Children's Ministry Conference
2024 | Small Groups – Big Gains
We love the large scale events – the kids’ clubs, the holiday camps, the all-in events. But you don’t need a big event to make a big impact in your children’s ministry.
Small groups can be places where God’s love, God’s word and God’s life are shared. They can be places where children discover God’s word for themselves, where they grow as disciples, and where they can even serve one another in love.
This conference invites you to discover the treasure of Small as we serve our Big God.
Hear from Alan Thompson, Sandy Galea, Quiz Worx, Naomi de Vries, Robyn Turton and Josh Goscombe.
2023 | With the Family in Mind
Just as children come in lots of shapes and sizes, so do our families. When the kids come to our church, school or holiday ministries, they’re coming to us from different family contexts. And when they leave our ministries at the end of the fun and the stories and the Bible lessons, they go back to those varied contexts too.
So how do we minister to children and care for families? How can we help families to keep those important lessons about God and Jesus in kids’ minds long after the craft and activities are done?
Hear from Ed Drew, Mark Stephens, Quiz Worx, Steph Kyme, Kerryn Rudder and Adam Jolliffe.
2022 | My God is so big
God is loving and wrathful. He forgives and condemns. He finds delight in us and is grieved by us.
Our God is wonderfully big and complex – but not contradictory. Every part of his character is necessary and good. And our kids need to know him – all of him.
Hear from Kit Barker, Bruce Linton, Naomi de Vries, Adam Jolliffe and more.
2021 | Friends with God
Dig deep into the amazing Bible story of the Exodus where God offers his people his friendship. Learn fun and relevant ways of sharing this with the children in your life.
Hear from Josh Reeve, Tim Beilharz, Naomi de Vries, Fiona Singline and more.
2019 | Hope
Our world is broken and messy. We see kids struggling with fracture and loss and uncertainty. Our culture feeds their fears and teases them with false hope.
But we have a certain hope in Jesus to build on. A promise of saving, eternal love as our foundation.
Hear from Fiona Millar, Geoff Harper and Quiz Worx.
2018 | Going the Distance
Faith is a gift given by God. It is his work from beginning to end. Yet God calls on us to be careful not to cause little ones to stumble. We can impact a child’s faith for good or ill.
In a world that tries to pulls us away from God, what are the key things we can do which will help establish in children a faith that is deep and strong – a faith that will weather the storms – a faith that lasts a lifetime?
Explore ways of helping grow our kids’ faith – because we long to see them ‘Going the Distance.’
Hear from David Starling, Sandy Galea, Quiz Worx and more.
Ministry Practice
2021 Ministry Practice Week | The God of All Comfort
The SMBC 2021 Ministry Practice Week was a smorgasbord of topics, presenters and formats, all given to exploring ministry in hard times and 2 Corinthians. The main speakers were Simon Flinders and Kirk Patston, along with input from Kelly Kapic and a range of chaplaincy practitioners.
This is a new format for the SMBC Centre for Preaching and Pastoral Ministry. We imagine ministry teams and individuals using these resources to refresh, equip and re-imagine their ministries.
Hear from Simon Flinders, Kirk Patston, Kelly Kapic and many more.
Special Events
Interact 2023
Interact evenings were for engaging with big ideas, hearing multiple perspectives on the one topic, learning from how others interact with each other, and getting inspired and involved!
Biblical, robust, holistic discussion that doesn’t pretend to know it all but knows that we need each other to get the conversation happening. And, importantly, encouraging each other in ways to act on what we’re hearing, for God’s glory.
Power: the problems and possibilities – with Karl Deenick, Erica Hamence, Fili Lolohea, Ben Powell
Apologetics: Does Apologetics Still Work? – with Kit Barker, Fiona Isaacs, Max Jeganathan, Stephen Liggins.
2022 Preaching Enrichment Seminar – Topical Preaching
Sooner or later, every preacher will come upon a situation where they need to preach a topical sermon. Yet few are taught how to do topical preaching well. Even preachers who are gifted in expositing the Scriptures may struggle to deliver a topical sermon that is engaging, culturally relevant and biblically faithful.
What assumptions and crafting are needed to express the centrality and authority of the God-breathed Word as we honour the importance of our shared human questions?
In this seminar, Sam Chan and Malcolm Gill, bring their wit and wisdom gleaned from decades of preaching, to address issues like: ‘How to approach topical sermon preparation’ and ‘Pastoral issues in topical sermon preparation and delivery’. Responses are also given by Erica Hamence and Kirk Patston, along with a presentation by Michael Duckett.
Hot Topics 2021
A set of talks on different hot topics – ideal for those who want their hearts and minds challenged biblically. These recordings are of the last (and fourteenth!) Hot Topics series run in 2021.
- Sam Chan – How to Talk about Jesus without Becoming That Guy: Personal Evangelism in a Skeptical World
- Kit Barker – The Violence of God in the Old Testament
- Derek Brotherson – From the Word to Our World: Life-Transforming Application
- Karine Woldhuis – Jesus, You and Modern Slavery
- Colleen Hirst – Understanding Grief and Loss through Jesus’ Death and Resurrection
Women's Conference
2023 | The Invitation
In Luke 14-18, Jesus brings a joyful invitation. His invitation extends to the broken and weak, to rebels who are ready to come home. Come and see our good and gracious God who welcomes the small, the forgotten, and the sinners — and who makes them His own. Come to feast with your brothers and sisters in the community of grace. Come to be found. Come as a little child to Jesus’ feet with open hearts and joyful anticipation. God’s invitation awaits…
Hear from Kristen Young, Anna Brotherson and Christine Dillon.
2020 | Run for your Life
Anyone can line up at the start of a marathon but it’s the finishers who receive the prize. Running 40kms and then sitting in a deck chair doesn’t count. Watching others compete on TV doesn’t count. Reading ‘Runners World’ magazine doesn’t count. With heart pounding, muscles burning and joints jarring you have to keep putting one foot in front of the other until the finish tape. You have to persevere … 20, 30, 40, 41, 42kms.
The writer to the Hebrews wants his hearers to finish the race, to inherit all that God has promised. His letter teaches and encourages us to be finishers. He does it not merely with top tips for a training routine, or a motivational talk to spur us on to an ‘I think I can, I think I can’ gritted teeth determination – but by pointing us to Jesus who has finished and is urging us to run with Him.
Whether you’re at the start, nearing the end or somewhere in the middle miles, hearing God speak in Hebrews will help you run for your life…
Hear from Rachel Ciano, Janet Riley and Clare Deeves.
2019 | Under the Sun
Life is fleeting so _______
How would you finish the sentence?
Life is fleeting so eat ice cream? Life is fleeting so love your family? Travel the world? Play your favourite music loudly? Retire early? Shop!?
The writer of Ecclesiastes doesn’t shy away from calling this life short, fleeting, transient… like mist. He observes that life under the sun can seem like it goes nowhere but simply circles around and around. Life is littered with both joys and disappointments. It can be puzzling, it can seem unfair.
God speaks in Ecclesiastes to open our hearts and minds to these realities and to show us how to navigate this fleeting life with godly wisdom. It’s wisdom that looks to Him who is eternal, unchanging, just and richly generous.
This conference explored the Book of Ecclesiastes – to learn to trust the Lord more deeply and to enjoy his good gifts in this life, while we wait for the next.
Hear from Anna Brotherson, Jenny Salt and Catherine Read.
