| 15th National Conference - See I am Doing a New Thing |
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Scotland’s 15th National Conference took place in Glasgow on the weekend of 9/10 November 2007. This was the culmination of the CCR 40th anniversary celebrations in Scotland. It was only after this year’s dates were set that it was discovered that it was also the 30th anniversary of the 1st National Conference, which took place exactly on that weekend in 1977 at Coodham in Ayrshire. So it seemed we were going to be blessed!
The theme for the Conference was "See I am doing a new thing, laying a path in the wilderness; the way for you to follow ..." . This followed on from words received at the 40th Anniversary Celebration in February and confirmed through the N. Isles Committee and at the European Leaders’ Conference in Warsaw.
The main speaker was Charles Whitehead, who addressed the 180 present on Friday evening and again on Saturday morning. On the Friday evening he spoke of how God calls us to move on to new things. We can sometimes be complacent and choose to stay in the place of rest and refreshment God provides, but we are never really “off duty” with God. In the Old Testament God promised to send His Spirit and this was released through Jesus and poured out on all. All we have to do is say “yes”. Charles emphasised that Pentecost was primarily about mission rather than blessing. We are absolutely filled, not just touched, with the Holy Spirit and constantly need refilling because we leak. God sometimes reminds us what has happened and what He has done, but then He tells us to move on. We need to have our eyes, minds and hearts open to the new things God is doing – a challenge! In the Gospel, those present were reminded, God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” and so he calls us to be faithful to the Renewal. God fills people with love and power through the Holy Spirit and we are His channels. To do this we must be open to the Spirit and love with the love of the Lord, for whom nothing is impossible. We need the Lord daily and it is generally dangerous to think otherwise. In conclusion Charles offered a word that he would pick up in the morning. He said, “MUM’s the word!”
MUM stands for “Maturity”, “Unity”, “Action”. On Saturday Charles reminded those present that Baptism in the Holy Spirit changes priorities. Before BHS we used to think that we had to do things so that God would approve, but now we believe that He will work through us. We believe he died so that we might live in grace and love. Keeping in that love means being open to the Spirit who gives us power. The Holy Spirit comes so we can be empowered to go. The Acts shows a community filled with the Holy Spirit and on a mission. They were a people alive in the power of the Spirit. This is seen in their openness to God together with conversion of heart. Maturity comes from understanding why God does what He does through us. BHS involves head knowledge and heart experience.
We will only see and know what God is doing if we are in a close intimate relationship with the Lord who is doing it. Out of that He will tell us our part. Sometimes we can become consumed with the Lord’s work and find we are loving that more than the Lord, Himself. However, we must put our relationship with God before we get on with doing. To illustrate this Charles described a scene from the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, where Tevye, the main character, asks his wife if she loves him. She replies that, for more than twenty years, she has cooked for him, cleaned for him, washed his clothes and darned his socks and he asks if she loves him! Tevye says, “Yes, but do you love me?” She considers this and concludes she probably she does!
A relationship with the Lord demands time, but in that we must find time to live in the full power of the Holy Spirit. This intimacy should be developed in three ways:
§ Prayer – time spent with God in a quiet place a t a specific time.
§ Word of God – we need to be familiar with the written Word of God in the Scriptures. Pope Benedict has said that Scripture was not merely written in the past, but it has a personal message for each one of us.
§ Sacraments – they are there to feed us and contain power.
“The Christian walk,” Charles said, “begins with sitting at the Lord’s feet, listening and doing, receiving and giving, or it becomes our thing, not His.” Christianity is about what Jesus has done for us, so we must know what that is first before we can know what He wants of us. Maturity comes from seeking the Lord first. Charles cautioned that we won’t all agree how to put the word into practice, but it is not meant to be uniform. We must be able to recognise differences in love and be honest. “Sitting,” Charles concluded, “is followed by walking – we need to live our calling.”
On the Friday evening there was a healing service led by Fr. Laurence Brassill OSA and Pauline Edwards. They involved the members of the NST and several others in praying over people as Pauline received words of knowledge. At the end those who had not been prayed with were invited to come forward. A powerful movement of the Spirit was experienced.
As well as the main talks from Charles there was a selection of workshops on Saturday afternoon. These were each run twice to give people an opportunity to attend two different ones. Charles, with his wife, Sue, led a workshop on seeking the Lord’s vision, while Fr. Laurence and Pauline led one in which they explained how their healing weekends run and finished this by inviting all in attendance to pray for Baptism in the Spirit for those who had not yet received it. There were also workshops on Prayer Groups, led by Jamus Smith from Aberdeen; New Things, led by Andy Hall, recently retired director of YWAM; Mary’s Meals, led by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow of Scottish International Relief; Working with Young People, led by Fr. Stefan Park OSA and Mothers’ Prayers, led by Pauline Byrne from that group. These were all blessed and very well received by those who attended.
The Conference concluded with Mass at which the chief celebrant was Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow. This was the first national conference that he had attended and was a very joyful occasion.
The final action of the weekend was for Tom Mullen to stand down after nearly nine years as national leader and formally hand over the reins to Ged Farrell, leader in the Aberdeen Diocese. This was simple, but moving, as the office was symbolically handed over with a warm embrace between the two men. On behalf of the NST members, Ged presented Tom with a leather bound Bible and gift vouchers as a token of their thanks and appreciation for his gifted leadership over the years.
A new era now begins for Scotland.
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