Superintendents' Conferences 2021  - Bookings now open!

We are delighted to invite you to join us at one of the two Superintendents’ Conferences, which in 2021 will be held in the same venues we used in previous years, Thame (Oxford) and Blackpool. 

The theme of our conference will be Planning for the Future we are happy to announce that Pete Philips, Jo Cox-Darling, Jane Leach and the Evangelism and Growth team have agreed to be our keynote speakers. We will be joined by the Secretary of Conference and members of the Ministries Team. We have a wide range of workshops offered by Supers, Connexional Team members and others from further afield. It really helps Gabriella if you can sign up for these when you book as it enables us to liaise with the hotels as to the size of breakout rooms etc. A document listing the workshop descriptions is attached here to help you choose your workshop. 

You will notice on the draft programme we have built in sometime around the principles of World Café. Here you are encouraged to come thinking ‘is there something I would benefit from talking to others about?’. For example: It might be how do I set up a young people’s worker appointment, or challenges of filling the plan etc. People are then invited to gather in groups to focus on the issues raised. I flag this now so you might reflect – is there anything you would want to bring? 

As ever places will be limited, over recent years these conferences have been oversubscribed so please do sign up early. This said each cancellation costs the church over £450 and are not easy to fill when people have made other arrangements, so please only make a reservation if you are 100% committed to attending. We appreciate health and family commitment may get in the way but late cancellations due to diary changes are unhelpful and costly. 

We recognise that we are opening these bookings in the middle of a lockdown when nobody can truly predict what we will be able to do in May and June. However, we are carrying forward credits with both hotels from 2019, if we cancel at this point we will be charged a large cancellation fee (as the hotels are saying they will be open for business in May). If the hotels cancel, cancellation fees are waived. Therefore, if we still find ourselves under major Covid restrictions we will amend our plans nearer the time of the conference and will probably offer the retreat “on line”.  

If it helps with your decision making as to whether to book an “in person place” we are actively investigating recording the Conferences and making them available to view on YouTube. However, we all know that it’s meeting other Supers that is often the highlight of gathering at the Conference. 

I look forward to seeing you, God willing, either in Thame or Blackpool. 

The links to book your place is as follows:

For The Oxford Belfry Hotel 12-14 May 2021 – click here

For the Imperial Hotel Blackpool 7-9 June 2021 click here 

For those of you who like to plan ahead you’ll find there are dates for the Supers Conference up until 2025 here! 

May God bless you and the place where you serve.