Plans are in place for the 2021 Annual Conference. The dates are set for Tuesday 6 April to Thursday 8th April, and the Conference will hopefully take place again at the popular venue High Leigh in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

Key speaker

The key speaker at the event will be John McGinley, who will be unpacking the theme of 'An Unchanging Gospel' over three days:

• Session 1: 'Everything has changed: understanding our missional context'
• Session 2: 'Nothing has changed: the call to make disciples'
• Session 3: 'Making changes: restoring missional confidence'

John recently finished being Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Leicester where he worked for 11 years and oversaw the development of missional communities and church planting teams. While remaining on the team in Leicester he is now Head of Church Planting Development for New Wine and the Development Enabler for the Archbishop’s College of Evangelists. 

He is author of Mission Shaped Grace and Mission Shaped Living which express his desire to give confidence and equip people to be disciples who make new disciples of Jesus Christ.

John is married to Bridget and they have two grown-up daughters and a mad springer spaniel. Apart from evangelism the other thing he loves to talk about is sport. He is a season ticket holder at Leicester City FC (although he is actually a life-long Liverpool supporter!).

Youths and young children

It is planned for The Youth Conference to run alongside the main conference, details of which will confirmed. And a programme of activities is also planned to amuse and inspire the younger children.

Barn Dance

 By popular demand, we are also hoping to include a Barn Dance for an evening session of swirling and toe-tapping fun!

Booking

The planned schedule and a booking form will be posted as soon as we are able to confirm details and High Leigh availability.

The Annual Conference is an enjoyable way for the Connexion Community to come together for prayer, worship, learning, discussion, inspiration, fun and friendship. The 2021 gathering will be the 199th event, and following such difficult times, we hope it will be possible to make the occasion better than ever!

The photograph shows Connexion members at our 2019 Annual Conference at High Leigh. Due to the Coronavirus epidemic our 2020 event was sadly cancelled. We pray that 2021 may bring our community together again - in person rather than through Zoom!

We have been notified by High Leigh that CCT has closed all of their conference centres. Their public announcement can be found on their website: https://www.cct.org.uk/organiser/coronavirus-update

Sadly, therefore, we confirm that the Connexion Conference, booked from 14 to 16 April 2020, has been cancelled. 

We would be grateful if you would communicate this notice to all of your church members who have made bookings to attend the Conference.

We will be considering later in the year our plans for this year’s Annual General Meeting, which is a requirement of our charitable status, and we will keep you informed as soon as this is possible.

Those who have already booked their places for the 2020 Conference, and paid their Conference fee, will be contacted to arrange a refund.

On behalf of the Trustees

The Connexion

Sadly, we confirm that our 2020 Annual Conference, booked from 14 to 16 April 2020, has been cancelled.

For further details, please click on the link below:

https://www.cofhconnexion.org.uk/what-s-new/13-conferences/208-notice-conference

The Annual Conference is an ideal way for the Connexion Community to come together for prayer, worship, learning, discussion, inspiration, fun and friendship. Last year’s event at High Leigh was a huge success, with a record number of attendees from our churches, and we have high hopes that this year’s event will be a fabulous occasion.

The 2020 Conference will run from Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 April 2020, again at the popular High Leigh venue in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, with its beautiful buildings and grounds. 

Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker this year is the celebrated Rev Mark Greenwood, National Evangelist for Elim Pentecostal Churches, who work in the UK, Ireland and over 40 nations around the world. Mark has earned a reputation as a hugely inspiring teacher, having wisdom, insight and a great sense of humour.

Barn Dance

Barry Goodman and his barn dance team are also returning to the Conference in 2020, by popular demand, for an evening session of toe-tapping fun on Wednesday 15 April.

Youths

The Youth Conference for our 13 to 18 year-olds will run alongside the main Conference with its own programme, and the youths will also be joining us on a number of occasions. Jess Beaumont, a Youth Worker at Ruwach Church in Haywards Heath, will be their guest speaker. 

Younger Children

There will be plenty of activities going on to amuse and inspire the younger children as well, run by Joanne Kennedy and Ellie Lake from Turners Hill Free Church.

A new introduction for this year is a planned crèche provision to enable more of our families with young children to attend. You will notice on the booking form that we are inviting a voluntary donation of £10 for our under 12s to help to cover the costs for the crèche. However, please be assured that we would not want this to deter people from attending, so if this might be prohibitive, please just let us know.

Booking

There is still time to book your places for the 2020 Conference. Please click on the links below to complete the Booking Form and see the Provisional Programme.

We look forward to seeing you there!

2020 Conference Booking Form

2020 Provisional Programme

Book now to receive an Early Bird discount for your Conference places! The offer expires on 22 February.

Last year’s Conference was a huge success, with a record number of attendees from our churches, and this year’s event promises to be equally good – if not even better!

Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker for 2020 is the celebrated Rev Mark Greenwood, National Evangelist for Elim Pentecostal Churches, who work in the UK, Ireland and over 40 nations around the world.

Following his appointment in January 2017, Elim Pentecostal described Mark as: ‘Known as an evangelist who presents the gospel in a humorous and engaging way, he loves equipping Christians to share their faith, giving them resources to help. He is passionate about helping the local church to build an evangelism culture that works and loves changing the perception that those outside the church have about Christianity’.

Gary Gibbs, their REACH Director, added: ‘Mark Greenwood is a very funny man, but he is deadly serious about reaching people who are far from God. You would need to look long and hard to find a more gifted and fruitful evangelist.’

It looks like we could be in for a treat!

Barn Dance

By popular demand, Barry Goodman and his barn dance team are also returning to the Conference in 2020, for an evening session of toe-tapping fun on Wednesday 15 April.

Youths

The Youth Conference will be running alongside the Conference with its own programme, but they will also be joining us on a number of occasions. Jess Beaumont, a Youth Worker at Ruwach Church in Haywards Heath, will be their guest speaker. 

Younger Children

In addition there will be plenty of activities going on to amuse and inspire the younger children, run by Joanne Kennedy and Ellie Lake from Turners Hill Free Church.

A new introduction for this year is a planned crèche provision to enable more of our families with young children to attend. You will notice on the booking form that we are inviting a voluntary donation of £10 for our under 12s to help to cover the costs for the crèche. However, please be assured that we would not want this to deter people from attending, so if this might be prohibitive, please just let us know.

Early Bird Discount

The event runs from Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 April 2020. Please click on the links below for the Conference Booking Form and the Provisional Programme.

An Early Bird discount is available for all bookings made by 22 February.

So make your booking now - and we look forward to seeing you there!

2020 Conference Booking Form

2020 Provisional Programme

Churches in Sierra Leone will be holding their three-day Annual Conference for members from the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion churches from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 February 2020.

The event will be held at St Mark’s Cathedral in Waterloo, and the theme for this year is Psalm 23 ‘The Lord is our Shepherd’. The Conference will conclude on Sunday 9 February with a special Thanksgiving Service.

Prior to the Conference an Episcopal Message has been distributed by Magnus Bendu to all members of The Connexion churches in Sierra Leone.

Episcopal Message for 2020

People of God I greet you all as we celebrate another year in the Gregorian calendar. The last year 2019, brought different things to different people – some joyful, some painful but God was the same in all circumstances.

Whatever your assessment of the past year is - positive or negative,  take heed to what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In everything, give thanks: for this is the will of God concerning you.” I therefore urge you this year to bring anything you want to do before God and ask for His perfect will. He will lead you to greener pastures if you follow Him.

I want to assure you that in 2020 the Lord shall be your Shepherd and you shall not be in want because He is able to provide all your needs. Therefore all I implore you to do is believe in the Lord Jesus, walk through any valley and shadow without fear; but always dwell in His presence and His goodness and mercy shall follow you.

Magnus Bendu

The photograph is of St Marks Cathedral, Waterloo, Sierra Leone

Last year’s Conference was a huge success, with a record number of attendees from our churches, and this year’s event promises to be equally good – if not even better!

Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker for 2020 is the celebrated Rev Mark Greenwood, National Evangelist for Elim Pentecostal Churches, who work in the UK, Ireland and over 40 nations around the world.

Following his appointment in January 2017, Elim Pentecostal described Mark as: ‘Known as an evangelist who presents the gospel in a humorous and engaging way, he loves equipping Christians to share their faith, giving them resources to help. He is passionate about helping the local church to build an evangelism culture that works and loves changing the perception that those outside the church have about Christianity’.

Gary Gibbs, their REACH Director, added: ‘Mark Greenwood is a very funny man, but he is deadly serious about reaching people who are far from God. You would need to look long and hard to find a more gifted and fruitful evangelist.’

It looks like we could be in for a treat!

Barn Dance

By popular demand, Barry Goodman and his barn dance team are also returning to the Conference in 2020, for an evening session of toe-tapping fun on Wednesday 15 April.

Youths

The Youth Conference will be running alongside the Conference with its own programme, but they will also be joining us on a number of occasions. Jess Beaumont, a Youth Worker at Ruwach Church in Haywards Heath, will be their guest speaker. 

Younger Children

In addition there will be plenty of activities going on to amuse and inspire the younger children, run by Joanne Kennedy and Ellie Lake from Turners Hill Free Church.

A new introduction for this year is a planned crèche provision to enable more of our families with young children to attend. You will notice on the booking form that we are inviting a voluntary donation of £10 for our under 12s to help to cover the costs for the crèche. However, please be assured that we would not want this to deter people from attending, so if this might be prohibitive, please just let us know.

