Henry Olonga, Blood, Sweat and Treason

Something is happening in Shrewsbury.

On Wednesday night over 300 people attended an event at Shrewsbury Abbey, the thousand year old Church building just around the corner from our Church centre.

Five Churches had chipped in some money to invite Henry Olonga to Shrewsbury, for a joint event that was a pre-alpha social.

He was outstanding. He shared his story of how his faith encouraged him to stand up to Robert Mugabe by wearing a balck armband in the cricket world cup.

He was funny, engaging, humble, honest, and my goodness the man can sing.

Guests were invited to receive an Alpha invitation to one of the courses at one of seven participating Churches, who are running courses this Autumn.

One of those courses is a joint course between Shrewsbury Baptist Church and Shrewsbury Abbey's sister Church St Peter's, the first such collaboration between the two Churches.

The vicar of the Abbey made that point in his welcome on the night to spontaneous applause.

Joint events. Joint publicity. Joint introductory courses.

In Psalm 133 King David asserts

" 1 How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore. "

There is still further to travel on this journey, but step by step we will reach our town with one voice.

I am excited!

And if you ever get the chance to go and hear Henry Olonga, grab it with both hands.

A nice start

You know a Sunday meeting is going to go well when it starts like this.

A 24 year old woman walked up to me and gave me an envelope.

Inside was her membership application.

This was someone who our cell group had been praying for over couple of years.

Someone who had done to Alpha Course and found Christ.

Someone who had found the Freedom in Christ course a helpful start.

Someone who has joined a midweek group and made many friends within the Church.

And someone who we baptised in January this year.

Who wants to become a member.

Now that is how I would like to start every week!

Evangelists Summit 2011: Richard Cunningham, UCCF

If you had told me ten years ago that the head of the UCCF would come to a newfrontiers conference I would not have believed you. I may even have contacted your psychiatrist.

If you have read this blog over time you will know of my mixed experiences in the university days that left me both greatly blessed and carrying bitterness, which I have had to repent of.

He started with an excellent session looking at Paul's intereactions through the book of Acts and how that can help equip us to make our message relevant to those we encounter. It was meaty, funny, and relevant. Then came the big moment, an open Q&A.

It is fair to say that newfrontiers with its very high regard for the local Church has not always found it's interaction with the CU movement on the ground very easy due to the level of time pressure the Christian Union can put on students, alongside it's role as the "only" missional group on campus. Add in the charismatic / non charismatic dynamic and attempted shared witness, and sometimes it can be hard.

Nor have newfrontiers Churches always got it right from our end, at all. Richard's clear definition of why UCCF is not actually a "parachurch" movement was deliberate, and required.

It also appears that through Terry Virgo's attendance at New Word Alive and becoming part of the advisory council of UCCF, that things might be changing.

So the first thing I want to say about Richard Cunningham is that I think the guy has got guts and I respect him for that. Yet as he came, he was not coming into the lion's den to be quizzed on this and that, what he found was a group of evangelical, conservative, missional Churches wanting to know how best to make it work.

The questions flowed, the answers flowed, all very straight, full of grace and a seminal moment in the ongoing relationship between these two bodies, a line was being drawn in the sand and new opportunity opening up.

And then I asked my question. I had been considering it well in advance. I had the paragraph that had so offended me printed out should I need it. I wanted closure. The hands continued to rise and so I waited, and waited, then he pointed at me and said "I will finish with this one".

Oh no; you don't want to be the angry guy at the end who throws in a googly when everything thus far has been brilliant. Ah well, I am here now. The time has come.

My question was fairly straightforward: my time in the CU movement was good at a local level but the UCCF stuff I experienced was very difficult because of the opposition I faced as a Charismatic. When my wife went to Uni the situation there was even more of a war zone and I had to counsel several people who had been caught in the cross fire. Now a girl from our Church is going to that university and asked me about the CU and I felt I had to tell her to not get involved but to just find a Church for her own protection. I don't want that to be the case, so I am asking have things really changed and can I recommend the CU movement to people.

It was one of those agonising moments when you realise that your question says more about you than it does about anything else, and my voice went half way through, meaning I sounded both confused and emotionally vulnerable. At least there was a level of authenticity in that because I was confused and emotionally vulnerable!

