Digital Ministry: Mission Shed Gathering
Saturday 28 February 2026, 10:00-16:00 at St Jude's Church, Plymouth
How can we confidently and creatively share the Good News and build communities within our increasingly digital landscape? What are today’s best tools and techniques and what does it mean to be authentic, contextual communicators? This one-day event led by the Diocese of Exeter’s Mission Shed team, will feature talks and workshops from the Church of England Digital Labs Team and Emmaus Gaming, as well as worship from Steve Gibson.
Workshops include: AI in ministry, church tech from scratch, mission through media, photography as a tool for mission, Canva design and vlogging.
To book your free place, click here.
Lent Course on Prayer
To complement the Sunday teaching, we will be holding a 5-week Lent course on Prayer. The sessions will be held twice each week: on Monday afternoons from 12:30pm to 2:30pm (bring your own lunch), and on Tuesday nights from 7pm to 8:30pm. Both will be at St Paul’s Church, starting Monday 23 February.
The aim of the short course is to put some practical flesh on to the Sunday sermons, allowing us to learn HOW to pray but hearing and doing. Each session will involve some teaching, discussion and a time to put what we have learned into prayer. Further details are below. To help us prepare, please let either Gareth or I know that you are coming.
Session 1: The Heart of the Matter (The "Why")
The Intention: We begin by stripping away the "performance" of prayer to rediscover our identity as children of God. This session aims to move prayer from a religious obligation to a relational conversation, grounded in the opening words of the Lord’s Prayer
Session 2: Prayer in the Dark & The Daily Grind (The "When")
The Intention: This session tackles the reality that life is often either "ordinary" or "overwhelming." We use the raw, unresolved honesty of Psalm 88 to learn that lament is not a sign of a lack of faith, but an act of trust that refuses to go silent in the dark.
Session 3: The Prayer Menu (The "What For")
The Intention: Many of us get stuck in a "shopping list" style of prayer, where our own needs dominate our time with God. Using the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) model, this session invites us into a more balanced, biblical vocabulary.
Session 4: The Gethsemane Struggle (When Answers Differ)
The Intention: This is perhaps the most pastorally sensitive week, focusing on the times when God’s answer is "No" or "Wait." We look to Jesus in Gethsemane as our ultimate model for honest wrestling that ends in surrendered trust. The intention is to move from "demanding our way" to "trusting His way," acknowledging that surrender is an iterative, daily process.
Session 5: The Still Small Voice (How We Hear)
The Intention: True relationship involves listening as much as speaking. This session focuses on turning our prayer monologue into a dialogue by grounding our listening in the Living Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). Through the ancient practice of Lectio Divina and intentional periods of silence, we train ourselves to hear the Shepherd’s voice amidst the noise of the world.
Conferences
This spring there are TWO Conferences (almost) on our doorstep that would be well worth investing time and money to attend.
KESWICK in DEVON
KESWICK in DEVON is based at All Saint’s Church Sidmouth (where I did my curacy) and is a 5-day gathering for Bible teaching, fellowship and worship in one of Devon’s premier seaside resorts. This year the conference runs from 2-6 March 2026 and is entitled: CONFIDENT - ‘…continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him.’ (1 John 2.28)
The two main speakers this year are Dr Andrew Ollerton & Dr Helen Miller
Dr Andrew Ollerton is a theologian, pastor and popular communicator. He works with Bible Society and developed The Bible Course, an eight-session guide to the big story of the Bible for small groups.
Dr Helen Miller lectures at Moorlands College in Dorset. She initially taught life skills to young people before lecturing in sports science at an FE College. She has also taught English as a foreign language in Thailand and the UK.
The conference is FREE but offerings are taken up to cover the costs. You can find out more details here: www.keswickindevon.org.uk
RISING LIGHTS CONFERENCE
Nearer to Newton Abbot, but more expensive is the RISING LIGHTS CONFERENCE which runs from 6th to 10th April at the Riviera Centre in Torquay. This is a much bigger conference, with people coming from all over the UK to attend. Rising Lights offers ‘…five days by the coast to hear God's word, to praise our risen Saviour, and to rest. With plenty for adults, teens, and kids, alongside space to enjoy Torquay with friends and family.’
The programme this year includes:
Paul Mallard, former pastor, author, and FIEC Director for the West Midlands, who will be opening up God’s word each morning from the book of Philippians.
Tim Chester, who will help us explore how we can cultivate intimacy with Jesus by looking at the portrait of Christ’s relationship with his people that we find in the Song of Songs.
Glen Scrivener, who will run a seminar track called Evangelism for normal people. Glen will help us think about what we communicate, how we do it, and - perhaps most importantly - how to make a start.
Rachel Jones will help us get better at praying.
Sharon James will lead seminars focussing on the lives of 4 people whose encounter with God renewed their zeal and changed the world. And
James Mildred from CARE will help us consider what Christians should believe about complex issues around the beginning and end of life and help us to act on them in our daily lives.
Weekly tickets are £160 for adults, with big reductions for children and students. You can book and find out more here: www.fiec.org.uk/events/rising-lights