Early Bird Discount

As always, we are offering an Early Bird discount for all bookings made by 22 February.

The event runs from Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 April 2020. Please click on the links below for the Conference Booking Form and the Provisional Programme.

We look forward to seeing you there!

2020 Conference Booking Form

2020 Provisional Programme

A record number of 90 young people attended the Sierra Leone Annual Connexion Youth Conference, which took place from 18 to 20 December at Huntingdon Secondary School in Jui.

Magnus Bendu, who organises the event, said: ‘We were expecting approximately 50 to join us for this three day event, and are delighted that the youths are yearning to come together to study and glorify God.’

Every sleeping bag was put to use in order to accommodate the extra numbers and additional money was sent to ensure there was enough food, including rice, which is a rare treat for many. Magnus sends his thanks everybody for their prayers and support.

Donate

To contribute towards the important work of The Connexion in Sierra Leone, please click on Donations. All donations, no matter how small, are of huge value to help us to continue the Countess of Huntingdon's legacy.

As we are making preparations and looking forward to the next Connexion Annual Conference, it is lovely to look back to the beautiful tapestry, which was presented at the Conference in 2000.

Members from each of The Connexion’s 22 churches featured in the work, took a great deal of time and effort to create a needlepoint picture of their own church. 

The colours and textures illustrate the church buildings with remarkable accuracy, and when brought together as a complete tapestry they look stunning!

Dates for your diary

Last year’s Conference had excellent attendance and was a hugely enjoyable affair. We are hoping next year’s will be equally good – if not even better! 

Dates for the Annual Conference 2020 are Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 April 2020. The booking form will be posted on the website in the New Year, with an Early Bird booking discount before the end of February, but don’t forget to put the dates in your diary now!

Some happy recollections from Mark and Lorraine from Sheppey Evangelical Church, who came to The Connexion Conference at High Leigh for the first time this year. 

"Our first impression when we arrived at High Leigh was how peaceful and relaxing it was just to be there, looking out on the gardens was beautiful.

The people were very friendly and approachable, and over the course of the three days we felt we had made some new friends.

We were really impressed with the sense of unity within the churches and how they all support and worked together. It made the whole conference such a success.

We were blessed most of all by Dr Michael Quicke's teaching over the three days, it really gave us so much to think about and ponder on, so much so we bought his books to learn more!

We look forward to going again in the future."

Mark and Lorraine

Sheppey Evangelical Church

Don't forget to put next year's dates in your diary for the 2020 Conference: Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 April

We thought the Connexion Community would enjoy sharing Michael Quicke’s reflections, from his Blogspot, following the 2019 Conference.

Lady Selina

‘In the heady days of eighteenth century revival with John Wesley and George Whitefield, Lady Selina experienced dramatic Christian conversion which led to her extraordinarily fearless witness to all - peers and servants - as she established preaching centres using every ounce of influence and wealth for the gospel. Facing opposition from the established church, she reluctantly organised her connection of churches of over a hundred chapels as a group of separatists. She stands out as one of the most significant women in Christian history.

Knowing that I was going to speak, a US professor friend wrote to me: “The Countess of Huntingdon! Oh, wow! Dear Lady Selina. I had no idea her Connexion still existed. Where do these congregations exist?” I read this to the conference who with laughter, wanted to reassure him that they do still exist! I promised to write and let him know. True, numbers of churches have shrunk to 22 and some of these are small but The Connexion's spiritual life with its partner Connexion in Sierra Leone was evident from the very first.

My wife Carol and I loved sharing sessions and meeting friends from places ranging from Ely, to Middleton, to Eastbourne to St. Ives, Cornwall. Children and young people had very lively parallel activities. Interestingly, at a Mission Marketplace churches had been asked to bring details of their recent outreach. I went from table to table, picking up leaflets as members enthusiastically described their hospitality projects, schools' work, overseas' commitment, work with special groups etc. Wonderful.

In my three talks on the Connexion's values: Welcoming, Supporting and Networking, I introduced some of the challenges that come with being a missional church. Of living in the faith and vision that GOD IS AT WORK EVERYWHERE AS HE GATHERS AND SCATTERS HIS CHURCH AS MISSIONARIES. I warned them to be ready for OUCH moments when God would ping them with a fresh challenge and maybe rebuke! People told me they experienced several of these. Indeed one person said they were sitting near the door to escape too many more!

So, I am grateful I was well enough to undertake this. The Connexion had asked prayer for me earlier in the year and when I first arrived I was encouraged by the people who asked me about my health and said they had been praying. Thank you Lord for opening up to Carol and me another part of your great family.’

Dr Michael Quicke

Click here to read more articles from Michael’s Blogspot