As we journey through life’s wilderness, there are times when our souls are obviously parched with thirst. Other times, we barely notice the drought. We ignore our need for spiritual refreshment and just keep moving. As women, it’s easy to focus on our next work deadline, our kid’s next soccer game, or the next church event we’re organizing without remembering we need the good news to replenish our souls.
Women tackle hard issues day after day in a world that only grows more complex. We need refreshment. The Gospel Coalition’s 2023 Conference is a time to slow down and satiate our dry hearts with abundant reminders of the gospel—giving ourselves sustenance in the wilderness as we await our true home.
This year’s conference will feature more than 40 microevents. These sessions, led by different ministry partners, will allow attendees to explore specific topics in-depth.
If you’re a woman attending TGC23, you’ll benefit from many of these sessions. Here are just 8 microevents that might especially pique your interest.
1. For Women: Cultivating Your Gifts of Leading and Teaching
Speakers: Courtney Doctor, Melissa Kruger, Rebecca McLaughlin, Jen Wilkin, Elizabeth Woodson
Hosted By: Lifeway Women
Join several female theologians to celebrate and cultivate the gifts that God has placed in you to lead, teach the Bible, and create spaces for others to thrive. In this microevent, you’ll be encouraged and equipped, and you’ll have the opportunity to connect with like-minded women. We’ll tackle two topics that are part of every woman’s leadership development journey: perseverance and preparation.
2. Hope (and Help!), for Women’s Ministry
Speakers: Ligon Duncan, Nancy Guthrie, Melissa Kruger, Leigh Swanson
Hosted By: Reformed Theological Seminary
A strong theological foundation plays a vital role in encouraging and sustaining hope. This session provides practical advice and encouragement for pastors, elders, women’s ministry leaders, and others who desire to start and sustain biblically faithful and theologically rich women’s ministries in their congregations.
3. Gathered, Not Scattered: Parenting Toward a Shared Family Identity in an Age of Individualism
Speaker: Jen Wilkin
Hosted By: Lifeway
Today’s family sits squarely in a world that values charting your own path, being your own person, and pursuing what makes you, the individual, most happy. Jen Wilkin helps us consider how this affects family relationships and how to regain a deep focus on the shared space we call home.
4. Shepherding Women in the Church
Speakers: Courtney Doctor, Vanessa Hawkins, Melissa Kruger
Hosted By: The Gospel Coalition
Women make up more than 50 percent of most congregations. Yet it can be hard for ministry leaders to know how to best support, encourage and care for them. Whether you’re a pastor, a director of women’s ministry, or someone who invests in the lives of the women in your local church, this session will discuss the best practices for supporting and caring for the women you’ve been called to shepherd.
5. Hope, in Confusing Times and Suffering
Speakers: James Anderson, Ligon Duncan, Nancy Guthrie
Hosted By: Reformed Theological Seminary
Christians dwell as “sojourners and exiles” (1 Pet. 2:11) in a world that’s increasingly complex to navigate while maintaining biblical convictions for faith and life. In this two-part session, James Anderson will begin by examining how to cultivate a biblically formed understanding of our present cultural realities—and how such an understanding helps us maintain a confident and hopeful witness when we might otherwise be tempted to despair. Ligon Duncan and Nancy Guthrie will then follow with a discussion of theological foundations and pastoral approaches for helping our fellow brothers and sisters as they walk through suffering.
6. Pastoring School Choices
Speakers: Winfree Brisley, Courtney Doctor, Jared Kennedy, Bill Kynes
Hosted By: The Gospel Coalition
The education of our children is vitally important, but the decision about how to educate them can be challenging. As church leaders, you’re likely asked to help those in your sphere of influence navigate their educational decisions. Join us as we discuss the pros and cons of different choices as well as biblical principles that can help inform our decisions.
7. Raising Kids in Ministry: Insight from Pastors’ Kids
Speakers: Winfree Brisley, Megan Hill, Gavin Ortlund
Hosted By: The Gospel Coalition
Are the kids going to be all right? Especially in ministry, we worry about raising kids who rebel wildly or who become perfectly behaved hypocrites, who buckle under the pressure of congregational expectations or who nurse life-long bitterness against the church. In this panel discussion, three grown-up pastors’ kids (some now the parents of pastors’ kids) discuss what their parents did well, what they wish was different, and how they’d encourage ministry families today with the hope of Christ.
8. Pilgrim’s Perseverance
Speaker: Ruth Chou Simons
Hosted By: Harvest House
Every pilgrim has a story about how God’s ways, his character, and his attributes helped her press onward in her journey. Join Ruth Chou Simons to explore how beloved theological truths serve as guideposts of God’s grace and presence for every journey, from beginning to end.
This is just a small selection of the 40-plus microevents happening during the three days of the conference, On top of this, you’ll hear excellent keynote speakers like John Piper, David Platt, and Miguel Núñez, as well as worship led by CityAlight from Sydney, Australia. Put TGC23 on your calendar and reserve your tickets! Find out more and register soon, before prices increase again on May 11. Let’s take some time to slow down and be poured into this fall, untangling the threads of the complex wilderness we walk in.
The Gospel Coalition