A strong theological foundation plays a vital role in encouraging and sustaining hope. In this breakout session from TGC's 2023 conference, Ligon Duncan, Nancy Guthrie, Leigh Swanson, and Melissa Kruger provide 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.

The year 1776 remade the world. In one extraordinary year, a combination of books, ships, machines, inventions, paintings, and declarations created a new cultural landscape that we could characterize as WEIRDER: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, Ex-Christian, and Romantic.

In this breakout session from TGC23, Andrew Wilson teaches how these different transformations came together to shape our world—how the church of 1776 responded and what we can learn from them.

Read Andrew Wilson's book, Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West.

Rebecca McLaughlin expands on five key points for how to give a memorable address, including using metaphors and sharing stories to engage your audience. She joins Melissa Kruger, Jen Wilkin, Courtney Doctor, and Elizabeth Woodson to discuss their journeys into Bible teaching. The women highlight the importance of preparation and how to use gifts in the church. They encourage humility and integrating apologetics in women's ministry to address contemporary issues.

Watch the Q&A that follows the panel discussion!

Jen Wilkin explores God's gifts in women to lead, teach the Bible, and create spaces for others to thrive.

After her talk, Wilkin joins Melissa Kruger, Rebecca McLaughlin, Courtney Doctor, and Elizabeth Woodson to discuss women's contributions to the church, the importance of sibling relationships within God's family, and overcoming opposition in ministry. The panelists encourage and equip women with tools to prepare for these callings and persevere through challenges.

Even those who live by faith experience doubt, but it doesn't have to end your faith. Drawing from years of guiding Christians through doubt and disillusionment, Joshua Chatraw combines pastoral care and intellectual rigor to address the emotional journey of doubt, offering a new perspective on living a life of faith alongside it. In this breakout session from TGC23, Chatraw and Jack Carson discuss these themes based on their book, Surprised by Doubt.

James Anderson opens this two-part breakout session by sharing how to cultivate a biblically formed understanding of our present cultural realities and maintain confidence and hope when we might otherwise be tempted to despair. Ligon Duncan and Nancy Guthrie follow with a discussion of theological foundations and pastoral approaches for helping one another walk through suffering.

The session covers

• how suffering can shape faith and trust in God's goodness,
• how to cope with suffering and anger toward God, and
• how to find comfort from God's Word in times of tribulation.

As we cling to biblical truth for our circumstances and rest in the hope of the resurrection, God can work in our suffering to deepen our faith and teach us to depend on him.

In this breakout session from TGC23, Dan Doriani addresses the real concern of churches devastated by bullying, immorality, and narcissism at the hands of pastors. But he also addresses the challenges facing pastors as they endure disapproval, opposition, foot-dragging, sabotage, and whisper campaigns.

He challenges pastors to cultivate humility, seek God's wisdom and mercy, and embrace servanthood while fostering appropriate confidence and resilience in their calling to pastoral ministry.

Tim Keller examines Nicodemus's encounter with Jesus, unpacking the concept of being "born again." He challenges common stereotypes of born-again Christians and emphasizes that this spiritual rebirth is essential for everyone, regardless of their moral or religious status.

Keller reminds us that true repentance is turning towards Jesus for salvation and, in doing so, he highlights the beautiful transformation that happens when we receive a new identity in Christ and an entirely reordered life through the inner work of the Holy Spirit.