Speakers

Nadia Bolz-Weber

Nadia Bolz-Weber is one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in American Christianity. A Lutheran pastor, she founded the House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver and, more recently, New Beginnings, a worshipping community in Denver’s women’s prison, and the Red State Revivals, drawing together many thousands of progressive Christians in conservative heartlands. Her three books, Cranky, Beautiful Faith, Accidental Saints and Shameless were all New York Times bestsellers (all published in the UK by Canterbury Press).

Sessions

Late Night Liturgy
Informal Evening Worship
Plenary Lecture: The Wounded Preacher: A year of speaking from weakness

Mark Oakley

Mark Oakley is the Dean of Southwark and a Festival of Preaching favourite. He is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Kings College London; Visiting Scholar at Sarum College, an Ambassador for StopHate UK, Patron of Tell MAMA (supporting those affected by anti-Muslim hate crime) and a Trustee of the Civil Liberties Trust. His books include By Way of the Heart: The Seasons of Faith, My Sour Sweet Days and The Splash of Words which won the Michael Ramsey Prize.

Mark was given the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship by the Archbishop of Canterbury last year.

Sessions

Plenary Lecture: Unarmed and Disarming: Preaching love in pitiless times
Closing Festival Eucharist

Selina Stone

Dr Selina Stone is Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at the University of Edinburgh in the School of Divinity. She is host of the Sunday School for Misfits podcast and author of several books including Tarry Awhile: Wisdom from Black Spirituality for People of Faith, and most recently, A Heavy Yoke: Theology, Power and Abuse in the Church. She is a preacher, who teaches preachers, and is a sought-after speaker across Christian traditions. 

Sessions

Preaching Panel
Seminar: Just Preaching? Centring the marginalised in the Bible, the congregation and the world

Isabelle Hamley

Sessions

Plenary Lecture: Preaching Peace in Times of War: reflections from Scripture
Preaching Panel
Opening Worship

Chine McDonald

Chine McDonald read Theology at Cambridge University before training as a newspaper journalist. She is now director of Theos, the religion and society think tank. Previously, she managed community fundraising and public engagement at international development charity Christian Aid. Chine is a regular contributor to BBC Religion & Ethics programmes, including Thought for the Day, the Daily Service, and Prayer for the Day. She is the author of God is Not a White Man: And Other Revelations and Unmaking Mary: Shattering the Myth of Perfect Motherhood.

Sessions

Evensong

Sam Wells

Samuel Wells is Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, and a leading public theologian. He is  a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day, through his regular broadcasts from St Martin’s including its weekly Live Sermon Prep and Great Sacred Music. Sam is the author of over 50 acclaimed books including How to Preach, Humbler Faith, Bigger God, The Moment of Truth and Being With - an introductory course to Christian life and faith from St Martin’s HeartEdge movement.

Sessions

Opening Worship
Seminar: Preaching About Yourself: some do's and don'ts

Ally Barrett

Ally Barrett is a published writer, hymnodist and painter. She studied both music and theology at Clare College, Cambridge. Since her ordination in 2003 she has served as a parish priest, a children’s minister in the USA, a theological college tutor in pastoral and practical theology, and as Dean of Chapel at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, before moving to her current role as Associate Vicar of Great St Mary’s in 2024. She is the author of Preaching with All Ages.

Sessions

Seminar: In the Frame and Out of the Box: How art helps us preach
Organ recital and exhibition
Late Night Liturgy

Doug Gay

Doug Gay is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow. He is a Church of Scotland minister and has taught preaching to ministry students for many years. He has worked as a columnist for the Times and is author of Remixing the Church, Reforming the Kirk (based on his Chalmers Lectures) and God Be In My Mouth: 40 Ways to Grow as a Preacher.

