Due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 and alert levels, Summer Conference 2021 has been suspended. We will be returning 7-14 January, 2022.
In the meantime, this summer we’re coming to you. Our new Venn Summer Offering, The Centre of All Things: A Weekend in Revelation 4 & 5 will be held in Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch.
The Christian faith is deep, alive, and worth living well.
Join 100 students, young professionals, and creatives from around Aotearoa, New Zealand for seven days as we explore this rich, transforming faith and what it means for our lives.
The Christian faith is deep, alive, and worth living well. It speaks of our world as filled with beauty and meaning, created by a good God with good purpose. It calls us to live lives marked by wonder, imagination, deep thought, rich feeling, love, courage, and service. This faith has transformed the lives of men and women for generations: given new energy and meaning to the student at her desk, the worker in his office, the athlete with her team, the writer with his pen, the scientist in her lab.
Venn Summer Conference is an opportunity to explore this vision of God, ourselves, and the world, and how it affects all parts of life. Over seven days of learning, conversation, good food, and fun, you’ll come to see the truth, beauty, and challenge of the Christian life.
The week-long conference is challenging, life-giving, and creative; it’s for young adults 18-30 years old, is fully residential, and is held in the beautiful Waikato. The conference is dynamic and creative. Across the week, you will be immersed in rich teaching, creative responses, local field trips, and group discussions. You’ll also have heaps of time in the afternoons to soak up the sun and to cool off in Lake Karapiro.
During the week you can expect to:
At Summer Conference, you’ll hear from an exceptional group of speakers from across New Zealand. The speaker lineup for Summer Conference 2020 is:
During the week, we’ll explore what the gospel means for all of our lives. We’ll do this by asking what does the Bible say about God and his purposes in the world, about what it means to be human, and about the nature of the world we live in?
We’ll also ask how our answers to these questions relate to other stories about life that we find embedded in current NZ culture, such as consumerism and individualism.
The week isn’t just about gaining knowledge. Our prayer is that you’ll encounter God, and through that encounter, you’ll come to know him, yourself, and others better.
The conference is designed with a particular flow. Each day will address a major theme or question. These themes follow the arc of the biblical story.
God: Who is God? And what are his purposes for the world he created?
Humanity: What does it mean to be human?
The Fall: What’s gone wrong with the world?
Jesus: Who is Jesus? And what does he mean for us today?
Holy Spirit and Church: Who is the Spirit? What is the Church?
Redemption: What is the end of our story?
Culture: How should we engage culture faithfully in 21st century Aotearoa, New Zealand?
Each day, you’ll get to participate in a mixture of creative workshops, experiences, lectures, and learning groups, as we explore the key themes and questions. Our hope is you’ll come to a deeper understanding of the gospel and what it means for your life.
The week will be full, but there is also plenty of time each afternoon to relax, to enjoy the local area, to pray, to worship, and to have fun.
Summer Conference prices cover all meals, accommodation, and conference materials for the week.
*All prices are NZD. Student prices are only applicable to New Zealand full-time students.
Each year we award a number of scholarships for full-time students currently studying in NZ, for Māori, and for Pasifika. Scholarship applications are now open.
We encourage you to first seek support from your church, family, and friends.
If you still need support to attend Summer Conference, please don’t hesitate to apply for sponsorship. We want you to be part of the week!
If you need to pay for Summer Conference across a few months, we are happy to arrange weekly, fortnightly, and monthly payment plans. Get in touch and we can work out the best plan for you.
World-class, engaging, experienced communicators who love God. Here’s a brief intro.