Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales

EFCW Summer conferences 2012

Issues facing Christians today

The title of John Stott’s book sets the theme for this year’s summer conferences.  Ethical issues, mostly relating to ‘hatching, matching and dispatching’ are constantly grabbing the headlines and, on many of them, we as Christians need to take a considered stand based on a biblical perspective.  We also need to know how to care pastorally for people grappling with such issues at a personal level.  The speakers have experience and expertise in different fields, so the three conferences will each cover different topics.

12^th May

St Mary’s and All Saints Church, CONWY LL32 8LD 

‘Euthanasia – What would Jesus do?’ Derek Munday

An exploration of a growing pastoral issue.

Dr Derek Munday is a retired general practitioner who was involved in the politics and management of health care provision and who led a Christian organisation for Health Care Professionals.  He is a Reader in the Church in Wales.

19^th May

The hall, St Mary’s Church, Malpas NEWPORT NP20 6GQ

‘End of Life care on the Intensive Care unit’   Jeremy Bewley

issues such as organ donation, euthanasia and the ‘right to die’.

‘A Christian approach to palliative care in the hospice’   Nigel Rawlinson

How to share one’s faith with the terminally ill.

‘Christian perspectives at the beginning of life’   Caroline Virgo

Dr Jeremy Bewley has been a Consultant in Intensive Care and Anaesthesia at the Bristol Royal Infirmary since 2001.  He was educated at Monmouth School, where he was confirmed.  He and his family are presently supporting a church graft in Bristol.

Reverend Mr Nigel Rawlinson is Specialty Doctor, Palliative Medicine, at Dorothy House Hospice.  He is also Honorary Consultant Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals Bristol.  He is Director of Student Affairs, University of Bristol.  He is Associate Minister of All Saints Church, Weston, Bath.

Caroline Virgo trained as a Barrister and is now the Director of Hope’s Place, Bristol, a faith-based Christian charity she established in 2005.  It provides support for women and couples with pregnancy related issues, including crisis pregnancy, baby loss and post natal depression.

26^th May

St Teilo’s Church, LLANDEILO, SA19 6EN

‘Sexual  Challenges for the Family and Positive Responses’ Lisa Nolland

‘Kids, Youth Culture and Sex: The Bad News and the Good’ Lisa Nolland

‘Jesus and Sex Ethics’ John Nolland

Dr Lisa Nolland is web consultant for the informative Anglican Mainstream website.  Lisa has a particular writing and research interest in sexuality in contemporary society and especially the challenges this poses for Christians in a fast-changing context.

Rev’d Professor John Nolland, is Tutor in New Testament, Trinity College Bristol and Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol.  John is an Australian with parish experience in the Diocese of Sydney and previous teaching experience in Canada.

Full details of all three conferences can be found on the EFCW website

Dr Derek Munday is a General Medical Practitioner and has considerable experience in local and strategic leadership in the NHS in England and Wales.  He is also a Christian and a lay reader in the Church of England.

As a doctor, you would expect him to know a lot about ill health and approaches to healing.  But  how does this relate to miracles and healing in the life of Jesus, and to the here and now?

Join us at this FREE partnership event run by the Fellowship of Aberystwyth Christian Staff (FACS), entitled:

Jesus then and now – healing and the miraculous

A doctor’s perspective

The event is free, but if you plan to attend, it would help if you could email CICC on info@cicconline.org.uk

The 12.30pm, lunchtime meeting will be held in Room A14 of the Hugh Owen Building, Penglais, Aberystwyth University, SY23 3BY.  The map to the venue is downloadable below.

There is visitors’ parking on the campus.  Once you’ve turned on to the campus, visitor parking is clearly signposted.  Just follow the road until it ends in a pay and display car park. You’ll pass the porters’ lodge on the left, then the Hugh Owen building on the left and some stairs leading up to the Arts Centre, then a car park for staff on the left.  Follow the road around and up and you’ll see the visitors’ car park.

How can churches become communities that envision, equip and support their people to be fruitful on their daily frontlines – wherever those are?

How can we create a missional people? Jesus called his disciples to be makers of disciples and yet, with all the pressures of local church, the core task of moving people beyond conversion to becoming confident fruitful followers of Jesus in all of life – work, home, leisure, church – can be a daunting one.

