I was filled with hope for the Church of England"It's natural for churches to grow!" The conference kicked off with a keynote address from Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. I am so grateful to the Lord that we have an Archbishop who exudes optimism about the Church and a passion for Jesus. He spoke of how, because of the power of the Holy Spirit, it is natural for churches to grow! It was so encouraging to hear the Archbishop speak like this. He also spoke of how his hope, priority and vision for the church is the evangelization of the nation. Justin also reminded us that "it is all about Jesus" and that we cannot live for our own cause to win, we "have to live for his cause to win". I noticed his address was trending on Twitter and was picked up very quickly by the secular press. Read the Telegraph's article here. The Bishop of London gave a much briefer address to the conference reminding the gathered leaders that "we must have confidence in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!" With senior leaders in the Church of England speaking of growth, change, evangelism and lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God you can't not be hopeful for the role the Church of England is going to play in calling this nation back to God! For those of us who are Anglicans and especially for those of us who are called to lead in the Church of England - be encouraged! I believe it is an incredibly exciting time to be serving and leading in this part of the Bride of Christ. |
I was filled with hope for greater unity in the ChurchAs well as having senior leaders from the Anglican Church there were also senior leaders from other parts of the Church addressing the conference. The whole conference really was a picture of how ecumenism can work in a very positive way. The Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schonborn, spoke of how the Lord is bringing the church together in a new way and that we must keep coming together in the love of Jesus. He is one of the senior leaders in the Roman Catholic Church and was so obviously a man loving Jesus and living in the power of the Holy Spirit. He even spoke of how the Holy Spirit had made it so clear to all the Cardinals who the new Pope was to be at the conclave. He said he received "two strong signs" from the Holy Spirit that the new Pope was the man to lead the church. There is so much we can learn from each other. Let's keep listening, watching and being inspired by stories of breakthrough and transformation from other parts of the church that are not our own tradition. Thank you HTB for modelling this to us in a profound way! "The Lord is saying to the World - 'Come Home! I wait for you!'" | |