Last Saturday, 6th July, over 30 of us from across all the churches of our Parish joined together for our annual Parish Mini Conference, entitled ‘Sharing our stories’.
It was an outstanding conference, especially our key note speaker Dr Cheryl Mvula who opened our time with a dynamic session setting the scene. She shared her testimony of finding Christ at a low point in her life, and the subsequent joy of knowing and following Him. She encouraged us to reflect on our own journey of faith – each individual, each unique, each precious - and the natural outflow from the life of every believer to share their story of knowing Jesus in an easy, natural and clear way.
It was inspirational, but more than that it energised those present to pray for the courage to step out in speaking of our love for the Lord with others.
Two things that really struck me:
1. Cheryl shared that once she found Christ when she was over 40 years old, she began telling her friends and work colleagues about her new-found faith. To her great surprise, she discovered a number of people amongst her networks then shared they also were Christian! She was astonished. For years she’d fought depression, for years she’d be searching for truth and not one of them had ever mentioned about Jesus to her, and yet they were believers and member of the local church. This really challenged me – may I, may we, never be that person who never shares our hope in Christ with others.
2. Cheryl encouraged us to pray for God to place someone on our heart and to then reach out to them with a What’s App message to say this and to ask if there is anything we can pray for them. A good number of us did this in the session as she waited for us! Yes, this was quite a stretch for some of us, but there are incredible testimonies of how this has blessed people as they responded to our messages requesting prayer. May this open new doors for further conversation.
Do look out for more opportunities to grow in confidence – we have a story to tell. And do listen out for further feedback from your focal minister and church members who attended so we can all mature in our faith and reach out more to share the wonderful Good News of Christ.
The Revd Jo Purle
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