15th October 2012 will prove to be a significant date in the evolution of
Newfrontiers. It marked the beginning of our first international gathering
following the closure of Together On a Mission in Brighton, which had
previously been our annual international conference.
Now pruned back from 4500 to approximately 450 senior leaders from many
nations, gathered to a hotel in Turkey. Wendy and I arrived a little early
and I had the joy and pleasure of speaking at the Newfrontiers church in
Izmir, LightHouse
Church, now gathering apporximately 220 people. Among the first
people that I met were two men from Mongolia, who were there because they had
travelled to Turkey for our Newfrontiers Leaders Conference. Mongolia! Who
would have dreamed when we started planting churches in Sussex, in the mid
'70s, that we would be drawing men from Mongolia to our Leaders Conference!
Following an excellent time with the church in Izmir, we went to the hotel
where hundreds of very dear friends of mine, had travelled many miles, some
from the Americas, some from Australasia, many from the UK and European
nations; indeed 46 nations of the 60 which we have penetrated were
represented. It proved to be a remarkable time.
Simply to be with so many friends was a joy and delight in itself. We hardly
needed to have meetings in order to be blessed. As it is, we had a program
which gave us two full morning sessions, a relaxed early afternoon, a late
afternoon session, and plenty of time for eating and relaxing together and most
of all talking as friends and sharing news. Edward Buria started the
preaching program with a word exhorting us to proceed into the future with
faith. He was followed by the incomparable Bob Roberts from Dallas, Texas, a
truly remarkable man with an amazing vision and extraordinary fruit to back
up what he has to say. We had heard him before but to be honest, I had never
heard him better! He was electric and the timing of his coming could not have
been better as we press forward into international mission.
The preaching program was interspersed with brilliant interviews with people
on the cutting edge of our gospel outreach into the many nations of the world,
some too secret to comment on here. How proud we were of our friends:
husbands and wives with little children pressing out to the regions beyond in
the name of Jesus. The interviews were superb.
Four alternative training tracks covered very diverse programs, all of which
were profoundly appreciated.
I personally gave a talk based on John 20:21 'as the Father sent me, so send
I you'. I was stirred by the wonder of the incarnation and the breathtaking
sending of the Son of God Himself. How could we be sent like Him? I found
that God directed me to Jesus' words; 'I send you as sheep to wolves, be wise
as serpents, innocent as doves'. Wolves hardly look like subjects for
conversion and if one had aspirations to see them converted, one would hardly
send sheep for the task, (in Luke, 'lambs'). Yet Jesus sees His disciples
going in this manner.
What are they armed with? Jesus says we advance with wisdom, that is a wisdom
foreign to this world, that comes down from heaven and is revealed through a
cross. He also says 'be innocent as doves'. God sends us out with the mighty
weapon of innocence. Paul stood before Agrippa claiming to have always walked
with a good conscience. Stephen, as the wolves devour him, has the face of an
angel and his wisdom could not be withstood. As he is devoured, I am reminded
of the phenomenal words of Jim Elliot; 'he is no fool who loses what he
cannot keep, in order to gain what he cannot lose'. This is truly wisdom from
heaven.
Jesus then blows upon them and says 'receive the holy spirit'. How we need to
know His constant infilling, empowering and impartation of ability.
David Devenish gave a superb word about the relevance of contextualisation of
the gospel, as we break into many diverse nations. It was a grown-up word for
a movement that continues to grow up! Finally, PJ Smythe gave a magnificent
teaching based on the opening verses of Colossians 1. He explicitly taught
from the text, giving full weight to every word, phrase and apostolic
expression. He spoke with awesome authority and gave me a huge sense of peace
and joy as I look to the next generation emerging to take forward the work of
Newfrontiers into the future.
It was an awesome conference and I rarely use the word 'awesome'. How I thank
God for His breathtaking kindness to us now over decades, and how excited I
am about the future that lies before us. To meet with men from Bolivia to
Mongolia, from Seattle to Sydney was a joy and delight, and to know them as
my personal friends adds a pleasure hard to be descried. I can't wait for the
next time that we are called together, but I continue to pray that God will
make us a witness to the glories of Christ, to the nations of the earth.
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