Cambridge Apologetics Summer Conference 2024

Date and location:

You are warmly invited to the Cambridge Apologetics summer conference which will take place on Friday and Saturday, 28-29 June at St Andrew the Great Church (CB2 3AX). A sandwich lunch and coffee will be provided on both days.

The conference will run from 10:00am - 5:00pm on Friday and from 10:00am-6:00pm on Saturday. Coffee and registration will be from 9:30am on both days. See more programme details below.

How Christ Answers the Questions of Today

How can we effectively initiate conversations with friends and co-workers that point to Christ? In today's rapidly changing cultural landscape, how can we persuasively share our faith amidst objections and challenges to the Bible? How can we engage in apologetics in everyday life, connecting meaningfully with the questions and interests of our neighbours, family, and colleagues, and guide them towards a deeper appreciation of Christ?

The Cambridge Apologetics summer conference brings together an experienced group of evangelists and apologists to engage and equip Christians in the city. Join us as we:

• Learn how to communicate the gospel effectively and persuasively in today’s cultural moment

• Discover how to invite people to appreciate the person and work of Christ
• Consider the live questions people are asking, and be better prepared to give a defence for the hope we have
• Think creatively about the opportunities presented within our culture for sharing the gospel

This year's speakers include Dr Rebecca McLaughlin, Prof John Lennox, Andrew Fellows, Clare Williams, Mark Meynell, and more.

Friday (28 June):

09:30 Registration and coffee

10:00 Be Prepared: In the Footsteps of the Apostolic Apologists - Mark Meynell

11:00 Engaging Sceptics: Learning Subversive Apologetics from Jesus - Andrew Fellows

12:00 Lunch and coffee

13:30 For Our Flourishing: How the Old Testament Prophets Address Today’s Questions - Tony Watkins

14:30 A Tool of Oppression? Answering Contemporary Objections to the Bible - Clare Williams

15:30 Coffee break

16:00 Apologetics Reimagined: Innovative Strategies for Engaging Culture - Peter Dray

Saturday (29 June):

09:30 Registration and coffee

10:00 Affirming Love: How Christ Confronts the Secular Creed - Rebecca McLaughlin

11:00 Friend of God: The Inspiration of Abraham in an Age of Doubt - John Lennox

12:00 Lunch and coffee

13:15 Is the Bible Misogynistic? Jesus through the Eyes of Women - Rebecca McLaughlin

14:25 Workshops – Session 1

• Being Human in an Age of Neuroscience - Sharon Dirckx
• Do We Have the Words of Jesus? - Peter J. Williams
• Engaging with Apathy: What Can We Do When People Just Aren’t Bothered about God? - Mike Hood
• Re-Enchanting the World: Embracing Art as Apologetics - Mark Meynell
• What on Earth is Heaven? Answering Questions about Life and Death - Jim Paul

15:30 Workshops – Session 2 (workshops repeat)

16:30 Coffee break

17:00 A More Beautiful Story: Jesus, Sexuality, and Identity - Rachel Gilson

Speakers include:

Rebecca McLaughlin is an author, apologist and a Fellow of the Keller Centre for Cultural Apologetics. She holds a PhD in Renaissance Literature from the University of Cambridge and a theology degree from Oak Hill College in London.

John Lennox is a world-renowned author and speaker, mathematician, philosopher of science and Emeritus Professor at the University of Oxford.

Andrew Fellows is best known for having directed the work of English L'Abri for 15 years, and serving as chairman of L'Abri International. He is now an author and pastor who regularly gives training in apologetics.

Clare Williams is the founder of Real Questions, a Christian apologetics organisation which addresses questions about Christianity, particularly from the black community. She has a degree in English Literature and Language from Oxford University, and she completed postgraduate training in theology at Wycliffe Hall. She has an MA in Leadership and another Masters in Culture, Diaspora and Ethnicity at Birbeck, University of London. Clare is now a PhD Sociology student, and she enjoys engaging with questions of culture, truth, identity, and the gospel.

Mark Meynell is the director (Europe and Caribbean) for Langham Preaching and author of When Darkness Seems My Closest Friend: Reflections on Life and Ministry with Depression. He has been a chaplain in Whitehall, on the senior ministry team of All Souls Langham Place and involved in student ministry.

Rachel Gilson is on the leadership team of theological development and culture with Cru, and is the author of Born Again This Way: Coming Out, Coming to Faith, and What Comes Next.

Peter Williams is Principal of Tyndale House and a member of the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. He is the author of Can We Trust the Gospels? and The Surprising Genius of Jesus. Peter is a member of the ESV Translation Oversight Committee.

Tony Watkins is Fellow for Public Engagement at Tyndale House, and a speaker and writer on media, culture and the Bible. Previously at the Damaris Trust, his PhD research explored the relationship between the biblical prophets and today’s media.

Peter Dray is the Director of Creative Evangelism at UCCF, where he has served in various roles since 2003. He is dedicated to helping students remain faithful to the gospel, crafting messages that resonate deeply with their contemporaries. He has a keen interest in developing innovative outreach strategies so that students unfamiliar with Jesus can encounter His transformative message.

Sharon Dirckx is a speaker and author whose work focuses on responding to the spiritual and faith-related questions that people ask today. She is motivated to show how and why the person of Jesus Christ remains as relevant as ever to the pertinent questions of our time, and to do so in an engaging way. Originally from a scientific background, she has a PhD in brain imaging from the University of Cambridge. Sharon lectures across the UK and internationally, in workplaces, universities, schools, churches and conferences.

Jim Paul has worked for over twenty years at the English branch of L’Abri Fellowship, an apologetic community in Hampshire, where he has been director since 2016. Before this he practised as a palliative care doctor in London. He is author of 'What on Earth is Heaven?' (IVP).

Mike Hood studied English Literature at Cambridge, hoping to become a writer, but found that he loved having deep conversations about life, the universe and Jesus with friends who weren’t Christians so much that he spent the next five years working with UCCF reaching out to students from Cambridge to Belarus. Since 2021 Mike has been church evangelist at Eden Baptist Church, seeking to equip, encourage and resource the church family to share Christ with those around us.

Academics in Public Evangelistic Speaking:

Partnering with UCCF and IFES Europe, we are also delighted to host the British gathering of the FEUER Academic Speakers' Network.

The network will meet in parallel with the wider conference sharing relationships, plenary speakers, seminars and logistics support. For more information, email admin@feueracademics.org.