Sessions

Late Night Liturgy
Informal Evening Worship
Preaching Panel
Late Night Liturgy

Nadim Nassar

Nadim Nassar is both the first and the only Syrian priest working in the Church of England and is passionate about helping Christians understand their Middle Eastern heritage, which is the culture of the Bible and of Jesus himself.  Fr Nadim was previously a university chaplain and is now Director of the Awareness Foundation  which aims ‘to equip Christians everywhere to form an effective counter-force to the intolerance and mistrust that now prevail in so many communities, and to build understanding between the faiths’.  He is the author of The Middle Eastern Jesus and The Culture of God.

Sessions

Seminar: Nadim Nassar

Pádraig Ó Tuama

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian and broadcaster who has worked in reconciliation in Ireland for many years, including as Leader of the Corrymeela Community. He is the author of In the Shelter (Hodder & Stoughton 2016), Daily Prayer from Corrymeela (Canterbury Press 2017) and, with Glenn Jordan, of Borders and Belonging (Canterbury Press 2021).

Ó Tuama is a staff poet with the On Being Project, and hosts Poetry Unbound, a highly-popular podcast. He is Professor in the Practice of Spirituality at Yale Divinity School. 

Padraig will join us online. 

Sessions

Informal Evening Worship

Chris Russell

Sessions

Plenary Lecture: Preaching Hope to an Anxious Generation

Andrew Root

Dr Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, USA. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations. Andy also serves as theologian in residence at Youthfront. He has worked in congregations, parachurch ministries, and social service programs. His most recent books are Evangelism in an Age of Despair (Baker, 2025), The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms (Baker, 2023), and  Churches and the Crisis of Decline (Baker, 2022). 

Sessions

Plenary Lecture: Preaching Hope to an Anxious Generation

Alexander Berry

Alexander Berry is Director of Music at Great St Mary's. He was previously Organist and Director of Music at Bradford Cathedral and was the youngest cathedral organist to be appointed. Alex began his musical training as a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral and was Organ Scholar at Queens' College, Cambridge. Subsequently he served as Assistant Organist at Ely Cathedral and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was also Tutor to the Magdalen College School Choristers.

Alex is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and is in demand as a conductor, organist and singer. He has given concerts across the UK, and internationally.

Sessions

Organ recital and exhibition

Ayla Lepine

Ayla Lepine is an art historian and theologian. She is the Associate Rector at St James’s, Piccadilly in London. Her PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art focused on the Gothic Revival and medievalism in modern Britain. She has held Fellowships at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music, the University of Essex, and the National Gallery. She publishes and lectures widely, particularly on the intersections of social justice and modern visual culture. 

Sessions

Seminar: In the Frame and Out of the Box: How art helps us preach

Colin Heber-Percy

Colin Heber-Percy is an Anglican priest, writer and screenwriter, living and working in the rural north east of Salisbury Diocese. His films and works for television have won many awards and are shown all over the world. He has written numerous articles on faith and film, the philosophy and theology of cinema. His book, Perfect in Weakness, on the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, is widely acclaimed. Tales of a Country Parish, his account of life and parish ministry during lockdown, was published in Spring 2022 to outstanding reviews and became an instant bestseller. His latest book is Lost in the Forest: Finding Joy in Losing Your Way.

Sessions

Seminar: Word on a Wing: is writing a sermon like caging a bird?
Preaching Panel

Jutta Brueck

Jutta Brueck is the Vicar at Great St Mary’s, having served in parish and higher education ministry in London, Cambridge and Ipswich. A previous chaplain of Fitzwilliam College and Priest-in-Charge of St. James, Wulfstan Way, Cambridge, she moved to Ipswich in 2015 to lead a process of renewal and growth of St Thomas, Ipswich. This involved developing a new monastic community in the parish and helping to found the Society of the Holy Trinity, an umbrella organisation for Anglican urban new monastic communities. Before coming to Great St Mary’s, she was the community dean of a new ecumenical, religious community focused on young people at the former convent of All Hallows in Ditchingham. She is an honorary canon of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, where she leads on Benedictine ethos.

Sessions

Optional Contemplative Worship
Church open for silent contemplation

Justin Dodd

Sessions

Seminar: What Can Advertising Teach Us About Preaching?