HomeDigital MinistryCommunicationTop 10 Church Leadership Conferences

Top 10 Church Leadership Conferences

-

Recharge, renew, revitalize, and inspire. This is what conferences offer attendees and why many church leaders set aside time to join leadership conferences every year. The purpose of these gatherings is to give church leaders precious time away from the grind of church life to refresh, learn, expand, gather resources, and connect with other leaders. Conferences provide creative, contemplative space to vision and reunite with the guiding purpose for being a church and for being in positions of leadership within them.

These conferences are also a venue where leaders bring their teams to learn and grow together. Some teams create and special time at these conferences for prayer, planning, and visioning that will inspire future work within their own church and its ministries. There are many conferences to choose from, with locations throughout the country for convenience. Which ones will you attend?

Check out this year's list of 10 of the top leadership conferences for 2019-2020 and a few bonus resources (top 10 list is in alphabetical order):

#1 – ARC CONFERENCE

A conference for pastors and leaders to be encouraged, refreshed and equipped to continue on the journey God has called them to. The Association of Related Churches (ARC) “exists to help couples with a dream in their heart to reach their city with the hope of Jesus.” Focused on assisting church planters in casting vision, these conferences are designed to connect church pastors and leaders, to encourage church planters, and to champion the cause of Christ.

Upcoming Conference Dates:

  • Sept 25-29, 2019 – Anaheim, CA
  • April 21-22, 2020 – Charleston, SC

________________________________________________________________________________

#2 – CATALYST

Catalyst exists to equip and empower leaders who love the Church through events, courses, and community. This leaders’ conference was founded to focus on a new generation of church leaders, to strengthen leaders across the world, and to unify, equip, and challenge these leaders from varying streams, traditions, and generations of the Church.

Upcoming Conference Dates:

  • October 2-4, 2019 – Atlanta, GA

________________________________________________________________________________

#3 – CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OUTCOMES CONFERENCE

The Christian Leadership Alliance has been hosting its annual Outcomes Conference for more than 40 years and celebrates the strengthening of leadership and impact, and believes Christian leaders can accomplish more when they are united. The Outcomes Conference professional development experiences focus on eight core categories: Executive Leadership, Resource Development, Financial Management, Tax and Legal, Board, Governance, People Management and Care, Internet and Technology, and Communications and Marketing.

Upcoming Conference Date:

  • April 7-9, 2020 – Dallas, TX

________________________________________________________________________________

#4 – CREATIVE CHURCH CONFERENCE

C3 Conference is a two-day event where leaders from around the world gather together for intensive coaching, inspirational teaching, incurable learning, and intentional relationships to advance the Church. The C3 Conference is passionate about bringing a new level of excellence to churches and hope to communities by bringing together thousands of leaders and influencers from around the world and all walks of life to connect; renew passion, address issues grow vision, build foundations for a healthy families, build and grow a healthy church, and create a culture of excellence.

Upcoming Conference Dates:

  • February 19-20, 2020 – Dallas, TX
  • C3 2019 Live (live stream)

________________________________________________________________________________

#5 – EXPONENTIAL CONFERENCE

Join thousands of leaders for inspiration, encouragement, and equipping at this church planting conference. This is the largest gathering of church planting leaders in the world and offers unique opportunities to meet and connect with leaders and other planters, and participate in 200+ workshops that are targeted to planters’ specific needs and with 150+ of today’s top leaders in five main stage sessions.

Regional conferences are also offered and designed to bring the full impact of the national conference closer to home, for leaders who can’t afford the time and money to attend a national conference or those who want to bring their whole team.

Upcoming Conference Dates:

National Exponential Conference 2019

  • March 4-7, 2019 – Orlando, FL

Regional Conferences

  • October 2-3, 2019 – Southern California
  • October 21-22, 2019 – Bay Area, CA
  • April 28-29, 2020 – Boise, Idaho
  • November 5-6, 2019 – Chicago, Illinois
  • October 23-24, 2019 – Houston, Texas
  • December 3-4, 2019 – New York
  • September 14-15, 2020 – Washington, D.C.

________________________________________________________________________________

#6 – GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT 

Fresh, actionable and inspiring leadership content from a world-class faculty and offered at a convenient location near you. Join a community of like-minded Christians from 128 countries and 60 languages from around the world. These two days of world-class leadership training offer a unique blend of vision, inspiration, and practical skills that can be used as resources for personal and community transformation.

Upcoming Conference Date:

  • August 6-7, 2020 – Live HD Telecast

________________________________________________________________________________

#7 – LEADERCAST LIVE

Leadercast Live is the largest, one-day leadership event on the planet, with more than 100,000 current visionaries and future world-changers attending each year. This annual conference is designed for individuals and groups seeking inspiration and improvement in leadership. It’s a, yet it’s also part of a leadership journey in which individuals and groups come back to “re-ignite” year after year. Host Site partnerships are also offered to allow virtual participation in the live conferences.

Upcoming Conference Date:

  • May 7, 2020 – Duluth, Georgia
  • Host Sites available for online event attendance

________________________________________________________________________________

#8 – NORTH COAST TRAINING – STICKY TEAMS

Sticky Teams is a two-day conference that gives leaders like you practical tools to build healthy, thriving ministries. North Coast Training helps craft strong and stable ministries that prepare individuals and teams to break through barriers, overcome plateaus, and position themselves for growth. Offer a variety of programs and services that cater to specific needs and help lead ministries to the next level. Areas of expertise include team development, strategy/direction, senior leadership, creating clarity, small group ministry, and multi-site ministry.

