Bookings to attend the conference in person are now closed. Please find details of how to register for the livestream here.
“Who am I?” has become one of the most prominent questions of our time.
Children - teenagers - adults - those in later life - are wrestling to find an answer that truly satisfies.
According to the Bible, believers in Jesus are given a new identity in him. ‘If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone the new is here!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Being ‘in Christ’ is one of the apostle Paul’s favourite ways to describe a Christian. It captures the idea of union with Christ – and it means that our identity is now bound up with him. His Father becomes our Father (Galatians 4:4-7); his righteousness, our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21); his glory even becomes our glory (John 17:22). This speaks to so many of the things we wrestle with. Our national conference in 2026 is going to focus on precisely this issue. We’ve called it Identity: conversations exploring our union with Christ.
Sam Allberry, who was due to give two talks on union with Christ at this year’s conference, recently withdrew from this role. Subsequently, his church, Immanuel Nashville, announced that he was resigning from his role as Associate Pastor because of an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with an adult man some years ago. Our thoughts and prayers are with Sam and all those affected by this news.
Graham Beynon, who is Associate National Director of FIEC (the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches) will now be giving two talks on our identity in union with Christ. A popular conference speaker, Graham is the author of several books including Emotions and Mirror, Mirror, which explores our identity in Christ.
Video
Conference Details
Main Conference (8-10 June)
Identity
Conversations exploring our union with Christ
Helping believers recognise, and live out of, who they really are in Christ is so often the unspoken central issue of our pastoral conversations. As we strive for godliness, endure suffering and battle with sin, our identity as image bearers and our union with Christ provide a crucial basis for assurance and for our change and growth.
Seeing modern identity struggles through a biblical lens equips us for thoughtful conversational ministry that can help us replace fragile self-made identities with the robust identity we have all been given in Christ.
Alongside the main talks, a series of seminars will explore a wide range of pastoral issues from a more practical perspective.
Timings
The conference starts on:
Monday 8 June with registration from 1pm*
Session 1 starts at 3pm
The conference closes on:
Wednesday 10 June at 3:15pm
The workshop closes on:
Thursday 11 June with lunch
*please provide your own lunch on Monday 8 June
Post-Conference Workshops (10-11 June)
This year there will be four optional post–conference workshops, each consisting of four interactive sessions:
A workshop for experienced carers and vocational counsellors
Run by Andrew Collins, this workshop is designed for those whose training or experience means they are working as vocational counsellors or at an advanced level in their local church.
Habakkuk and hope
Led by Helen Thorne-Allenson, this workshop will look at the way any member of the church can open the book of Habakkuk with a struggling friend in order to find hope and help.
Integrating a biblical counselling approach in the local church
This workshop, led by Steve Midgley, is designed for pastors and others in church leadership to help them explore ways of developing conversational and biblical counselling ministry in the local church.
Identity for children and teenagers
Mel Lacy, who was previously on the board of BCUK and now leads Growing Young Disciples, will be leading this workshop. It is designed for children’s workers, youth workers, parents and anyone who wants to help young people to develop an identity that is securely rooted in Christ.
Workshops places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Conference speakers:
Graham Beynon
Ste Casey
Andrew Collins
Steve Midgley
Andrew Nicholls
Seminars:
The following seminars will feature at different points in the programme. Click each title for more details:
Navigating Change
When identity is lost or threatened
“I just don’t feel like myself anymore, I don’t know who I am.” Have you ever had someone express something like this to you? Many of us can feel like this when going through significant changes in life (job loss, bereavement, illness, ageing and many other times). In this seminar we will explore how the wonderful truth that we are ‘in Christ’ makes a real difference when our identity feels under attack.
Emily Agnew
Seminar Speaker
The Mature Years
Identity and aging
The journey of life comes with many transitions. Later life can bring the joys and hardships of retirement, menopause, grandparenting, ill health and loss – all of which challenge how we think of ourselves and view our purpose. In our seminar we will look at how we can help those in our churches navigate those seasons well, with eyes on Christ.
Helen Thorne-Allenson
Seminar Speaker
Being Human
A theology of God-given limitations
“I’m only human!” We all know what it is to come face to face with our limits. But how does a theology of our limitations help us to understand and respond to our strengths and weaknesses, abilities and disabilities, and shape how we help others? This seminar will explore our core identity as human beings and its renewal in Christ made flesh.
Andrew Collins
Seminar Speaker
The Approval Trap
Living to keep people happy
What’s wrong with people pleasing? In the Bible we read “each of us should please our neighbours” (Rom 15:2), “look to the interests of others” (Phil 2:4) and “try to please everyone in every way” (1 Cor 10:33). So how do we square this with Scripture’s call “not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts” (1 Thess 2:4)? This seminar considers our need to please the people around us, how this connects to our worship of God, and how, in Christ, we can serve others freely and joyfully.
Nicola Eggersten
Seminar Speaker
Abiding
Communion with Christ
To abide in Christ is to continually receive from Christ the essential spiritual nutrients we need in order to flourish and bear much fruit. In this seminar we will explore more of what abiding in Christ means in theory and in practice as we seek to deepen our communion with Christ and help others do likewise.
