Quest Annual Conference 2025

In recent years, our conferences have reflected the global Synod process convened by Pope Francis to discern how the Holy Spirit might be calling us to be as ‘church’. The phrase ‘Walking Together’ has been used to describe the process, and Pope Francis frequently speaks about drawing attention to those on the ‘margins’.

In Quest, we can identify as both the marginalised and those ministering at the margins. The Synod reminds us that we need to constantly look at how we can ‘be with’ fellow Christians as we ‘walk together’, and that there may be those to whom we have a responsibility to reach out. This sense of a community of faith on a journey continues in the theme the Vatican has given to the church’s celebrations for jubilee year 2025: ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.

The synodal journey naturally leads into exploring our place and our role on the ‘margins’: reflecting on who we are; who are we ministering to: how can we be better ministers; and how we might be unintentionally marginalising further, (thus colluding with existing marginalisation).

In recent years our membership has grown, and our demographic profile diversified. Issues of privilege and intersectionality (the impact of interconnections of race, gender, sexuality, faith, etc) are part of the conversation that we need to continue and deepen as Quest moves forward: who is it we need to be more attentive to as we ‘walk together’, and to whose voices aren’t we listening.

How can we evolve as a community?