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On Thursday March 9th 2023 we are pleased to host Rev Linda Hopkins to give her Whitley Lecture presentation on “Learning from Young People’s Experiences of Communion: Re-envisioning the Meal as a Space for Nurturing Faith“. This will have both an on-campus and online option for attendance with Rev Linda Hopkins presenting online.
Linda Hopkins is a Baptist Minister with a portfolio ministry, working in a freelance capacity as spiritual director, mentor and coach to individuals and church groups. In 2005 she trained in youth ministry at CYM, Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and achieved a first-class honours degree in Youth and Community Work and Applied Theology (including JNC). She has worked as church and community (detached) youth worker and was a tutor with Oasis Youth Ministry, London, for four years before returning to the North West to work as Regional Tutor in the NWBA and NBA for Northern Baptist College. She has an MA in Reflective Practice and Applied Theology and is completing her doctoral research in Contextual Theology at Luther King House, Manchester. She recently served Waterloo United Free Church, Merseyside (Baptist/URC), as their minister. She lives in West Lancashire with her husband Peter, and they have two adult children.
In her abstract for the lecture, Linda asks whether we leave “adolescents to work out for themselves their sense of place within our practices of faith?” She goes on to suggest “we should appreciate the potentiality of young people as they are, as those who bring fresh perspective, and whom the adult church can learn from.” Informed by the voices of young people, At the heart of her argument, she considers that “Baptist communion, as an important ritual, is a place for the potential nurture of faith for all…argu[ing] that we may want to reconsider our practice of communion, to enrich the experience as a place for being and becoming the body of Christ.”
The Whitley Lecture this year promises to be a thought-provoking, relevant, and helpful engagement with practices of faith and how we consider young people in these practices. If you are within the vicinity of Paisley we encourage you to join us on-campus for the lecture and discussion, but we will also be offering online access for those who cannot make it to Paisley.
The event is free to all but we ask that you register through Eventbrite. We will be gathering on-campus from 1:30pm for a prompt 2pm start and starting the online stream from 1:45pm.
You can register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/whitley-lecture-2023-learning-from-experience-tickets-506041713387 and we will be in contact thereafter to provide details about on-campus or online attendance.
