Our recent #HomeGrown online conference - 'Hearts on Fire with love for you' - for parishes across Lancashire was a great success; with hundreds watching live and thousands more watching the recordings in the weeks since. 

There were also hundreds of people who participated in the 12 online seminars available. 

We are deeply grateful to all those who contributed to making the conference happen in any way. 

Everything was 'homegrown' from Lancashire in a fast-paced magazine format on YouTube – 'Netflix for church' as someone put it!

The series of live sessions featured a road trip to six very different contexts across the Diocese, as well as poetry, stories, worship, kids’ pick me up, keynote addresses, and seminars.

Over 200 people booked into seminars and over 5000 (and counting!) viewed online, either live or in the days and weeks since. There were lots of heart-warming moments, but also honesty about the challenges we face.

The conference was organised by our Being Witnesses team with the online broadcasts produced by Jim Cooke of Centreline films.

Bishop Jill, who chaired the conference planning group, said: “As the nights were drawing in, and another lockdown was on the horizon, it was a God-given opportunity to come together as a Diocesan family of parishes, chaplaincies and schools to have our hearts warmed by the fire of God’s love”.

To catch up on some of the best bits of the five hours of content, plus seminar resources, visit this page of the Diocesan website.

Meanwhile we now have a highlights video available too ... you watch it here ... 

Ronnie Semley, November 2020