Leading with Loving Presence
Your Diocesan Conference 2026 Guide
Welcome to Diocesan Conference 2026! We’re really looking forward to the next few days together. Alongside some excellent talks, there’ll be space to worship, pray and listen to God together, as well as time to deepen relationships and encourage one another.
Click through the tabs below to find out more about what’s coming up each day.
Monday 5th October
2pm | Arrivals & Registration
Location: Derbyshire Suite
Head straight to Main Reception to register. Refreshments available in the bar area. Please note, you will not be able to access your room until 5pm – upon arrival, please leave your belongings in your car (if possible).
3pm | Opening Worship & Welcome from Bishop Paul
Location: Derbyshire Suite
Welcome to Conference! We’ll be gathering to begin the conference with sung worship, and a welcome message from Bishop Paul.
3.45pm | Session 1: The Love of God Living Through Us (Roger Bretherton)
Location: Derbyshire Suite
We’re so pleased to be joined by Roger Bretherton as our keynote speaker over the next few days. Find out more about Roger in the ‘speakers’ tab above.
In each session with Roger, we will reflect together on Paul’s words on love in 1 Corinthians 13. The sessions will be highly interactive, including conversations, practices and experiential exercises. At times there will be moments of silence in which to meet with God. Roger will explain the Centering Prayer approach to this, but if there are specific ways you habitually meet the love of God or that help you practice dwelling in God’s presence (Scripture, liturgy, prayer beads, icons, journalling or other means), you are invited to bring them with you. You can adopt any posture or place in the room, but the caveats are: it has to be silent, analogue (no electronic devices, or use of headphones), and contained (not distracting others or moving around too much). Please do bring anything that helps you meet with God wherever you are, whatever you are doing, whenever you remember. If nothing springs to mind, just bring yourself – that’ll be more than enough.
5pm | Access to rooms
A chance to find your room and settle in before dinner. Don’t forget to pick up your conference tote bag on the way!
6.15pm | Dinner
Location: Dining Rooms
7.30pm | Session 2: What Does it Mean to Love? (Roger Bretherton)
Location: Derbyshire Suite
Our second session with Roger Bretherton.
9pm | Bar Open
A chance to catch up with colleagues, or get an early night!
Tuesday 6th October
7.30am | Eucharist
Location: Chapel
An optional morning eucharist service led by Dean Stephen Evans.
8am | Breakfast
Location: Dining Rooms
Breakfast available from 8am onwards.
9am | Session 3: What Practices We Need to Love (Roger Bretherton)
Location: Derbyshire Suite
We’ll start the day in worship, followed by our third session from Roger Bretherton.
10.45am | Coffee Break
Head down to the bar area to stretch your legs and grab a hot drink before the next session.
11.30am | Seminars: Part 1
ONE SEMINAR, TWO HALVES
Upon booking, you selected your seminar preferences – find out which one you have been allocated to on your name lanyard. The seminars are taking place I the following locations:
- Managing Difficult Conversations – Derbyshire Hall
- Healthy Boundaries – Meeting Room 2
- Being Your Own Coach – Derwent Room
- SLOW Leadership – Meeting Room 3
- Fuelling the Fire – The Chapel
1pm | Lunch, then free time & consultations
Spend the afternoon however you wish – catching up with colleagues, heading out for some fresh air, or taking the opportunity for a rest.
The following members of the central support team will also be available in the bar area, should you wish to chat.
- Martin Cooper (Chief Executive)
- Sean Barnes (Director of Finance & Operations)
- Anne Coyne (Digital Giving Adviser)
- Neil Peake (Programme Director)
- Stephen Watson (Church Buildings Support Officer)
- Sally Dunleavy (Net Zero Carbon Support Officer)
- Emily McRitchie (HR Manager)
- Jonathan Pickett (DAC Secretary for the Care of Churches)
- Robert Cleave (Diocesan Environment Officer) – Robert is offering the opportunity to watch a talk by Ruth Valerio on a theology of caring for creation in Meeting Room 1 in the Derbyshire Suite).
- Ben Garry (Head of Communications & Creative)
- Elisha Oak (Parish Communications Enabler)
- Safeguarding Team (rooms for private consultation in the Derbyshire Suite)
Do you have a story to share of God at work in your parish? The Comms Team would love to hear it! Whether it was a tiny win or a big event or somewhere in between, we’d love to hear and share your parish stories of how God is moving in your context. Join Laura and Lola from the Comms Team in the Main Reception between 3-4pm where we’ll be capturing these stories.
Tea and cake will be available in the bar area from 4pm.
4.30pm | Seminars: Part 2
ONE SEMINAR, TWO HALVES
Seminars continue in the same locations. Please attend the second half of the same seminar (rather than trying a different one – you’ll have missed the first half, so it won’t make sense!).
- Managing Difficult Conversations – Derbyshire Hall
- Healthy Boundaries – Meeting Room 2
- Being Your Own Coach – Derwent Room
- SLOW Leadership – Meeting Room 3
- Fuelling the Fire – The Chapel
6.15pm | Dinner
Location: Dining Rooms
7.30pm | Worship in Different Styles
An opportunity at the end of the day to spend time in worship. This year, we’re offering two different streams to choose from:
- Contemplative Worship led by Kristine Mole & Lianna Basdeo | Chapel
- A contemplative pilgrimage trail inspired by Walter Hilton
- Contemporary Worship led by Tors Ramsey | Derbyshire Suite – Main Hall
9pm | Bar Opens
A chance to catch up with colleagues, or get an early night!
