I spent three days after the official AMEN programme ended following up urgent priorities. There were details of September's India trip to reschedule. I rang Colney, freshly returned, and he confirmed he'd now got all he needed to get the Burma conference moving. Daniel emailed from UAE to firm up flights and forward a request from Chennai for a group of 20 pastors to come to the Bangalore conference. He also pressed me for biog information for the South India programme for the four of us travelling from UK.
Then I had to repeat the exercise with spring 2014's trip to Africa. Steven emailed to say he was delayed and still in England. But he'd been introduced to a charity willing to send a container of aid items to Lusaka, free, providing the immediate transport cost could be covered. And Desmond emailed to say he'd located a minibus in Belgium that he wanted to get across to Freetown so he could use it for Mick's trip in November.
The third priority was to get all the discussion points scheduled so we could have a decent debrief among the Multiply subcommittee. Two sides of bullet points! When we finally sat around the table, we realised how much ground we'd covered. Whilst the gaping holes in our administration were indefensible, Piet was ready to champion the evolving partnership issues. The Central Office reorganisation has created an enlarged Multiply office, and I may even get a hot-desk, there too.
On the motorway I found some space to reflect on nuggets of conversation that had stuck in my mind. Rukundo's Kingdom message is obviously carrying an anointing, and breaking new ground. "Don't be surprised if God gives you some new songs to express this message," I'd prompted him. "Oh, but we have," he beamed. "Forty of them! We sing them all the time. And the sister responsible gets very inspired." He related the exact growth of his New Humanity community. "We have 16 at our house, 15 in the other house in Kigali, 12 in the Eastern region, and nine more locally waiting to move in." That's 52 souls. In March last year there were 14 and 12 respectively in the two houses in Kigali - exactly 100% increase. They'd already moved from the blue-roofed house that I remember, and would need to move on again before the end of this year.
Then there was Colney's reference to his training of junior leaders. "I tell them that if they'll learn 1,000 verses of scripture, then I'll sponsor them to attend bible college. They are so keen to be equipped and go to the unevangelised villages." And whilst considering India, I had to smile at at Daniel's advice to Steve as they discussed the topics for the conferences in Bangalore and Trissur. "Okay to talk about the Kingdom church, but go easy on celibacy." We laughed at how celibacy shouldn't be part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In Chatham, we'd all warmed to Matthew sharing about the inward tensions and struggles of leadership. He described how five years had changed his perspective on working out a leadership call. "I used to see myself like a sheepdog. One eye on the Lord, and one eye on the sheep - always in a state of tense alertness. Now I just walk alongside the Lord, at his hand. Enjoying seeing the next next move he's planning and next direction He's taking."
Mark's testimony also proved arresting. Brought up in a churchy family, he'd kicked over the traces when about 16. Yet his fledgling faith survived. "Night after night," he recalled, "I prayed beneath my 'blanket cathedral'." After the official week, we heard, too, that Mark's brother Ralf, in Brazil, will aim to come to Multiply International Leaders Conference (MILC) in summer next year. This makes possible developments in South America more solid.
Rukundo stayed on for a couple of weeks. He came to Sheffield. We spent time working through the challenges of developing his support team and putting structures in place. We drove up to the Derwent reservoir, and talked in the rain. We found a parallel with the establishment of cities of refuge in the settlement of Canaan. They were models for God's justice and mercy. But, useless unless they could be reached directly and swiftly. So, Moses and Joshua were instructed to build roads - good roads. This just reflects the point of development that Rukundo's got to. He needs a wineskin to contain the new wine of the Spirit.
Finally, I was still worried about Gregory's tiredness. "Hello, archbishop," I rang him. I was relieved to hear his reply. "It was all brilliant. I'm very inspired. Let's keep it up."
Then I had to repeat the exercise with spring 2014's trip to Africa. Steven emailed to say he was delayed and still in England. But he'd been introduced to a charity willing to send a container of aid items to Lusaka, free, providing the immediate transport cost could be covered. And Desmond emailed to say he'd located a minibus in Belgium that he wanted to get across to Freetown so he could use it for Mick's trip in November.
On the motorway I found some space to reflect on nuggets of conversation that had stuck in my mind. Rukundo's Kingdom message is obviously carrying an anointing, and breaking new ground. "Don't be surprised if God gives you some new songs to express this message," I'd prompted him. "Oh, but we have," he beamed. "Forty of them! We sing them all the time. And the sister responsible gets very inspired." He related the exact growth of his New Humanity community. "We have 16 at our house, 15 in the other house in Kigali, 12 in the Eastern region, and nine more locally waiting to move in." That's 52 souls. In March last year there were 14 and 12 respectively in the two houses in Kigali - exactly 100% increase. They'd already moved from the blue-roofed house that I remember, and would need to move on again before the end of this year.
Then there was Colney's reference to his training of junior leaders. "I tell them that if they'll learn 1,000 verses of scripture, then I'll sponsor them to attend bible college. They are so keen to be equipped and go to the unevangelised villages." And whilst considering India, I had to smile at at Daniel's advice to Steve as they discussed the topics for the conferences in Bangalore and Trissur. "Okay to talk about the Kingdom church, but go easy on celibacy." We laughed at how celibacy shouldn't be part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In Chatham, we'd all warmed to Matthew sharing about the inward tensions and struggles of leadership. He described how five years had changed his perspective on working out a leadership call. "I used to see myself like a sheepdog. One eye on the Lord, and one eye on the sheep - always in a state of tense alertness. Now I just walk alongside the Lord, at his hand. Enjoying seeing the next next move he's planning and next direction He's taking."
Mark's testimony also proved arresting. Brought up in a churchy family, he'd kicked over the traces when about 16. Yet his fledgling faith survived. "Night after night," he recalled, "I prayed beneath my 'blanket cathedral'." After the official week, we heard, too, that Mark's brother Ralf, in Brazil, will aim to come to Multiply International Leaders Conference (MILC) in summer next year. This makes possible developments in South America more solid.
Rukundo stayed on for a couple of weeks. He came to Sheffield. We spent time working through the challenges of developing his support team and putting structures in place. We drove up to the Derwent reservoir, and talked in the rain. We found a parallel with the establishment of cities of refuge in the settlement of Canaan. They were models for God's justice and mercy. But, useless unless they could be reached directly and swiftly. So, Moses and Joshua were instructed to build roads - good roads. This just reflects the point of development that Rukundo's got to. He needs a wineskin to contain the new wine of the Spirit.
Finally, I was still worried about Gregory's tiredness. "Hello, archbishop," I rang him. I was relieved to hear his reply. "It was all brilliant. I'm very inspired. Let's keep it up."
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