The 2013 ICF Family Conference will be held at Brunel University in West London.  The University has excellent modern facilities.  It is handy to Heathrow Airport with good connections into the heart of London and to other parts of the country.

Now the planning committee are working on various other aspects and further details will be available later this year.

It is anticipated that Congregationalists in Britain will welcome visitors from overseas should anyone wish to extend their visit to the UK either before or after the Conference.  This will add significant value to your attendance.

A glimpse of the gathering

The Congregational Federation celebrated its 39th Annual Assembly in Leicestershire earlier in May when more than 400 gathered from churches across the UK for an Assembly full of inspiration and encouragement.

The incoming President, the Rev Sandra Turner took as her theme "The 72 and the Few" urging Christians to engage in mission.  As she said, "You have to be in it to win it".  Among the presentations there were stories of church renewal and church planting as well as other aspects of mission experience. 

The youth brought their own challenge on the subject of discrimination.

One interesting feature was the ability to bring greetings from some ICF members around the world as a PowerPoint presentation.  Dr Tom Richard, Executive Secretary of the NACCC would like to run a similar Powerpoint presentation in their Assembly in Anchorage.

Dr Steve Peay

What is the essence of Congregationalism?
Dr Steve Peay addressed this question in his presentation to the recent Conference.  Since all Congregational churches are autonomous this is a valuable, if not essential, question.

After affirming that Congregational churches should be interdependent and not isolationists Dr Peay suggested what he saw as three essential elements.

The first of these is that each church should be Christ-centred since Jesus Christ is the head of the Church.  Any church that is not Christ-centred, he asserted, is no church at all.

His second point was the immediate presence of the Holy Spirit, guiding its affairs and enabling the ministry of its members.

His third point was the covenant of fellowship that is the loving cord that binds us together.

Outgoing and Incoming Co-Moderators

Meet the New Co-Moderators

Val Price from the UK and Phaedon Cambouropoulos from Greece take up the reins of ICF as its new Co-Moderators following the recent Quadrennial Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.  They succeed Patrick Shelley and Harding Stricker whose four year period hit a climax at what many have stated as being the best Conference ever.

Phaedon has been an ardent supporter of the ICF since its inception at Chiselhurst, UK, in 1977.n  Since that time he has not missed a single Conference and for many years served as Regional Secretary for Central Europe.

Val Price, a career journalist and broadcaster, is the wife of a Congregational minister.  She is the first lay person to be elected to the role of a moderator. 

Both chose to open their inaugural addresses with personal testimony to their faith in Christ — an interesting echo of the call to put Jesus Christ at the centre of life in our churches and in ICF.

Both then went on to speak about their hope for the future of Congregationalism and the role of ICF in helping to give Congregationalists a global identity.  Included in their addresses was reference to Jeremiah 29:11 “I know the plans I have for you ..plans to give you hope and a future”.

The role of Moderator of the ICF is defined not only as presiding over the meetings of the ICF and formally representing the ICF but also of monitoring the work of the ICF Officers. 

I suspect that we can expect evidence of increased activity in ICF between Conferences over the next four years.