Joint Christian Peace Conference

In the first in-person gathering of its kind since before the Covid-19 pandemic, four Christian peace organisations will come together from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 September 2024 at Yarnfield Park, near Stone, Staffordshire. Through a mixture of workshops, worship and keynote addresses, a range of topics will be explored.  This includes a keynote and workshop on the Church, Christianity and the Far Right led by Rev Dr Helen Paynter and Dr Marie Power, who had been booked to speak at the event before the latest outbreak of violence in the UK.

The four organisations organising the conference are: The Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pax Christi England and Wales, the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship and the Christian International Peace Service (CHIPS, which works on the front line of community conflict in the UK and Ghana).  Attendees are coming from around the UK.

John Cooper, Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, highlighted the importance of creating space to create peace, saying, ‘Global and local communities seem to be in a state of conflict. As a people of peace we need to engage with the world as it to help create the new world of peace that is possible. The growing relevance of many of the sessions, including the focus on the church and the far right, highlight how urgent the topics are. By meeting for a weekend we get a chance to learn from each other and gain energy from being in community.’

The conference features a number of leading experts as confirmed speakers including:

• Bill Marsh, acclaimed international mediator, currently working with families affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
• Dr Maria Power, Senior Research Fellow in Human Dignity at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, Oxford.
• Rev. Dr Helen Paynter, writer and Director of Theological Education.
• Cass Moyo, Compassionate Listening Workshop Facilitator

The conference will also feature a live, in-person ‘Prayers for Peace,’ which has met weekly since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

There are options to attend the Conference for the whole weekend or as a day delegate. Key sessions will also be livestreamed. Tickets are can be purchased online via THIS LINK.

To read more about the sponsoring charities and speakers, follow the links:

• Fellowship of Reconciliation https://for.org.uk/
• Pax Christi England and Wales https://paxchristi.org.uk/
• Anglican Pacifist Fellowship https://www.anglicanpeacemaker.org.uk/
• CHIPS https://chipspeace.org/
• Bill Marsh https://www.billmarsh.co.uk/
• Rev. Dr Helen Paynter https://www.bristol-baptist.ac.uk/team/revd-dr-helen-paynter/
• Dr Maria Power https://www.theology.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-maria-power