Help at Different Steps on the Journey (Journeys 2026)

I'm currently training for ministry at Bible college, and my wife and I are preparing to step into church ministry together next year. We’re excited by that, but pretty daunted by it too. We still have so many questions about what ministry actually feels like day to day, about the pressures it puts on family life and marriage, and about how to persevere when things get hard. 

We had been told by a few people that they thought Journeys would be helpful for us, so were keen to go!

We were hoping that Journeys would be somewhere that we could be encouraged and have conversations with people who had wisdom to share on these questions. We’re also fairly new to FIEC, so were looking to get more of a feel for it and meet some of the people involved.

Bible teaching and storytelling

We really enjoyed the weekend. It helped that it was held at a nice hotel - it didn’t feel like a training weekend but more like an opportunity to have a bit of a break from normal life and relax!

Having a weekend where the sole purpose was to stop, reflect, and talk felt like a real treat. We have a one-year-old daughter and were able to leave her with grandparents, which meant we could be fully focused on being at the conference, and had way more time than we normally do to talk things through.

The Bible teaching sessions worked through Philippians, focusing on humility being at the heart of what ministry is and how humility meets so many of the challenges ministry brings.

Alongside this, people currently in ministry shared their own stories: how they got to where they are, what surprised them, what they wish they'd known. These were real, honest and helpful. Hearing people who are decades into ministry talk openly about the doubts they had at the start was particularly encouraging and helpful to hear.

We actually really appreciated that the programme felt quite ‘light’, and wasn’t just loads of Bible teaching – it didn’t feel like we were overloaded.

The value of conversations

Above all, we particularly valued the conversations. Between sessions, over meals, during coffee breaks, there was time and space to talk to others, in ministry and considering it.

We asked questions we wouldn't normally get to ask and heard wisdom from people who had a range of different experiences. Even though the answers to lots of our questions tended to boil down to “you have to figure out what works for you”, it was really helpful to hear lots of different people talk through what had worked for them! 

And the conference gave really valuable space for us to talk together as a couple. We were able to sit down and work through our hopes and fears for the future, not in a rushed ten minutes before bed but properly, with room to think and listen.

Away from the distractions and busyness of normal life we had some of the most constructive conversations we’ve had. For couples considering ministry together, that kind of time can be really hard to come by, and easy to underestimate.

Different stages of the Journey

One of the things that impressed me most was how well the weekend served people at very different stages.

Some attendees were years away from any decision about ministry. Others, like us, were on the verge of stepping in to full-time roles. Some were still trying to work out whether full-time ministry was even something they should be considering.

There was no pressure, no hard sell, just good teaching, wise and helpful conversations, and space to think.

If you're someone thinking about ministry; whether that's a firm plan or just possibility way in the future, we would really recommend going on Journeys next year.