And then he answered.

Firstly, he did not fudge anything. It does not always work out and he cannot do a "Tony Blair" and offer to solve everything.

Secondly things are changing, several UCCF relay workers are based in newfrontiers Churches, as an example.

Thirdly, he expressed his own opinions on certain things which resonated greatly with how I felt.

So he did not blag an answer. He did not apologise for something which is nothing to do with him. He just shared his heart. Of what it could look like if it did work. We all want it to work.

And then just slipped into a sentence, while looking at me, referring directly to me, in answer to my question, he said "brother".

That was the head of UCCF calling me brother.

That was my answer.

In the documentary about Take That getting back together Robbie Williams makes an astonishing admission when discussing the ongoing difficulties between him and Gary Barlow. He basically said; all the hurt and rejection he had held onto, and the way he allowed it to shape him negatively, was basically because above all else he just wanted his approval. He wanted to know he respected his contribution. He wanted to make him proud. And feeling the lack of that was what pushed them apart.

That resonates with me.

I don't want a political answer. I don't want an apology, or a false promise. I just want to know I am not left on this side of the drawbridge and that you approve of me.

He called me brother. And so it is as brothers that we will face the future.

And that changes everything.

Without wishing to plagiarise Rob Bell, love wins.

Evangelists Summit 2011: Dave Smith, Peterborough

Dave Smith has built an outstanding church in Peterborough.

This is not some distant American mega-church pastor in a distant city.

He is one of ours.

In a provincial city.

Gathering 1600 on Sundays, in a massive multi-purpose building with a vision to reach many, many more people.

They baptised 160 new believers last year alone.

"God has a greater passion for our mission than we do" opened up proceedings, and then 10 principles from Acts 1-2.

1. Harvest Vision (Acts 1:8b)
2. Love for the City (Acts 1:8b)
3. Passion for His Presence (Acts 2:42)
4. Stable & Changing Leadership (Acts 1:24-26)
5. Power for Purpose (Acts 1:8a, 2:4a)
6. Preaching for Life Change (Peter's Pentecost preach!)
7. Biblical Discipleship (Acts 2:42a)
8. Relational Unity (Acts 2:44)
9. Financial Generosity (Acts 2:45)
10. Large Celebrations / Mid sized communities / small groups (Temple courts, homes etc)

Right the way through question after question flowed. Practical insights. Good ideas. Bits of wisdom and experience, all gently expressed within humility, humour and a genuine sense of being a good bloke.

And then he prayed.

As he prayed the mood changed.

Rather than the relaxed, down to earth guy who had been speaking to us, you saw a warrior, and maybe in those few brief moments I learned the most.

Welcome to Hell!

Well that is what it felt like! As the opening two sessions of the Evangelist's Conference were Greg Haslam defending the doctrine of hell!

It is not my intention to just regurgitate what he said, not least because it would not contain any great surprises, unless you're the kind of person who gets surprised that anyone believes in hell anymore. It was certainly robust, although took me a little while to change gear in my head from car banter on the trip down to this.

What greatly impressed me about Greg's teaching was that he gave the most compelling, cohesive and clear explanation of the annihilationist viewpoint that I have ever heard. A view he does not hold. I feel uncomfortable when people put up a daft caricature of a different position and then undermine it. He did the opposite. Had he stopped right there you would have thought that was his position, until he moved on. I respect that, hugely.

But anyhow; the practical application was the effects of your understanding of hell on the urgency of your evangelism.

Using 2 Corinthians 5:9-21 he brought out the following points relating to Paul's ministry.

• The fear of the Lord was more important to him than fear of man (v9-10)
  
• The love of Christ was what compelled him (v14)
  
• This led to great compassion for people (v16)
• The offer of life: v17-21 is our message

So we need to be clear about we do believe.

And if we do believe in any sort of seperation from God, and we do love people, and we fear God not people, then maybe we will have a little more urgency in how we express our faith.

Evangelist's Summit 2011

The Newfrontiers Evangelists Summit is the best conference I go to.

That is not meant to be critical of anything else. The Brighton Leaders conference has been a real blessing, The newfrontiers younger leaders conference is brilliant.

But this is something else. The quality and range of speakers is exceptional, the size personal, and the outcome invigorating.

