Seminars and Tracks at the 2025 Leaders’ Conference

The risen Jesus commissioned his followers to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). But in our mobile world, this mission field is constantly changing. It’s on our doorstep. It’s on our screens. It’s as much in far-flung places as it is just around the corner. 

Three optional seminar sessions during this year’s Leaders’ Conference will focus on specific areas of this call to take the gospel to the world, including: developing mission partnerships; reaching specific people groups; intercultural church ministry; raising future mission workers; the exclusivity of Christ; and more.

We are also running three seminar tracks across the conference, each three sessions long. They will enable you to dig even deeper into a particular area of ministry over an extended time with the same people.

We’re delighted to have experienced pastors and gospel workers to lead these seminars, who can pass on their skills and expertise. They are designed to develop the main conference theme and go into more detail, with the chance to interact and engage with each other as we work through them together.

We hope there will be something relevant to your interests and context. We will be recording and publishing most of the seminars so that you can catch up with them after the conference.

However, some of the seminars have sensitive topics and/or are not suitable for sharing online. We’ll make sure these are clear so you can make sure you attend if you’d like to hear them. Or, if you are coming as a group from your church, it could be a good idea to split up during the seminars and share what you heard after.

Please note: seminar leaders, titles, and summaries are subject to change.

Places on the tracks are available on a first-come, first-served basis, but to sign up you need to commit to all three.

Each session will build on the previous one and the leaders are expecting to work with the same cohort of delegates across the sessions to maximise time together. You will not only benefit from the input you receive but also the interaction and encouragement of others who sign up.

• Matt Waldock (City Church Manchester and UK Gospel Coaching) will lead this track to help you understand why coaching and mentoring is important for developing leaders and learn some basic skills to enable you to make a start yourself.
• Managing change in church life – whether through church planting, church growth, sending out on mission, or otherwise - can bring difficulties to church life. Graham Cooke (Kennet Valley Free Church, Reading, and Living Leadership) will help you think about leading a church through times of change in a careful, wise but ambitious way.
• There are 4 million Muslim people in the UK and almost 2 billion Muslim people around the world. Many of our communities have more Muslim people within them than previously. With the help of gospel workers with experience of reaching Muslim people both at home and abroad, this track will help you understand the breadth of Islam, reflect on how to respond well as individuals and churches, and suggest strategies to speak into the lives of Muslim people at home and abroad.

There is no extra cost for these tracks, but we do need to plan for each beforehand, so please sign up for the tracks if they are relevant to you using the button below. Only those who have pre-booked will be able to attend.

Due to the nature of these tracks, they will not be recorded.

Mission central

Lots of church leaders inherit (or are responsible for) a haphazard and opportunistic approach to mission. How can we refocus, downsize (if necessary), and be strategic about mission partnerships in the church? What does it mean to lead the church in this area?

Michael Prest (UFM) and Anthony Adams (Radstock Ministries) will help us think clearly about a realistic but worthy approach to mission.

What is the mission of the church?

What place, if any, should ministries of mercy have in our commitment to world evangelisation? This question has not gone away since Kevin DeYoung’s 2011 book attempted to answer it, and a younger generation of leaders are still wrestling with it. 

In this seminar, hosted by FIEC’s Theology Team, Ray Evans and Jon Putt (both Grace Community Church, Bedford) will help church leaders wrestle with this age-old question.

“First to the Jew”

When we talk about Jewish people, our conversations quickly turn to politics and current events in the Middle East. Perhaps we also reflect on the terrible rise in antisemitism.

These are real issues, but we mustn’t let them distract from the high calling of taking the gospel of Jesus the Messiah to Jewish people.

Joseph Steinberg (International Mission to Jewish People) will help us see the need, what we can do to help and pray, and what encouragements there are in this important work.

All roads lead to Rome

There are more than 1.4 billion Catholics in the world – the second largest religious group of unreached people only behind Muslims. In fact, they outnumber Muslims in the UK.

Are they really unevangelised? What do Catholics believe? And how can we reach them?

Leonardo De Chirico (Reformanda Initiative) will give us a brief outline of Catholic beliefs, why they need the gospel, and how this connects with our desire to see the nations reached for Christ. 

Rest for the weary

Many leaders come to the conference, tired, exhausted and disheartened. 

This reflective session, led by Matt Searles (author, songwriter), will include space to pray, listen, sing, and reflect, with the aim of being refreshed by casting ourselves afresh on the living and reigning Saviour who knows our humanity and fills us with his Spirit. 

This seminar is space-limited but is repeated in seminar session 2. Please sign up below.

Kingdom building

Led by Jon Broome (Cuckfield Baptist Church, West Sussex, and Kingdom Bank), this seminar will provide help for church leaders who are planning, praying and dreaming about a building project.

It will address three key questions to help reframe any building discussion around the key elements: is it wise?; is it possible?; is it worth it?

Learning from the best

In the mobile world in which we live, the UK is a receiver, not just a sender of missionaries. How do we learn from those that come here to serve?

Chris Hawthorne (Abbey Baptist Church, Oxfordshire) has experience of the mission field in Zambia and will help us think carefully about how churches can welcome and learn from workers coming to the UK.

Women’s gathering: Knowing and Sharing the blessings we have in Christ

This special gathering for women in ministry and wives of men in ministry is a chance for women to meet and connect with others over lunch. It will also give you the opportunity to hear from Rachel Sloan and Elinor Magowan – FIEC’s Directors for Women's Ministry and others in ministry.

