Christian Event Auckland | Pathways Bible College

⚠️ ICON 2026 Cancelled

Yep, we’ve put the kibosh on this year’s ICON. There just wasn’t enough interest. Sigh. But we’re not giving up on ICON. We’re gonna make this baby fly next year! Pencil in the date: Fri 6 Aug–Sat 7 Aug, 2027.

Register your interest here to be kept in the loop.

Richard Goodwin

Richard is a lecturer at Pathways Bible College and a big fan of movies. He has a PhD from Otago in which he researched the intersection of theology and film. He is the author of Seeing Is Believing: The Revelation of God Through Film (IVP, 2022). Before his doctoral studies, he completed a master's degree at Fuller Seminary, where he is now also an adjunct faculty member teaching courses looking at theological engagement with television and pop culture. He hails from Cambridge, New Zealand, where he lives with his wife, Hilly, and two young sons.

Who's it for?

Movie lovers with a hunger for deeper meaning
Creatives who want to integrate faith and artistry
Pastors/leaders interested in understanding culture through the arts
Anyone curious about where God might be found in cinema

What's in the Name, 'ICON'?

The religious icon has a long history as a visual artform through which an attentive viewer may encounter the transcendent. Cinema could, therefore, be understood as a type of contemporary iconography, a catalyst for contemplation of—and dare we suggest?—perhaps even an encounter with the divine. Here, the name serves as an abbreviation for our full name, Imago Convocation.

Imago is a word rich in sacred and cinematic connotations. The word is Latin for image, both a reference to the visual nature of the film medium and an allusion to imago Dei, a phrase used by theologians to capture the bold biblical assertion that humans beings are made in the very image of God. A convocation is a gathering (typically in an academic or church setting), a sacred calling-together of voices, hearts, and ideas.

ICON is thus a call, a call to artists, scholars, believers, doubters, seekers and dreamers—a call to you—to join together in conversations about faith, film, and the art of seeing.