Jonny Parker
Seminar Speaker
Growing in Glory
A true self-image and a joyful discontent
One of the rich delights of interpersonal ministry is helping others live in truth and grace with the reality of who they are – walking together as people who, looking to our Lord Jesus, are being transformed into his image. How can we do this well? What other gospels compete with Christ in this space? How can we avoid discouragement and instead find deep joy and fruitfulness in this ministry?
Karl Hood
Seminar Speaker
Self
Where did that idea come from?
We all have a sense of ‘self’ – but where did this idea come from? Our modern concept of individual identity has been shaped by centuries of thinking, theology, and cultural change. This seminar explores how the Western idea of ‘self’ developed and what it means for how we understand ourselves today.
Kenny Larsen
Seminar Speaker
Facing Criticism
How our imagination both helps and hinders us in the face of criticism
Criticism has the capacity to disturb our sense of identity. It can undermine our confidence and dent our self image. Of course, such things may, sometimes, be needed because our identity is rooted in the wrong place. But when, in union with Christ, we are seeking to find our identity in him, what will help us to manage criticism well and not let it disturb our fundamental identity as those who are securely united to our Lord.
Mike Warren
Seminar Speaker
Share in suffering
Do we really need to suffer with Christ?
Being united to Christ includes knowing the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s suffering. We’ll be considering what it might mean that Christ suffered, we suffer and we are in Him. How does this impact and transform our experience of suffering?
Sophie Gower and Kenny Larsen
Seminar Speakers
When Weakness Comes
How illness can deepen our knowledge of God
In this seminar we will consider the work of God in us and through us during illness. We will discuss our frailty and weakness in this and consider how prayer and the word of God helps us in these circumstances. We will also consider what happens when the carer gets sick and how you can help others in periods of illness.
Abigail Richardson
Seminar Speaker
Identity in Darkness
How being united to Christ affects our experience as we walk through depression
Looking at Psalm 23 primarily, we’ll be considering how to use Scripture to point people to Christ in the middle of a dark experience, and seeing how we can find hope even when life seems hopeless. The knowledge that as believers we are united with Christ can make a real difference when we wonder how we’re going to get through the bleakest days.
Jane Casey
Seminar Speaker
Broken Image
Understanding shame, self-esteem and a damaged self-image
This seminar will explore the personal and communal dynamics of shame and low self-esteem. Together, we will consider how Scripture teaches us to define shame rightly and to address its distorting effects on a person’s sense of self and relationships. Our focus will be on understanding the shared honour we have with Christ through our new identity in Him, and on learning how to apply that truth both personally and in our work with others.
Laura Perbet
Seminar Speaker
Addictive Personalities
When identity is ruled by our habits
Whilst escapist habits and serious addictions seek to claim us for their own by declaring, “You need me, you are mine, and this is all you will ever be!”, Jesus has declared that we are found in him, and he has set us free. This seminar will show how we can help others (or ourselves) battle a way out from under the identity claims that addiction imposes and into the new identity that Christ has drawn us into.
Ste Casey
Seminar Speaker
The Tyranny of Self-Definition
Helping children and young people, who feel they must define themselves
Children and young people are growing up with a powerful message. They’re told to “be true to themselves” and to “live their truth”. This seminar explores how this pressure to define yourself shapes the inner lives of our children and young people. We will consider how scripture tells children they are known, named, and held by God. At the centre of this is our union with Christ and we will focus on how this truth helps in real conversations when a young person feels trapped by labels, panicked by decisions, or ashamed of who they think they are.
Mel Lacy
Seminar Speaker
Illness Identities
Healthy and unhealthy responses to medical diagnosis
What are the pros and cons of a medical diagnosis? Is adopting the patient role good for us or might it sometimes cause us harm? How should faith in God affect our experience of being ill and being given a diagnostic label? This seminar will examine suggestions that the rising use of diagnostic categories may be leading some people to define themselves by their illness and so contribute to a deterioration in health rather than produce any benefit. Christian understanding of health, illness and identity has much to say about these categories and our response to them.
Steve Midgley
Seminar Speaker
Identity, Fear and Faith
How the letter to the Hebrews counsels its audience through a retelling
We live in an age when gradual disillusionment and, for some, abandoning (or ‘deconstructing’) their faith is a reality. This seminar will consider how the situation being addressed in the letter to the Hebrews speaks to this experience and how it might guide us in counselling those struggling with doubt and identity issues. This seminar will be relevant to all, but may be particularly helpful to those working in a more formal setting.
Jeff Monk
Seminar Speaker
Post-conference workshop leaders:
Andrew Collins
Andrew serves as the Director of Counselling Ministry at BCUK.
Helen Thorne-Allenson
Helen serves as the Director of Training and Resources at BCUK.
Steve Midgley
Steve serves as the Executive Director of BCUK.
Mel Lacy
Mel serves as the Executive Director of Growing Young Disciples. She has extensive experience in church-based children’s and youth ministry, and in training others.
Livestream
This year we are once again offering a livestream for the conference. Five of the main sessions of the conference will be livestreamed along with three seminars (8 sessions in total). The full sessions will be available for catch up until Sunday 28th June. Video of the talks only will continue to be available until Sunday 19th July.
Please note that registrations for the livestream are non-refundable. To purchase the livestream, complete the form below.
This year there are 3 different livestream tickets available. One for individuals / households, and two for different sized church groups to watch together. If you would like to discuss options for larger groups, or have any questions, please contact .
