Together at East of England 2009

Together at East of England Conference 2009.

Just back from this weekend conference bringing together churches from Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambs in the East of England. The churches represented are mainly from the New Frontiers International (NFI) grouping of churches with some representation from other independent churches in the region. Having gone with the family (toddler of 3 years+ and 5 month old baby) we felt pretty tired at the end and I know for sure we were not the only ones, as is often the case on these types of weekend events, when so much gets packed into the programme.

I was very much looking forward to hearing Terry Virgo preach for the first time in the flesh having listened to many of his sermons online and read two of his books. He certainly did not disappoint with his series looking at Elijah and he was well preceded by a croaky Mike Betts who preached on a theme of God Moments.

Here are some blog entries and the key points from Terry Virgo’s sermons and the meetings themselves.

Friday 23rd Oct.

Arrived a little bit early and managed to get the key to the chalet which was a bonus. It always amazes me how much stuff you have to bring with children, and babies of course; bottles, sterilizer, milk, nappies etc. Booked in and collected the information for the Children’s clubs that were being run, we had one of ours booked into ‘Sparkers’ and ‘Tiddlywinks’. We then went for tea and avoided too much of the waiting that was to become a theme for the weekend.

A great feature of this weekend, like last years, was the radio station being run by guys from some of the churches represented, this gave the local population of Lowestoft coverage of the event and 24 hour Christian music and content. It was also a platform for interviews to take place that there would not have been space for in the meetings themselves and also from a practical point of view allowed those with children in bed and in the chalets coverage of the evening meeting.

There was as far as I understand 800-900 people booked in, down a little on the 1200 odd last year which perhaps is not that surprising given the recession and price increases. I did wonder whether going for an online booking system may have put some people off but there is no way of telling. It still felt like a large gathering and was certainly as vibrant as last years and was well organised in the main meetings. One of the features toward the beginning of the meetings was a five minute slot called ‘on the sofa’ with Maurice Nightingale (Aylsham Community Church) when he interviewed a number of overseas and UK church plants. This was a very worthwhile thing to do and as Mike Betts commented on in the final session it is far better to see and hear from these people in the flesh as opposed to a photo on a notice board with a piece of red cotton wool pointing to a map. Some of the interviews over the course of the weekend were with Kosciól Laski (Grace Church) Gdansk Poland, Antakya (Antioch) Turkey, Mosaic Christian Church Lethbridge Canada – this interview was shown as a live link to Canada. One of the UK church plants covered was the Thetford Church Plant which was of particular interest to me as Nigel Worth (and Glenda) was an elder of a church near Braintree called at that time Notley Baptist Fellowship that I used to attend many years ago. Nigel and Glenda are moving from Kings Community Church in Braintree (NFI) after 22 years living and raising their family in Braintree to Thetford to start up this Church Plant (More info here: http://www.thetfordchurchplant.com/welcome.html)

Saturday 24th October.

Up for breakfast, not the best nights sleep in the world but anyway. Had breakfast, got the Children booked into their groups before the main meeting. Sue Latham and all the team did a fantastic job all weekend with ‘Sparklers’, all very well organised and our little un’ seemed to really enjoy it. They came out with some really great crafts that they had made and I thought to myself this is better than he produces in Nursery at home.

Morning Meeting, main speaker Terry Virgo.

Recalled a recent visit to Zimbabwe and a meeting bringing many pastors together, building at foundation of a broken country (Mugabe etc..). Mentioned a Telegraph article talking about 1,000 new churches in the UK in the last seven years, against the background of previous Church decline.

Reading 1 Kings 17 v 1-up

Elijah a man just like us, a prophet of God, bible silent on his background, spoke with authority.
Bible prophets – not students of history, but people who got revelation from heaven, Gods’ mouthpiece. Tended not to speak to all the nations. Israel, a chosen nation, a special treasure, God’s affection for Israel. Jealousy in God, is borne out of Love, total love. Not to be associated with negative aspects (of Jealousy, i.e. not jealousy as many would understand it). For a season Israel seemed to understand that (e.g. under David).

BUT… in 58 years, 7 kings come and go, each getting worse, by the time Elijah arrived it was illegal to worship YAHWEH, prophets at this point hiding in caves. Israel starting to follow Baal. God Angry with them and they lost their way. Israel a picture of the human race. “Futile in their speculations…” (Romans 1 v 21 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened”). Terry then quoted Dawkins who claims “we are just dancing to our DNA” along the same theme.

It was interesting to be reminded about the time frame involved here in terms of Solomon’s reign and approx 58 years later, worship was illegal. Not a dissimilar period in years from the Coronation of our Queen (when she read from the Bible amongst other things as the head of the Church of England and our Monarch). What will this country be like in another 58 years? Elijah a Post Christian prophet. We live in such a time. We need to Plant churches, effect our culture. Devote our skills / gifts to the Lord. What is Britishness ? Fish and chips ? Almost not allowed to mention God as it might be deemed divisive.

Elijah – confronted people with reality. Reminded them of their heritage. Almost from another culture. Be people who come standing before the Lord. Ezekiel “fell on my face” (meeting God), Joshua “fell on my face”, John (Revelation) “fell at this feet”, Paul (Acts) falls to the ground, met with “Paul, Arise, Stand on your Feet”. Elijah, stood against the culture. Stand before God.

That’s a quick summary from some scribbling I managed. The meeting was terrific the worship was fresh and lively with a real intention to get straight into things. I did not make notes of other contributions from the floor but there were a number interspersed throughout and a memorable one tomorrow.

To be continued. (Part 2)