Every year we see the same cycle: the snow melts, trees begin budding, the sun begins to dominate the sky again, and Christian conferences abound. Evangelical Christian have a calendar as fixed as the seasons (and I’m not talking about the liturgical year). I am a fan of good Christian conferences, with restraint. Therefore, let me encourage and warn you about the conference season.
Encouragement
- Conferences are a wonderful opportunity to hear some great Christian teachers. They achieve a purpose in gathering together a large contingent that induces these gifted teachers to share their gift. You will hear some of the best lectures and sermons of your life at conferences. This is probably the best reason to attend.
- City, regional, and national conferences facilitate Christian fellowship outside the local church. It is important to remind ourselves of the greater church. This checks our tendency towards arrogance and parochialism on the one side and encourages a Christian worldview on the other.
- Movements have been sparked by conferences. This can be seen in the spread of dispensational theology in the early 20th century through or modern missions by Urbana. Supporting conferences promoting sound theology and appropriate cultural engagement can serve to ignite the spark of a movement that has a lasting effect beyond one good week.
- Conferences often serve as a quick jump-start, encouraging revival for individuals. We are creatures of habit. We often listen to our Sunday preacher, Bible study leader, and others, treating these gatherings as routine. A conference outside our routine makes some people more alert and active listeners. This often stimulates them in ways that they do not allow or seek in their local church setting.
Warning
- Conferences are like refreshment stands along the course of a marathon race. But many people, like Peter, want to set up a tent and stay, thinking that this is the ultimate experience. Conferences, however, are meant to be short and exceptional. They are not something that we should expect daily or even weekly in our local church. They don’t require sacrifice, community, or laboring among other sinners.
- Many will walk away from conferences wishing that their pastor preached like the ones they just heard. There is great danger in this expectation. It is not hard to preach one good sermon or teach one good lecture, especially for regular conference speakers who refine their message with each delivery. To expect the same from your pastor or weekly teacher is foolish.
- There is much more fruit born in a person who is willing to sit under the whole counsel of God and the systematic preaching of a pastor over the course of years, than the person who only attends conferences and hears the best preachers and speakers. If we attended with as much energy to the weekly preaching of the Word in our local churches as we do in listening to conference speakers, we would all fair better in the Christian life.
- Conference experiences are not the norm. Many return from a conference with mountaintop exuberance, but the Christian life is not lived solely on mountaintops. Is there soaring? Of course, but there is also cross-bearing—and few of us walk away from a conference reveling in the cross-bearing experience we just “enjoyed.”
Are Christian conferences good? Yes. Should you attend? Yes. You don’t have to attend them all. Indeed, you shouldn’t! But it is helpful every once in a while to have your soul fed by a conference experience. Just do so with a little trepidation.