5 reasons to go to Catalyst Live 2016
Still not decided whether to go to Catalyst Live? Two Baptist ministers give their reasons why you should
The days, hours and minutes are counting down quickly to Catalyst Live 2016. The Birmingham event is completely sold out, but you can still get tickets for Reading on 17 November.
Why should you go? We asked two Baptist ministers, who previously have been to Catalyst Live in Reading, what they liked about it and why they are going again this year. Here’s what they said:
1. The speakers
Lucy Wright, minister at Worcester Park Baptist Church in Surrey, enjoyed the variety of speakers when she went to Catalyst Live in 2014.
“It was really helpful that there was a wide range of different speakers,” says Lucy. “It is a global-wide view rather than just people from the UK or the West. I don’t often have an opportunity to hear speakers from a global perspective.”
2. The format
At Catalyst Live, the talks are mostly 20 minutes long, something Nick Hudson, Minister Team Leader at Wokingham Baptist Church, particularly liked when he went in 2013.
“I enjoyed what seemed to me to be a unique format, which is lots of bitesize elements with different people contributing on a whole variety of different things,” he says.
3. The location
Lucy found the Concert Hall in Reading, where Catalyst Live is being held again this year, very convenient.
“The venue was very good because it was quite near the station,” she says. “It was a nice hall and a good space to be in.”
“I recommend going to Catalyst Live to have your thinking challenged, your perspective broadened and to hear voices that you wouldn’t hear otherwise speaking into your context.”
Nick Hudson
4. See friends and discuss issues
Lucy loved the opportunity to catch-up with friends at Catalyst Live and discuss the day with them.
“There were a lot of people that I knew there,” says Lucy.
“Through the breaks I was able to chat to people and see what they thought about the issues being raised.”
5. A place to think
Both Nick and Lucy enjoyed having a space to stretch their thinking, something they don’t often have in day to day ministry.
“The opportunity to engage the brain and do some thinking about theology is an opportunity that you don’t have in other places,” says Nick. “I appreciate BMS World Mission putting it on.”
“I would recommend Catalyst Live as it is an opportunity for a day to go away and think more deeply about other subjects that we don’t often have chance as ministers,” says Lucy.
This article first appeared on the website of BMS World Mission and is used with permission
BMS World Mission, 08/11/2016