Upcoming Conference Date:

  • October 15-16, 2019 – Vista, California

________________________________________________________________________________

#9 – Pushpay Summit

Pushpay Summit offers useable tactics, practical keynotes, deep breakouts, meaningful networking, and content for your whole church team. 2019's keynotes include Patrick Lencioni, Cheryl Bachelder, and Carey Nieuwhof. Breakout session tracts are offered on communication, technology, and leadership. Meals during conference are provided along with video recordings of all sessions.

Upcoming Conference Date:

  • May 22-23, 2019 – Dallas, Texas

________________________________________________________________________________

#10 – THRIVE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

This three-day conference is designed to ignite passion and recharge leadership through world-class speakers, inspiring worship, networking with other pastors and leaders, encouragement, fresh ideas, and lots of fun to ignite churches and businesses.

Upcoming Conference Date:

  • April 30-May 1, 2020 – Granite Bay, California

________________________________________________________________________________

 

SEVEN BONUS CONFERENCE LISTINGS

#1 – That Church Conference

This is a church communicator and marketing conference. The heart of That Church Conference is to help digital communicators tell the best story the church has to tell. Through this annual conference, regional workshops, and online resources, That Church is empowering church leaders with the tools and knowledge to communicate well and reach more people with the power of the gospel.

Upcoming Conference Date: September 28-29, 2019 – Atlanta, GA

#2- Future Forward Conference

The Future Forward Conference is for church leaders and church members who are committed to connecting with and staying connected with the next generation in a rapidly changing world. In addition to dynamic main sessions and breakouts covering a variety of relevant topics, the conference will focus on five proven change strategies that can help declining churches make a comeback – and help healthy churches to stay on track.

Upcoming Conference Date: October 1-2, 2019 – Pittsburgh, PA

#3 – Gateway Conference

Gateway Conference exists to provide a place for church leaders to come and glean from seasoned ministers and leaders on topics that are relevant in today’s ministry environments. We believe in the local church and in working together as co-laborers in ministry across all denominations and spheres of influence. Gateway Conference is also a place to pause and refresh as we get real with the Lord and with ourselves. Our priority is to provide times of powerful worship and ministry where you can receive and hear from God.

Upcoming Conference Date: September 29-October 1, 2019 – Southlake, TX

#4 – RightNow Conference

The RightNow Conference is for leaders who believe that the mission of the church matters and who have any kind of leadership role in your church. If you want to inspire a missional change in your church—then this is your conference! The RightNow Conference is uniquely crafted to benefit staff teams. Bring your whole staff to maximize the RightNow Conference experience and learn how to collectively lead your people in the power of Christ.

Upcoming Conference Date: November 6-8, 2019 – Carrollton, TX

#5 – Synergize 2020 Conference

This global conference for pastors and leaders is a gathering where church leaders can network, synergize, mobilize and renew.  Developed and designed for leaders who want to go beyond just “doing church,” Synergize 2020 is for those who wish to embark on a Christian ministry adventure that could impact their entire community and the world.

Upcoming Conference Date: January 28-30, 2020 – Orlando. FL

#6 – Youth America Leadership Conference 2018

The mission of this conference has remained the same, “how to lead the next generation”, the audience of who this mission resonates with has expanded. So in other words, if you want to be involved in leading young people in any fashion toward Christ and the mission of His church, this conference is for you. This gathering is for ANYONE WHO DESIRES TO LEAD THE NEXT GENERATION: Youth Pastors, Youth Leaders, Worship Pastors, Worship Teams, Senior Pastors, Young Adult Pastors, etc.

Upcoming Conference Date: November 7-9, 2019 – Oklahoma City, OK

#7 – Church Leaders Conference

Join us at Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas to be inspired by all God wants to do through His Church and spurred on to excel wherever God has planted you. You’ll be refreshed, encouraged, energized, and refocused. Bring your whole team to dream together, laugh together, and double down on the unique mission God has placed before you.

Upcoming Conference Date: April 28-30, 2020 – Dallas, TX

________________________________________________________________________________

Conferences Are…

In essence, conferences are an opportunity for church leaders to do quality professional development and to learn. Congregations want healthy, vibrant leaders and should empower and encourage their leaders to attend conferences on a regular basis, which could be annually or even quarterly. Fresh and enthusiastic leaders need support, inspiration, and perspective. Conferences are a natural venue where leaders can take the time they need to access vital supportive resources.

[post updated September 2019]

Lauren Hunter
Lauren Hunterhttps://laurenhunter.net
Lauren Hunter is a writer who loves the big picture of God’s journey we are all on together. In 2007, she founded ChurchTechToday, a website for pastors and church leaders to harness technology to improve ministry. Married to her high school sweetheart, Lauren lives in Northern California with her husband and their four children. Her latest book is Leaving Christian Science: 10 Stories of New Faith in Jesus Christ. She can be found online at https://laurenhunter.net.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Hello Lauren, we would be interested in sharing our Urban youth ministry national conference with you. It is a 3-day event, taking place in Los Angeles, CA. May 23-25, 2019. If you happen to have an updated conference list, would it be possible to be listed on there? Love to hear back from you.

    • Thanks, Andy. We’ll do a separate list of youth ministry conferences. This list is ‘leadership’ conferences. Thanks for the info on the urban youth ministry national conference! Cheers, Lauren

  2. It astounds me that you can search the nation for conferences and not find ONE african american centric conference. Each year I.V. Hilliard in Houston puts on a leadership conference attended by thousands of pastors and churches. Bishop T.D. Jakes puts on a pastors conference each year attended by over 1000 churches.

    Did you not know or did you not care?

    In Him,
    JMb <

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured Posts

LATEST POSTS