AMEN 2015 Conference Day 1 - Monday

Rain, and my phone forecasts it for the rest of the week.  So it looks like the marquee's going up in the wet, and the Bank Holiday weekend will get muddy. 

I nipped round the fifty yards from the Farm House to Central Office dodging the showers.  In the main reception our African AMEN guys were gathered to be kitted out with warm red fleeces and knitted beanies.  The flame patterns suggested these are Jesus Fellowship's equivalent of bishops' mitres. 

In the Farm lounge the complement was made up with Mark and Christiaan from Switzerland and Colney from India.   Each of the guys gave a review of the last year.  Desmond was freshly returned from western Brazil.  There, together with Paulo who joined us at last year's conference, he'd commissioned a new Multiply group.   We new face the challenge of translating our material into Portuguese.  Steven added to Saturday's brief update by mentioning that he'd been contacted from Mozambique, Angola and South Africa.  Matthew had similarly been contacted from Togo, Cameroon and Benin, as well as progressing the established group in Ghana.

Colney is quietly unassuming, with a remarkable track record.  Last autumn he heard that the Hindu celebrations in Nepal involved sacrificing 250,000 cattle.  He'd been gripped with urgency to visit or somehow mobilise prayer.  The two recent earthquakes have created an unparallelled opening for the gospel, though pastors are now desperate for even two sheets of corrugated iron to replace roofs.  He also said the that our gifts of video cameras and supporting IT kit resulted in his boys at the orphanage in Cuttack getting distinctions in their school certificates. 

Pete, head of our pastoral department, spoke at some length about the need for Multiply to show excellence in safeguarding matters.  Here's an area where we can help other groups to achieve a balanced practise through accountability in the network and with proper training.  Next, Ed encouraged excellence in our practical projects, particularly by better planning and preparation.

By lunchtime the sun had broken through, and woolly hats came off.    Relief for the tent team, too.

A bunch of our younger folks assembled to share their experiences of projects connected with the international visits.  Claire got excited at the prospect of a 'reverse' internship, where UK folks do six months with the partner churches, rather than us hosting their delegates.  It certainly seems that a month is a better timescale for visits.

Mark and Piet rounded off the updates on the last year in Europe.  They were passionate for the radicality of brotherhood in the face of one-dimensional church life.  Radical sharing of and obedience to the word of God, not 'reason' or disappointments, was a recurring theme during the day.  It's remarkable how this AMEN group has come to a place of deep trust, courageous speaking and wise exchange in our varied church-building ministries.  God always has more.

AMEN Programme Day 2

The brief cheering sunshine of the last two days had given way to steady rain.  I didn't envy the marquee team their de-rig take-down task at Cornhill.  The AMEN guys has assembled in the lounge at Living Stones where our apostolic team meets monthly.  We got straight down to business after a cup of tea.

We still needed to have an update from Mark, and he focussed on the growing interest in community he meets across Europe.  He likes feasts, rather than 'church' as a way to dissolve the tension between the cultures of the Kingdom and the world. 

Kelly and his team (Wilf and Dan) gave the morning focus on brotherhood.  He spoke of needing to share the burden of pastoral care, and of our own frailty.  One day he was doing practical jobs in a small room, with one bright central ceiling light.  Wherever he turned he found he was working in shadow.  So it is if our vision is only illuminated by our own perspective: the light is darkness.  Dan unpacked how covenant is alive with personal reality, not some distant formula or obligation.  Wilf spoke of leaders' vulnerability needing to be balanced by the integrity that means we don't circle round difficulties, but resolve them.

Jonny, Jason and Jenny reported back on their two J Gen projects in Kenya and Nigeria.  In Kenya 19 folks have been trained in the new workshop/college and 55 children helped in their school.  The Lagos school project didn't run so smoothly.  There's room for better planning, and we'll need to note this for India and Sierra Leone, and Zambia next year.  When we look back over two years in which we've initiated this aspect of Multiply, it's been a good start.

 After lunch, Piet gave on overview of Multiply Europe's developments.  Interest in the gospel has sprung up in several ways: pockets of life in the landscape of deadness; the opening up of eastern Europe that has brought poverty into the open; the spread of migrants who aren't infected by prevailing uninterest; the breakdown of society provoking the question where one may find community.  "Urban mission" is blossoming in new places, like Rotterdam.  He has a good perspective.

After this we left the AMEN guys to spend time together.  I nudged Gregory to produce a wish-list of half a dozen priorities for later discussion.  Stephen pinned me down to work out some dates for the Africa visit in Spring next year.

With time to spare before agape, I went to the Skaino office and knocked out the powerpoint for Thursday's session on future developments and initiatives.  There's plenty stirring.