Throughout this year, Neil Hudson of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC) is leading training workshops across the UK for church leaders, leadership teams and all those who want to create whole-life disciplemaking churches. He’ll be exploring the biblical vision, the practical principles and the process he’s been learning in his work with churches of different sizes and denominations across the nation, and offering a clear framework for moving forward.

What are the implications for leaders and disciple-makers who want to create a missional disciple-making community? How can people grown in confidence to make a difference on their frontlines? What helps? What hinders? What keeps it going? What resources can help? And how can you discern the right first steps to take in your own particular context?

Neil draws on the LICC’s eight years of reflection and on-the-ground work with local churches, not only to identify the key theological and methodological barriers to whole-life mission but to offer a workable, sustainable framework for creating a disciple-making community.  The key to the approach is new eyes and so, as they have found, it can be begun without new programmes, new premises, new resources… Come and explore

Naturally, individuals are more than welcome, but, given the nature and vital importance of the topic, it’s often more helpful if leaders can come with others from the same church.

The cost of the evening double-session is £6.  Please register by selecting the venue and quantity below.

Once you have selected the venue and quantity, you can then move on to register for other events or Cafes, or to download resources, from elsewhere on the site, or to move directly to checkout, by selecting the ‘Go to Checkout’ button in the ‘Shopping Cart’ section at top right.

(NB.  CICC policy is for events to be accessible to all.  If, for some reason, you are unable to afford the price of any event, but would want to attend, please email us at info@cicconline.org.uk , and we will register you manually).

Colwyn Bay – Wed, 23 May at 7.30pm

Princes Drive Baptist Church [ map ]

Princes Drive, Colwyn Bay, Colwyn, LL29 8LA

Cardiff – Tuesday, 2 October at 7.30pm

Glenwood Church [ map ]

Circle Way West, Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, CF23 6UW

Theology Café is a space for anyone and everyone to come and debate issues of God, life, the universe and everything.

At a time when pop-atheism is all over the media, and yet the numbers of people seeking spiritual truth is at a zenith, what would our world and society look like if a benevolent God really did exist?

Taking place every second Tuesday of the month from 8pm – 10pm at The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff, Theology Café will be led by experts in varied academic fields, who will help us engage with this question.

Third Cafe:

How green is God? - Dr John Weaver

Tuesday, 8 May at 8pm

At a time when the authorities are claiming parts of Britain are both in the middle of a drought AND flooding, the dreaded phrase ‘global warming’ is once again being uttered in many a subdued and whispered conversation.

Does this subject warrant theological reflection?

How bothered is The Divine that human beings are making a mess of the world that He once declared as ‘good’?

Just what are God’s green credentials?

Come along, grab a drink and join in the conversation!

To help fund the Cafe costs, make your donation below, or at the session.

If you would like to support CICC regularly, you can become a partner.

If you can’t LOG ON, download an APP for it, use it as a status update or sync it with your tablet…. Is it still relevant in 2012?  In today’s digital world, what are some of the amazing opportunities and challenges for us as individuals and churches to STAY CONNECTED with society?

What impact is the digital world having on us, where is it going next and will it ever stop?  This session should help you to reflect, re-charge and re-assess the impact social media and digital technology are having on us, our families, and society as a whole.  It will also seek to de-code and present some of the new mission platforms available to us.

This is not just for techies and will be communicated in a language you understand. Parents, Pastors, Teachers, Teenagers – and everyone else – welcome!

Presented by Dave Newton, Director of Outreach, and Richard Bromley, Director of Local Ministries, Youth for Christ.

Colwyn Bay – Tues, 13 March at 7.30pm

Princes Drive Baptist Church [ map ]

Princes Drive, Colwyn Bay, Colwyn, LL29 8LA

Swansea – Wed, 14 March at 7.30pm

Waterfront Community Church [ map ]

Langdon Rd, Swansea, SA1 8QY

Cardiff – Thurs, 15 March at 7.30pm

Rhiwbina Baptist Church [ map ]

Lon Ucha, Rhiwbina, Cardiff, CF14 6HL

By popular demand, this CICC Cafe has returned for a second series – Biblefresh Insights II – Beyond Chapter and Verse.

