able to upload it soon in its entirety to our diocesan YouTube channel. 

Speakers' and Chaplains/Bible Study Leaders' biographies

Our full roster of speakers, chaplains/Bible study leaders can be found below. 

Downloadable file of all speakers in one place. 

On Wednesday night we were also entertained by comedian Andy Kind

For a review of Andy's performance by Mark Ashley click here. 

Andy Kind is a comedian, preacher and writer. He started doing Stand-up on January 23, 2005.

By the September of that year, Andy had gone full-time as a comedian and has made a living from it ever since.

He won Anything for Laffs in 2005 and in early 2019 hurdled over the 2000-gig barrier.

Other stuff happened in between.

Described by The Scotsman as ‘Terrific’ and by the Yorkshire Times as ‘Tossing out comic gems in an almost profligate manner’, Andy’s stand-up style is the joyful ranting of a redeemed alpha male.

He has been featured on BBC1, ITV and Channel 4, while he’s had jokes featured on Dave’s One Night Stand and Live at the Apollo.

Read more at www.andykind.co.uk where you can also book Andy for performances in your Deanery; a group of churches or even your own church. 

Workshop resources 

Resources for some of the workshops have been made available by our workshop leaders below. 

Shepherd My Sheep: Mrs Amy White - Handout

John 4: Rev Andy Meeson - Handout

Health and Healing: Rev Susan Salt - Handout

Held in God’s Gaze: Bishop Jill Duff and Rev Nicholas Heale - Handout

Abide: Prof Richard Bauckham - Handout

Ronnie Semley, last updated November 21, 2022