Wednesday 7th October
7.30am | Morning Prayer
Location: Chapel
An optional service of morning prayer service led by TBC.
8am | Breakfast & Check Out
Location: Dining Rooms
Breakfast available from 8am onwards. Please note, you must have checked out of your room before the first session at 9am. Please bring your room key to the Derbyshire Suite.
9am | Session 4: Where Love Leads Us (Roger Bretherton)
Location: Derbyshire Suite
Our final session from Roger Bretherton.
10.30am | Coffee Break
Head down to the bar area to stretch your legs and grab a hot drink before the next session.
11.15am | Closing Reflections with Bishop Paul, & Eucharist
Location: Derbyshire Suite
Bishop Paul will lead us in a time of reflection on what we have heard over the past few days, considering where this plays out in our nation, the church, and the church in this diocese – including reflections from you! We’ll then close our time together in a service of Eucharist led by Revd Kate Byrom.
1pm | Lunch & depart
Grab some lunch before you head home. Don’t forget to hand your room key and lanyard in at the Derbyshire Suite.
We’re delighted to be joined by a range of contributors this year. Find out more about each one below.
ROGER BRETHERTON | Coach & Clinical Psychologist
Roger Bretherton is a Coach and Clinical Psychologist, and a recognised global authority in the study of Character Strengths- the positive qualities of personality (like hope, love, gratitude and wisdom) that produce individual and societal flourishing. Over the last twenty years Roger has delivered coaching and training to individuals and groups in over two hundred organisations. He has worked with leaders in almost every sector, including charity and faith. Formally Associate Professor in Psychology at he the University of Lincoln, he is currently honorary lecturer at the Centre for Positive Health Sciences (Dublin), and Faculty at the VIA Institute on Character.
Roger is our keynote speaker, leading and delivering our four main stage sessions.
MAGGIE ELLIS | Psychotherapist & Leadership Coach
Maggie is a committed Christian, accredited Psychotherapist, Sexual and Relationship therapist and a Leadership Coach. In her younger years she was in church leadership, before founding and leading a charity for supporting survivors of rape and sexual abuse. She now works as a Leadership Coach working with teams and individuals through her own consultancy. Her passion is to strengthen the health and impact of leaders and organisations. As a couple, she and her husband run retreats for leaders and their teams. She is married with two grown-up children, loves getting out in nature and loves the church with all its potential and weaknesses.
Maggie is leading the seminar stream on ‘Holding Difficult Conversations Well’.
ASTRID KORIN | Founder of Inside Out Leadership
Astrid Korin is an executive coach, trainer and facilitator, and founder of Inside Out Leadership, a research‑backed programme helping leaders develop the inner capacities needed to thrive under pressure. With over 1,500 hours of coaching experience, EMCC Senior Practitioner accreditation and an 18‑year consultancy career, she brings deep leadership expertise. Astrid designs transformational learning experiences, integrating neuroscience, mindfulness and psychology. Grounded in the belief that leadership starts within, she helps leaders become more self‑aware, resilient and impactful.
Astrid is leading the seminar stream on ‘Being Your Own Coach’.
BEN EVANS | Leadership Coach & Founder of Humantalk Ltd.
Ben Evans is a leadership coach, consultant, and founder of Humantalk Limited. His career prior to Humantalk involved coaching, advising, and supporting senior clergy in the Church of England as part of the Archbishops’ Advisors for Appointments and Development (AAAD) team. Ben holds a Masters in Theology and is a Licensed Lay Minister in the Diocese of London. Ben’s clients at Humantalk include The National Church Institutions, several CofE dioceses, the Clergy Support Trust, KPMG, and the Royal Academy of Arts.
Ben is leading the seminar stream on ‘SLOW Leadership’.
BEN SLATER | Educational Leaders, Coaching Practitioner & Wellbeing Consultant
Ben Slater is an educational leader, coaching practitioner, and wellbeing consultant working at the intersection of mental health, professional development, and embodied practice. He is a consultant and digital learning lead for Humantalk Limited. With over two decades in education and a career spanning school leadership, chaplaincy, and organisational wellbeing, Ben brings rare breadth to questions of how we lead and care for people well. A lay leader and preacher at one of the fastest-growing churches in the Diocese of Exeter, Ben holds the theological and psychological in genuine dialogue rather than uneasy tension.
Ben is leading the seminar stream on ‘Healthy Boundaries’.
JO & JON SOPER | Bishops’ Advisors for Leadership Formation & Spiritual Renewal
Jon and Jo Soper are the new Bishops’ Advisors for Leadership Formation and Spiritual Renewal. They were previously the Senior Leaders at Exeter Network Church in the Diocese of Exeter, which they founded and where they served for 20 years. They recently completed a year-long sabbatical which included walking the Portuguese Camino and some God-adventures in Brazil.
Jon & Jo are leading the seminar stream on ‘Fuelling the Fire’.
Resources Referenced
- Click here to access your FREE preview of episode one the DISCIPLE course (a conference exclusive!)
- Find out about the upcoming Diocesan Days of Prayer
- Find out more about the Seedbed course here
- Book your free ticket for TENT Prayer & Worship evening at Southwell Minster
- Watch more Living Hope Stories