I am excited as I look forward to this week with my friends gathering for the last Together On A Mission conference. I am sad that my wife cannot be here for family commitment reasons. But, that is not the only reason why I do have mixed emotions today. At any time of transition, as much as you eagerly forward to the future God has for us, an element of sadness will also be there.
Some sense of nostalgia this week is I suppose inevitable, especially for someone like me who has been part of Newfrontiers since the very beginning. I was very young back in the days when Terry Virgo began to travel to other churches to help them.. Ours was the very first church that began to look to him for support. Since the late 1970s most summers I have attended a Newfrontiers conference. First Downs, then Stoneleigh, now Together On A Mission.
This final international leadership conference marks the close of a significant chapter in my life, therefore. We have been here before. One of the things that I most respect about our leaders is that they do not want to keep doing an event simply because it is being blessed by God. So, twice before they have pulled the plug on conferences that were at the time perceived to be incredibly successful and blessed by God. Why? Because they perceived the cloud of God moving, as it were. We are an unashamedly prophetic movement, led by God through a corporate sense of God directing us.
And so, once more, as Terry explained in my video interview with him, we know that it is now time to change. This is only partly because Terry now wishes in this next phase of his ministry to change the way he relates to Newfrontiers, releasing other apostolic teams to continue this mission. God is leading us to new things. Will there be new conferences in the future? Probably. Will they look like this one? Definitely not. Will this be the last large conference Terry Virgo personally organizes and hosts? Possibly. Will it be the last one he preaches at? Certainly not! He has many preaching engagements already booked, and doors are opening for more, especially in the USA and in other nations around the world.
In fact, this week marks a fresh transition in our onward march to play our part in filling the world with grace-filed, Spirit-intoxicated churches. There is no question that this is what the nations need more than anything! How easy it is for a church that is not aware of the Spirit’s presence to simply dry up and feel dead no matter how accurate it’s doctrine is. We were meant to know God! How easy it is for a church to allow grace to become a theory we believe in rather than a reality we experience and demonstrate to each other. Legalism is so subtle it can grip us even as we preach the doctrines of grace. How liberating to be in a church which truly practices the grace it preaches. Where, without pressure to confess each and every sin, there is no need for pretence. Where there is no constant fear of being “found out.” Where love really does cover a multitude of sins. Where we are accepted irrespective of how much we fail.
On the way down here I found myself thinking a lot about the service we had at Jubilee yesterday. We were wisely led by a dear friend of mine into a tangible sense of the presence of God. Songs which exalt Jesus and lead us to the foot of the cross drew us irresistibly into becoming more aware of God and his love for us. Towards the end of our worship time another friend shared the simplest of prophetic words: “God said to me: tell my people I love them and Jesus really is alive” he then followed up with “and tell other people what God has told you.”
We then moved into singing a song which seemed to drip with the Spirit of God: “At the cross” by Hillsongs. Every word of that song rang so true and felt so prophetic. An awareness of God’s love for us even when we fail, the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and a hope for us that goes beyond the grave. As we drew to the end, another felt a prophetic prompting to remind us that God has the whole world, and you and me in his hands. When we started to sing the simple old chorus “He’s got the whole world, in his hands” I was undone, with many others. We closed our worship by singing once more “At the cross I bow my knee” with the congregation on our knees. What a glorious moment, and what a way to prepare for what was, I think, the best sermon I have ever heard Tope preach.
That is prophetic worship. That is what I am confident we will be experiencing here, though I urge you to pray for us that we do indeed experience entering into the holy of holies, as it were. May we meet with God. May we be forever changed. May we be re-commissioned to go and plant churches for the glory of God. Some, like me, will feel the compulsion of God to stay and help build a single church for the long term, but even so, may we all realize the part we can play in supporting those heroes who do go.
I found myself listening to that Hillsong song repeatedly on the way down here. Somehow it was an appropriate backdrop to finishing reading David Sitton’s forthcoming modern missionary biography, Reckless Abandon. Tears swelled in my eyes as I drew to a close, much as they had when I first began to read it. Jesus really is worth it. We come to meet him this week, but more than that to pour out our love and worship to him. May he be glorified in us this week.
Sitting alone in Café Nero I was painfully aware of the thousands all around me who don’t know Jesus. I hope that as several thousand Christians invade this town, we will bring with us the presence of Jesus. I hope that many this week will hear of Jesus as a result. I sat here wondering if there was any way I could speak to at least one person today about him. I turned that wondering into a prayer, then when a lady sat next to me with a baby, took a deep breath and launched into a conversation. What a joy to be able to share the gospel with a muslim lady. She went away knowing more about Jesus as a result, and I had learnt a little about Islam. It was also good to provide a sandwich for a homeless guy who turned out to have some kind of faith in Christ. How often have I ignored such opportunities to demonstrate Jesus’ love in the past! May his compassion continue to move me. May he similarly move others who gather this week. May many more members of the community here in Brighton have a similar experience of a Christian reaching out to them this week in Brighton in coffee shops, restaurants, shops and hotels. And may the ripples of this important gathering be felt all over the world.
At the Cross (Hillsongs)
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