I had fun last time

Evangelists Summit
Evangelists Summit Introduction
Evangelists Summit: Who are "The Evangelists"
Evangelists Summit: Phil Moore
Evangelists Summit: Michael Ramsden
Evangelists Summit: Mark Bailey

But the last 3 days have just blown me away.

Greg Haslam of Westminster Chapel, Dave Smith of Kingsgate Community Church in Peterborough and Richard Cunningham, Director of UCCF is a stellar line up that still leaves me slightly scratching my head.

Add in meeting several really interesting new people, alongside catching up with some old friends, and it has been in faith terms what a microwave is to food preparation. It didn't last very long but has left everything piping hot.

I'll be blogging some reports and perspectives in due course; but suffice to say, if you ever get anywhere near an invitation to this conference then bite their hand off.

Front Edge 2010: Sunday service

Adrian Holloway seems to appear in all sorts of places these days and we were delighted he agreed to come and preach at both our meetings.

We had delivered 2000 flyers locally and had been praying hard in advance. Lots of people were invited, including our whole Alpha Course.

The good news is just that, good news, so we want to share it.

Adrian preached excellently. We prayed for the sick. In each meeting people came to the front and said that the pain had gone. Backs. Knees. Hands. Shoulders.

A young woman from our Church who the day before could not even sit at the Front Edge conference and lay on the floor at the back. Her back was twisted and she was in considerable discomfort. By Sunday morning she was stood on the stage, standing up straight, saying the pain had gone!

When the call went out for people to respond and become a Christian or recommmit their life to God perhaps 20 came forward across the two meetings. I don't have exact numbers but I would suggest the many of those were responding for the first time and some coming back to God.

The opportunity is now there to follow up people and help them in their journey of faith. We know more people may come on The Alpha Course this week as part of their response.

A very good morning and an exciting way to conclude Front Edge for us.

I love being part of a movement of Churches that prioritises mission as a key part of what it means to be Church, and releases gifted people to go and help Churches and equip their people.

Front Edge 2010

We hosted the Newfrontiers "Front Edge" evangelism conference on Saturday. It was a great day, with guest speakers Lex Loizides and Adrian Holloway.

Seminar speakers included Steve Hurd from Huddersfield and Paul Brown from Bermondsey.

Suffice to say, it was an excellent day.

Great teaching.

Powerful exhortation.

Mission involves the word and the Spirit.

And then we prayed for 12 different evangelists going on to do Sunday preaching and praying for the sick in Newfrontiers churches across this region, from Birmingham and Stafford, down to Hereford and across into Wales at Wrexham.

I love the commitment of these evangelists to take Ephesians 4 seriously and use their gift to equip and encourage others in their witness.

Then having equipped the 150 delegates at the Saturday conference, they do go and preach the gospel in Churches so people can bring family and friends to hear the good news.

The thing that really struck me was a desire to reach people, a desire to retain good doctrine and a desire to step out in signs and wonders, which act as a pointer to the "gospel" we bring to people.

All in all, a great day!

Jonathan Aitken, Politics, Prison, Peace

Over 400 people attended Theatre Severn last night for an excellent talk by Jonathan Aitken where he told his story of going to prison and how his journey to faith has helped him get his life back on track.

He was witty, sincere, honest, humble and clear.


This was the biggest inter-church outreach event in the town that I can remember for a good length of time.

Supplementing it we have produced and are in the process of delivering 10,000 flyers across the town inviting people to Alpha Courses that start in the next fortnight.


So here we are: Anglican, Baptist, Newfrontiers and Apostolic Churches standing together and offering the good news to our town.

It is a good place to be, but is only the very start of an adventure of what we can achieve together.

And we are off...

Welcome to a new term. What a week ahead.

This week: up to 10,000 joint Church Alpha flyers going out across the town

Thursday morning, 2,000 invites to Alpha / Harvest Service / Just 10 teaching series / Frontedge service going out to local homes

Thursday evening: over 400 people coming to the new theatre in Shrewsbury for the visit of Jonathan Aitken

Sunday: Harvest services, guest services with lots of invites going out

So how did we prepare? Quite simple. Like we always do. at 6.30am this morning. For an hour.

We prayed.

