“We must speak of Jesus. He is the heart of the gospel, the substance of the gospel… He is the gospel!”
The theme of the 2025 Passion for Life Evangelism Conference was "Convinced, Compelled, Confident". The focus was on: mission-dependence (depending on God to do the work of change in people's hearts and understanding that it is Him at work); and mission-heat (the fire and fuel that motivate us to share the gospel).
It was a privilege to engage with those from 193 churches and organisations (in Main Events and Regional Hubs together), as we explored how we can encourage our churches to be ones with a missional foundation and passion.
Martin Durham from Kerygma180 (K180) was the ideal speaker for the conference's theme, sharing stories from his experiences all over the world where he actively proclaims the gospel, and trains and equips young evangelists and leaders for ministry. These stories both encouraged and challenged us to think about our own zeal to see people saved, as well as showing us what gospel proclamation looks like both here in the UK and across the globe. One attendee said: “Martin presented compelling reasons (and examples) as to why we need to evangelise and the urgency of the need to do so.”
Martin’s emphasis on being deeply rooted in Scripture speaks to a society that often feels divided into “fools on fire” and “scholars on ice”. Those who burn with a passion to share the gospel are often new converts; yet those who most intimately know their Bibles may have been jaded by years of disappointment. Martin encouraged us, instead, to be “scholars on fire” - to let the words of Jesus warm our hearts as we hold them out to others. After all, it is only the sword of Scripture that can make us wise for salvation - a sword that is wielded as we bend the knee, in the posture of a fencer.
Martin’s warmth as a speaker and his own dependence on the Word of God was a fantastic model for our own evangelism. His focus on intimacy, consistency, and passion in our evangelism and in our evangelism training was a helpful reminder that, in his own words, “evangelism is contagious, not taught”.
His teaching was complemented with a post-lunch session titled "On Mission Together", led by Rico Tice from Christianity Explored Ministries and Nick McQuaker from A Passion for Life. This session explored different ways that we can work together to collaborate in our evangelism, including a look into the upcoming Life ‘26 mission, beginning early next year [Life '26 is a Passion for Life-led nationwide gospel mission starting in March 2026, where churches share the gospel with communities - through a focused period of evangelism].
This year's Evangelism Conference had two "Main Events" - 8 October in Edinburgh at Charlotte Chapel Church, and 15 October in London at All Souls Langham Place.
Fifteen "Regional Hubs" were hosted all over the UK - from Inverness to Truro - giving nearly 300 additional people access to the teaching at a site near them, allowing for local networking, prayer, and planning ahead of the Life ‘26 mission, as well as joining in the Q&A from central events. These have been a real encouragement and allowed us to serve a significant number of people across the UK. One individual said: “This was probably one of the best conferences I’ve been to in a long while. The fact I can access live teaching from London five miles from my home but with other Christians was perfect."
Martin’s final encouragement to us was to cover ourselves in the dedicated prayer of others - for fearless declaration, protection, and perseverance. After all, God blows away stop signs in ways we never expect. The name of Jesus is powerful. Let’s join together in proclaiming Him!