Are you interested in discovering fresh skills to understand the Bible for yourself?  Have you heard a little about the Hebrew / Biblical worldview, and would like to delve into it in a bit more depth?  Would you love to be energised by the inspired literature of the Bible, and to discover how God has woven the text to entwine the linear truth and a prophetic revelation?  Have you experienced that ‘the letter kills’ but believe that ‘the Spirit gives life’? (2 Cor 3.6)

Well, this CICC Cafe is for you!

The Cafe is running through the Spring and Summer on alternate Sunday evenings, in the style of an interactive workshop.  Participants leave each week with a sense of excitement over having personally engaged deeply in the text of scripture.

The first six sessions have focused on the Beginning – the very first chapter of the Bible, on Creation itself.  We will then explore how this gives us a framework to study the whole of Genesis and, indeed, the whole Bible.  The handouts from the earlier sessions are posted in the Articles > Bible section of this site here.

Paul Hocking, who works for CICC and the Evangelical Alliance, will facilitate the sessions.  Paul has been studying and teaching the scriptures for over 40 years, with a particular love for the Hebrew scriptures, and has been studying the Torah with a devout Jewish academic for the last three years.

The sessions are being held in the beautiful Grade II listed building, The Gate Arts Centre, in the centre of Cardiff.  You can arrive any time from 8pm for tea/coffee, and to socialise with others, before getting down to action at 8.15pm.

Please register for the Cafe dates by selecting the date and quantity below.   CICC proposes a donation of £5 for each Cafe session, which includes coffee/tea, to help cover costs.

Once you have selected the date(s) and quantity, you can then move on to register for other events or Cafes, or to download resources, from elsewhere on the site, or to move directly to checkout, by selecting the ‘Go to Checkout’ button in the ‘Shopping Cart’ section at top right.

(NB.  CICC policy is for events to be accessible to all.  If, for some reason, you are unable to afford the price of any event, but would want to attend, please email us at info@cicconline.org.uk , and we will register you manually).

Come and join in the conversation on this hot topic at this free CICC Cafe in partnership with CARE.

Presumed Consent – Is there a Christian view?

Dr Trevor Stammers of St Mary’s College, London, will set the scene

The Welsh government is proposing a new law for what is known as ‘presumed consent’ of organ donation by 2015. The legislation would require people to opt out of donating their organs when they die, rather than opting in by signing the donor register, as is the case now. The consultation period on the proposals is underway, and is due to close at the end of January.

CICC, in partnership with CARE, will be holding a Cafe-style session to explore and discuss this issue. Dr Trevor Stammers of St Mary’s College London will introduce the topic, and then everyone will have opportunity to explore the issues, in small groups and as a whole. Free tea and coffee will be available and other drinks can be purchased from the bar.

Following the session, CARE will be sending in their own response to the consultation, and you, your church or your organisation may also want to have your say!

The Cafe is free, but it would help to know the numbers who are coming, so click on the CICC email and let us know (info@cicconline.org.uk). Join us in the conversation!

Whatever you think, no matter what your opinion, come along at 7.30pm with an open mind and join in the intellectual carnage!

Autumn topics and dates:

30 October:  Is Torture ever justifiable? with Roy Jenkins

27 November:  Is there a place for mysticism in a rational society?  with Rev Dr John Weaver

Owain Glyndwr lets us use the bar area for free, but obviously assumes attendees will buy drinks from the bar.

For further information, contact Rev James Karran on adomnan@gmail.com

This intriguing topic is about connecting the Spirit of God, the People of God and the Gospel of God!

The presenter will be Krish Kandiah, who is the Executive Director for Churches in Mission for the Evangelical Alliance.

He was formerly Director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and Tutor in Mission and Evangelism at Wycliffe Hall.  He has a passion for helping the church relate relevantly and faithfully to contemporary culture.

This free event is sponsored by Revive, a monthly meeting organised by students of St. Michael’s Theological College, Llandaff, and CICC is recommending this opportunity to all its members.

For more information, contact ben.read@stmichaels.ac.uk