Barnabas Community Week

October Half term is our "Community Week" with several events aimed at reaching out into the community and raising the profile of the Church.

First up is our "Unplugged" event which is really exciting and has got different people from the Shrewsbury music scene interested already, to see if they can use our acts in other pub gigs around the town.


Next up is the Kids fun day. these normally attract over 200 children and their parents. these are chaotic and exciting in equal measure. All Kidz Klub families, all Barneytots families, and every child in our local primary school have an invite card.


Our Quiz Nights have developed their own following of local people and church members with their friends. Over 80 were at the last one. Our cell group arrange these as part of our witness, and to bring a larger event into the corporate life of the church as a service to others and their witness.


Then there is our Fair Trade open day which sees Starbucks, Co-op, Shrewbury Fairtrade, Tearfund, Stop the Traffik, Body Shop and other groups come and show what is happening, what they offer and how people can access their producst and services. It is also just in time for a spot of christmas shopping!


Day by day we will be distributing 1000 balloons and about 10,000 flyers regarding our new Sunday format and inviting the town to come to our events.

We will also be offering prayer for anyone who wants, including prayer for healing, out in the town centre.

The t-shirts are ordered, the flyers are ready, all systems go!

and so Alpha starts...

Here we are.

After months of preparation. Lots of prayer. Large scale publicity and a lot of faith, The Alpha Course starts tonight.

There are now over 30 guests signed up.

These include:

• several neighbours / friends / relatives who Church members have plucked up the courage to invite
• Guests from our recent Harvest Service and Baptism Service who were invited when they came on a Sunday
  
• several students from South East Asia and Africa
• someone who responded to a card being put through their letter box
• At least 3 people who have had absolutely no contact with our Church in Shrewsbury whatsoever in the past except through our website.
  

What a wonderful opportunity to explain who Jesus is to people who are interested.

Praying from Habakkuk

During the worship at our Church Together meeting on Tuesday I felt God speak to me through a relatively unlikely source: Habakkuk!

Chapter three, verse two to be precise. It just would not leave me, as a prayer for today, for what is stirring in my heart.

² LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

What a prayer!

I was stirred.

I have been thinking about the seminars I heard at the Together on a Mission Conference last week as noted here, here and here.

Hundreds of Churches planted across France, larger resource Churches growing into the thousands, 3,000,000 people having their lives changed by the gospel of Jesus.

And I want to pray:

² LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

I think of Wesley and Whitefield travelling in the UK and America, preaching in the towns, villages and cities. I read of huge crowds and huge responses to the gospel of Jesus. I see churches springing up in towns, villages, cities all across the nation in a move of God that could not be contained.

And I want to pray:

² LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

I think of the Welsh Revival and the stories we read about thousands being saved, and the pit ponies being confused because they no longer understood commands now the men did not swear at them! Churches springing up all over a nation as the gospel was preached and thousands came to faith.

And I want to pray:

² LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

I read about and see in practice the Church in South Korea where the Churches have stayed faithful in prayer and in the gospel and the whole nation is influenced by a strong and vibrant Church, sending thousands of missionaries and harnessing revival not into a decade but into a century of Church growth and gospel proclamation.

And I want to pray:

² LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

So we did pray.

For each other. In our homes. At our place of work. With our families. With our friends. Where we go to have fun. Where God has placed us. Where we have the privilege of living as witnesses of Jesus, who has saved us.

I think of what we heard and saw last Sunday as just a glimpse of what God can do, and it makes me want to pray:

² LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

So having been stirred I shared these things as a brief encouragement, and guess what?

We prayed.

Reaching Men: Part Three

This is a subject often discussed in the blogosphere.

I have opened the lid on it a couple of times here and here.

Normally different books / articles / discussions I have read seem to go one of two ways. Either going "hunting, fishing and shooting" and other manly activities seem to be the answer to most things (especially amongst our friends across the pond). Or people get very upset because discussing how to reach men becomes yet another example of a chauvinist Church excluding women.

Both extremes fall well short in my view.

So rather than put together a shiny new strategy, or suggest changes to make Church look more "manly" and less "girly", and rather than consider how some of us are "Wild at heart" while others are "Captivating", I will just let Mike and Matt tell their story. Can I recommend you spend 15 minutes or so listening to how they have come to faith in Jesus.

