‘ Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.’

2 Timothy 4:2 NIV

The ‘Partners in the Gospel’ conferences for North East Scotland, are designed to encourage and enthuse preachers from all backgrounds and denominations in handling God’s Word with accuracy, relevance and passion.

The conferences aim to mould and deepen convictions about the centrality of biblical preaching, and to promote faithful, authoritative preaching in Scotland. We were delighted that Liam Goligher was our keynote speaker. For this first year our conference took the theme ‘in season and out of season’ – a reminder of Paul’s challenge to Timothy to preach the truth when people want it and when they don’t.

In addition to Liam’s preacher-specific messages, we heard a presentation by the church historian Ian Shaw on the vital lessons to be learned from the preaching ministry of John Bunyan. We also believe that biblical preaching has a crucial role in pastoral work, so we want to encourage one another in this vital aspect of our ministries.

We set aside time to look at pastoral situations that we all face with a Panel made up of the speakers and conference organizers in a session that also provided a forum for open discussion together. Add to that the opportunity to meet fellow preachers from a wide variety of backgrounds over lunch, and browse through an extensive bookstall designed for preachers, and we believe there was much in this special day to re-invigorate our preaching and warm our souls.