THE third full-scale Church Times Festival of Preaching is to happen in Cambridge in September.
The inaugural event in 2017, and the one which followed in 2019, each in Oxford, were each attended by greater than 500 people, who were offered a programme of talks, seminars, and worship, all focused on the craft of preaching.
The forthcoming festival — from Sunday 15 to Tuesday 17 September — gives participants the possibility to return to an in-person and residential event for the primary time because the pandemic. The venues shall be the city-centre church, Great St Mary’s, where a lot of the programme will happen, and St John’s College, near by, where some seminars and late-night-liturgy shall be on offer, in addition to accommodation.
The speakers include the bestselling US authors Barbara Brown Taylor and Amy-Jill Levine; the biblical scholar Dr Paula Gooder, Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s; the Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani; and a few festival regulars, including the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Revd Dr Sam Wells, and the Dean of Southwark, the Very Revd Dr Mark Oakley. Newcomers to the programme include the Dean of St John’s College, Dr Vicky Johnson, and the Principal of Ridley Hall, the Revd Dr Isabelle Hamley.
The aim of the festival is to encourage, nurture, and have fun all who’re called to proclaim the gospel today. For the primary time, there shall be a “preaching clinic”, where delegates can bring their specific concerns. The programme includes day by day worship and contemplation, late-night liturgy, and a service of jazz vespers. The festival will end on the Tuesday afternoon with a eucharist at which the preacher shall be Barbara Brown Taylor.
The festival director, the Revd Christine Smith, said: “We have worked long and hard on curating a programme that we hope shall be the appropriate mixture of stimulation and encouragement. For those of us who preach, week in week out, recent ideas and fresh inspiration are at all times welcome. We hope that those attending shall be refreshed and energised by outstanding speakers from across the Christian Church.”
There is a spread of tickets on offer, including residential and non-residential, catered and non-catered options. A special early-bird discount is out there until Monday 20 May.
To discover more and to book tickets, visit: festivalofpreaching.hymnsam.co.uk
