Patrick Comerford
I am sorry that I am going to miss this year’s USPG Conference, which has the theme ‘For Christ is our Peace’ (Ephesians 2: 14), reflecting on the Church’s calling to be agents of peace in a world marked by conflict.
The conference takes place at the High Leigh Conference, near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, from Tuesday to Thursday next week (2-4 June 2026). Through Bible studies, workshops, keynote speakers and shared worship, the conference is looking at peace through the lens of Just Peace – not simply as the absence of conflict, but as God’s healing and reconciling presence.
USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is one of the oldest mission societies in the Anglican Communion. The USPG conference each year is a way of connecting with others who care deeply about faith, justice, and the Church’s role in the world today. This year’s conference, ‘For Christ is our Peace’ is an opportunity for people who want to explore what it means to follow Christ faithfully in a time of global uncertainty and division.
The fireside chats over three days next week year will also provide perfect spaces to build relationships, share perspectives, and be encouraged by others who are passionate about justice, reconciliation and transformation.
The speakers at the USPG Conference next week include:
• The Most Revd Alba Sally Sue Hernández García, Primate of La Iglesia Anglicana de México (Anglican Church of Mexico) and Bishop of the Diocese of Mexico
• Bishop Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, Suffragan Bishop of Willesden in the Diocese of London, the Church of England’s lead bishop for interfaith engagement and a prominent advocate for an inclusive, courageous Church
• Dr Jude Lal Fernando, Associate Professor at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin, and Director of the Trinity Centre for Post-Conflict Justice
As geopolitical tensions, regional conflicts, and deepening social divides shape our world, the conference will reflect on what it means to follow Christ faithfully today.
Through the lens of Just Peace, the conference will examine how Christian discipleship calls us not only to reconciliation but also to challenge and transform unjust systems that create division, deprivation, damage and destruction. It will consider how faith and hope in the risen Christ can reshape our understanding of peace – not as the absence of conflict, but as healing and reconciling presence in the midst of it.
I have attended the USPG annual conference most years, whether in High Leigh or at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. I was a trustee of USPG for six years, a director of USPG in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and I include the ideas in USPG’s prayer diary, Pray with the World Churchn, in my prayer diary on this blog most mornings. So it is a personal disappointment not to be at the conference in High Leigh next week.
One of the things delegates often value most about USPG Conference is that it’s not only about what happens during the event itself: it’s about what we carry home afterwards – the questions we keep asking, the learning we keep sharing, the ways we continue to live out our faith with courage and compassion. As one person said after a recent conference: ‘The conversations do not end here – they’re encouraged to continue.’
Bookings for next week’s conference are still possible HERE. Day tickets are also available for the programme on Wednesday (3 June).
No comments:
Post a Comment