A Beautiful Mind
Refuel VIII: Cultivating Healthy Thinking
Our keynote speaker for Refuel VIII will be Adam Simmonds from Leicester. Adam has a wealth of experience in leadership from the world of politics and is part of the Navigators National Directors team.
God gave us a mind full of potential. It can process thoughts, feelings & emotions, understand & solve problems, learn new skills, build resilience, determine how we communicate with others and much more. But all that God once described as being very good, became more difficult after the Fall. Don’t you find yourself wrestling with difficult thoughts? Don’t you find yourself at times being driven by worry, anxiety, discontentment, conflict, distortion and distrust? This day is all about what Bible has to say about cultivating healthy thinking in our daily lives. This is epitomised by Paul in Philippians 4:4-9 when he commands us to rejoice, to not be anxious about anything and to think predominantly on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. It sounds like a tall order, but there is a promise here that when we choose to take our prayers and petitions to God, He will give us His peace to guard and our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Our thoughts are just that – thoughts. The big question is what we do with them!
Date and time
Saturday 7th Nov 2026 – 10-4pm
Cost
£10
Lunch
A hearty cooked lunch will be provided
Location
Portswood Church, Portswood Rd, Portswood, Southampton SO17 2FY
Childcare
No officially organised childcare but children are most welcome. We know of families who are planning to come and share childcare between them.
Choices for the Interactive Sessions
Either side of lunch there will be slots with a selection of 3 sessions to choose from in each. Expect the 1hr morning seminars to include a higher proportion of input, while the 50min afternoon workshops will be more active, conversational and/or include time to pray.
The morning sessions will focus on our three major struggles - the inner battle with the flesh, conforming to the world around us
Morning Seminars (1hr)
1: The Ways of this World
Do you ever wonder why you think or act in a certain way? The world around us has a significant impact upon on our thinking and behaviour. But Paul tells us that before we came to Christ we “followed the ways of this world” (Eph 2:3) and says that we should not be conformed to the “pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2). Instead, we are to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” which will enable us to “test and approve God’s good, pleasing and perfect will”. In this session we will explore what it might mean for us to experience this transformation of our minds as we seek to live lives shaped by God and His Word, rather than by the ways of the prevailing world around us.
Leader: TBC
2. The Inner Battle of the Flesh
Do you ever find yourself doing things you don’t want to do or failing to do the things that you do want to do? This is the inner battle which talks about in many of his letters. In Christ we are a new creation, we are led by the Spirit, we want to please Christ and live His way. But we still have our natural tendency towards living in accordance with our sinful nature. In Ephesians 4 Paul says we must “no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking” and he describes them as being darkened in their understanding.” This is by nature what we are like, but being in Christ changes everything. We know that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1), but the inner battle remains. In this session we will explore the dynamics of this conflict and how we can increasingly live in accordance with the Spirit.
Leader: TBC
3. The Schemes of the Devil
Leader: TBC
Afternoon Workshops (50mins)
1. When you feel forgotten
Do you ever find yourself wondering whether God has forgotten about you? Have you ever found yourself waiting for God to act or to help you in some challenges you are facing? Have you ever felt abandoned to wrestle alone with your thoughts day after day? If you can answer yes to any of these, you are in good company with David who expresses such feelings in v1-2 of Psalm 13. This workshop will be an opportunity to reflect together on these matters and try to understand how David shifts to a place of trusting God (v5-6), as a result of his time spent in prayer with the Lord his God (v3-4).
Facilitated by TBC
2. When you feel attacked
When have you felt like people are conspiring to undermine you or trip you up? When you have you felt under attack from the people you live, work or share community with? In Psalm 3 David writes at a time when he was forced to flee because of his son Absalom who had stolen the hearts of the people of Israel (2 Sam 15-19). David had been through some difficult years, but this experience draws him back to the Lord. This workshop will wrestle with some of the emotions associated with people working against us as well as looking for strategies to banish fear, find strength and experience the Lord’s sustaining Hand.
Facilitated by TBC
3. When you feel distraught
Do you ever find yourself experiencing sadness through times of despair, discouragement, loss or loneliness? There are likely few of us who have not experienced what it is like to feel downcast about the challenges we face day by day. The Psalms are familiar with such feelings also. Three times in these Psalms the Sons of Korah declare: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God” (42:5,11, 43:5). In this workshop we will talk and pray together about our experiences in this area and try to understand together how we, along with the Psalmist, can shift to a place of thirsting after God and finding hope in Him.
Facilitated by TBC