After lunch, we will spend some time in God's word looking at the amazing blessings we have in Christ and how we are encouraged and motivated to share them with others, especially women in our community. 

We will share together, reflecting on themes in the conference, and you will be able to connect with other women who might be from your locality for encouragement and support.

Starting from scratch

All across the world, church leaders have learnt how to disciple new believers from ground zero. In the UK, we have often been trading off an inherited Judeo-Christian heritage, but that is fast disappearing, and leaders are having to learn how to rethink discipleship.

Emanuel Tundrea is a Romanian Christian leader and works part-time for the European Leadership Forum. He will help us think about this topic using his experience of working in Eastern Europe.

Caring for your partners

Supporting mission partners is easier than it’s ever been. Yet few of us really maximise the potential of connecting mission partners with our church congregations.

This practical seminar, led by Mary Hodson (UFM), will show us the benefit of doing so and also some of the cautions and carefulness we need when working in some areas.

Help! My church is changing

Our churches are changing as more people move into our communities from abroad and make the UK their home.

In this seminar, we will consider how churches can adapt to these changes with help from members of our Intercultural Ministry Team. We will explore some of the common pitfalls and blindspots that need to be overcome to engage well with those from other cultures that the Lord is bringing to us.

Mission Impossible?

There are two key theological questions for us to wrestle with when it comes to world mission: what about those who have never heard?; what about those who wholeheartedly (but mistakenly) pursue other religions? Can their fate really be eternal lostness?

We might know what we as leaders think of these issues but how do we teach our congregations about them? Properly understood, they are an encouragement to mission and the fidelity of the gospel.

Dan Strange (Crosslands), whose doctoral work wrestled with some of these topics, will lead this seminar, hosted by our Theology Team.

Raising mission-minded kids

Many famous missionaries felt the burden to serve at a young age. Now, mission seems like a topic for old people in many of our churches. We’d love to see young people on fire for Jesus when it comes to world mission, but where do we start?

Mel Lacy (Growing Young Disciples) will lead this seminar to help us thing how we engage young people with the challenge of and call to mission.

Rest for the weary

Many leaders come to the conference, tired, exhausted and disheartened. 

This reflective session, led by Matt Searles (author, songwriter), will include space to pray, listen, sing, and reflect, with the aim of being refreshed by casting ourselves afresh on the living and reigning Saviour who knows our humanity and fills us with his Spirit. 

This seminar is space-limited but is repeated in seminar session 1. Please sign up below.

Governance overload

One of the recurring challenges in church life for both opertaions teams and trustees is the overwhelming nature of governance, either recommended or mandated.

This seminar, led by Becky Thomas (FIEC Church Governance Advisor) and Gavin Smith (The Church Office) will lead us through how to keep a cool head and serve the church well as leaders and trustees.

Mobile world, mobile mission

Our mobile world is more connected than ever. This has profound implications for the work of mission, and also supporting those who serve around the world.

100fold uses mobile technology to enable mission and works with churches and organisations, such as UFM. In this seminar, Ed (100fold) will energise and enthuse us about this kind of work without overwhelming us.

Maybe your next church missionary will be an IT specialist?

The good, the bad, and the ugly of short-term mission

Short-term mission trips sometimes get a bad rep. Others find them wonderfully challenging and life-changing. What part does short-term mission have in the world of mission, and how can local churches maximise this opportunity whilst avoiding the pitfalls?

Mike Smailes (Lansdowne Church, Bournemouth) is a trustee of a mission organisation and started his interest in mission with short-term mission trips. 

Moving beyond the mission slot

How can our desire to see the nations reached impact what we sing, our sermon applications, our prayer life, our small groups?

Kev Croft (Hope Church Vauxhall, London, and London City Mission) will help us think about how we make mission part of the church culture, not just a regular slot in the prayer meeting and service.

Leader-to-leader, church-to-church

We have moved from the classic mission agency model of detached mission to seeing the value of leader-to-leader and church-to-church connection. 

What is the value of us as leaders building relationships with church leaders in the mission field? And how can those connections be truly two-way?

Leonardo De Chirico (Reformanda Initiative) and Emanuel Tundrea (Romanian Christian leader) will show how they have been helped by such connections and give ideas for how churches can maximise connections. 

International students

There are 740,000 students from overseas studying at UK universities: the nations are at our doorstep! Many of these students come from countries where gospel access is difficult or even impossible.

Penny (Knighton Free Church, Leicester, and Friends International) will help us consider how we can welcome overseas visitors who are only here for a short while. And how do we send back students, especially to places where gospel work is very small or even secret? 

Teaching English as church mission

English for speakers of languages (ESOL) classes are a great way to connect with the world on our doorstep. Lots of churches are finding these are manageable ways to make friends in the communities where our churches are located.

David and Maura Baldwin (2:19 Teach to Reach) have many years of cross cultural experience and will help us see how ESOL classes can form a significant part of a church’s mission strategy.

You can find out more and book your tickets on the conference page. Prices are as follows:

• Advance
  Before 6 October: £265
• Standard
  From 6 October: £285

Bookings will close on Friday 31 October.

Your event pass includes access to all the conference sessions, meals (excluding breakfast), and tea and coffee in the scheduled breaks.

If you're not sure about booking yet, watch the video below to hear why people say you should.