Here is the Alpha Flyer that gets a mention.

Evangelists Summit: Mark Bailey

Mark Bailey is vicar of Holy Trinity Cheltenham which has grown from just over 100 to 1700 in 15 years.

He came across as a really humble and friendly guy, and shared bits of his story and the story of his church.

He imparted a vision to see change in the Church, to bring change to the community, to bring change to the town, to bring change to the region, to bring change to the nation, to bring change to the world! This big ambition has seen him develop a large outward focussed Church.

Leadership, vision, courage and determination seemed the hallmarks of his story.

His passions are: The Lord, his wife, his children and the Church.

The purpose of the Church is connecting people with the Lord. He is part of a generation he described as being "driven away from the Church", so his mission is to engage and draw in. Reaching the UNchurched and the DEchurched.

Jesus bears little resembalnce to what we see in Churches. He was engaging, full of wisdom, full of power and very friendly.

Churches need to decide who theyw ant to keep happy: people or God? We love God and we love others but we need to have a fear of God alone.

They are displaying a remarkable level of flexibility the Church has developed into a multi-site, multi-location, multi-layered, multi-ministried and multi-congregational model. This is not "one size fits all" but rather "by all means win some".

Four things to live by:

• There is no status quo
• make a difference
• be a change maker
• leave a legacy
  

He prays for three conversations about faith and opportunities to witness a day.

Staffing choices are not to "do a job" but to "equip the saints"

The big question he would ask of any Church: how big is your fringe? How big is your social circle? How big is your reach? They host a lot of parties and socials to get to know people.

Pithy Quotes

In relation to personal evangelism
"Personality opens the door. Character keeps it open."

In relation to the work of the Holy Spirit
"We dont want to be "purpose driven", we want to be "presence shaped." His presence drives our purpose, and so that reflects our preaching, worship, prayer times, small groups and who our leaders are."

In relation to Church growth
"The more we feed/clothe/house the poor the more people join our Church. It feels like God blesses us when we bless people He loves."

In relation to leadership
"The strengths of the leader will be the strenghts of the church and vice versa."

In relation to relevance
"The most irreverent thing we can do is be irrelevant"

In relation to maturity
"Serving is the missing step to maturity. The Church in the UK is equipped well beyond its obedience."

In relation to Evangelism
"Do you not think God is more interested in people being saved than we are?"

Evangelists Summit: Michael Ramsden

Michael Ramsden is the real deal. I am always stirred up and provoked by what he says, even though there are definite similarities between different messages I have heard because, simply, that is what he believes.

The strongest apologetic we have is God in us.

• In us
• In our marriage (if we are)
• In our family
• In our friendships

How "attractive" is our life? Is our testimony proved true in how we live, no matter what we face? This is not presenting a saccharin sweet view of a "perfect" life, but showing faith in action.

In Leviticus the calling to the priesthood was a gift.

Calling to serve God is God's gift to us, not ours to Him. Do we allow ourselves to feel we are somehow "doing God a favour" by serving Him in this way. Does the "gift" start to feel more like a burden, like a curse?

He then went on to discuss 1 Corinthians 1: 17-31

The irony of the verses which start with a warning about using words of human wisdom, then breaking into poetry. More so breaking into Hebrew poetry but in Greek, in a passage warning about the dangers of eloquence and pride.

Perecles Funeral Oration regarded a victory, but they were later defeated. In context of that defeat, even the great oratory loses its significance.

Paul's verses here have 71 points of similarity with Pericles' poem: but the significance does not come from the words.

The power of the events is what gives the words power. The significance of the message is what gives the words significance.

So the question for us is do we rely on God and use our gifts,
or do we rely on our gifts and use God?

Are we in danger of allowing our "gift" to replace the "giver"?

Just because we are gifted does not make our life OK or a good witness.

When we meet people are we "tired" and "busy" so we can somehow be congratulated for the way we are serving God?

Then came a very familiar encouragement from 1 Peter 3: 15 & 16

Essentially the point was to see apologetics, giving an answer, as a spiritual act alongside prayer, fasting, theology etc. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 show apologetics is a spiritual act above an intellectual one.

In order to provide answers we need to know their questions. That requires knowing what they read, watch and think about things. But our response needs to be "our" response: not someone else's neatly packaged into pithy sayings. We need to make it our own and express it our way.

Not only is it expressing the truth, but also being an effective witness to the truth as we answer.

My highlight:
"Apologetics is theology with legs that can walk into a pub and impart wisdom"

Evangelists Summit: Phil Moore

Phil Moore is from the Coign Church Woking and really set the scene for the two days with what was essentially a fairly impassioned cry for people to not leave their devotional life underdeveloped while performing public roles.

He used the analogy of cannons asking the question: do we search for a bigger cannon (such as better preaching, bigger Alpha Course etc) or do we desire more gunpowder, e.g. the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we stay close to God.

I found this quite a challenge. It is so easy to just be busy "doing" for God not "being" with Him.

The challenge laid was that prioritising time with God was an act of humility, with a little quip that evangelist's especially are sometimes not known for their humility.

Isaiah 40 29: 31 was used alongside other verses to set the point up clearly

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

There were quotes from Evan Roberts and others highlighting the devotional aspect of the leaders of many of the great revivals.

Here are some particularly pithy quotes used:

"The secret of Christianity is Christianity in secret".

"Our job is not hard, it is impossible. Without the Holy Spirit we are at 0%. With the Holy Spirit we are at 100%."

DL Moody: "Every great move of God can be traced to a single kneeling figure"

John Wesley: "Give me 100 men who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin and I will change this land"

Evangelists Summit: Who are "The Evangelists"

Adrian Holloway from Christchurch London hosted the event and started with a very good pep talk regarding who was there and why we were there.

• There were lots of different people there: different ages, genders, stages, experiences, places
• Not "single issue" people but people with a desire to both do and equip others to do evangelism within their wide-ranging Church responsibilities
• There were (as you would expect) many "preaching" evangelists there but also a whole range of other people in different roles and with different gifts. That pleased me, because it shows it is not seen as an "expert" thing and that the definition is not too narrow.
  

And then the next bit which sounded a bit like a manifesto for evangelism for newfrontiers in the UK.

• Britain is largely unevangelised
• Reaching lost people is a primary goal
• Church planting is essentially an evangelistic activity

We want to see:

• Evangelistic Churches
• Evangelistic members
• Evangelistic meetings / programmes / courses / small groups
  
• Evangelistic preaching

There is more to Church life than just evangelism. But we need to take evangelism very, very seriously as it is such a primary calling.

Evangelists Summit Introduction

Is it really 10 days since my last post?

We had a fantastic couple of days down in Milton keynes being stirred up again about evangelism.

It really was excellent.

The new building of New Life Church North is quite a facility, but what was more exciting was their weekly altar call for people to come to salvation that has seen 19 people respond so far this year.

It is not about buildings and it is not about conferences, it is about those 19 people coming to faith in Jesus.

Evangelists Summit

Tomorrow I go with Terry and a few others from our local region to the rather grandly titled "Evangelists Summit" in Milton keynes.

I went a couple of years back and it was excellent.

I am really looking forward to it for the following reasons:

1. It is INTENTIONAL: Getting loads of people with a passion for mission and a passion for the Church together for the purpose of discussing the Church and mission. It is not rocket science, but is massively releasing, not least because many of those there will not be lead elders or even elders but will be those with the hands on responsibility for mission initiatives, with local experience at the coal face.

2. It is RELATIONAL: Meeting old friends, making new friends, networking ideas and information, inspiring each other. Sharing good practise, sharing each others frustrations.

3. It is INSPIRING: In the past speakers like J.John and Michael Ramsden have been a tremendous encouragement and provocation.

4. It is ACTIVE: This is not some "jolly" for people with a particular title in a Church. These are the people running with initiatives like Frontedge (Evangelistic Healing meetings), preaching the good news, praying for the sick, asking for a resonse, leading people to Jesus. This is the frontline, and the frontline can get bigger and bigger through events such as this

5. It is PRAYERFUL: This will not be about quick fix schemes or ten point guides. This will be about Jesus. Loving Him, worshipping Him, praying "Your Kingdon Come" and then working out how to do it.

So all in all, really looking forward to it. Let's hope it does not disappoint.