A real joy that we are able to meet again...

A real joy that we are able to meet again...

After a four-year hiatus due to the pandemic Elim’s missionaries from around the world gathered to reflect, rest and worship, writes Jack Skett

In May, Elim missionaries from around the world gathered at Elim’s International Offices in Malvern for the first time in four years.

The Missionary Conference is part of our pattern at Elim Missions every two years as an opportunity to reconnect with one another and be freshly inspired to continue the work to which God has called each missionary.

Due to Covid, the last conference happened via Zoom, so it was a joy to be able to come together again in Malvern for five days of worship, teaching, reflection and rest.

Throughout the week we were privileged to have a variety of leaders speaking to us including Chris Cartwright, Michelle Nunn, Duncan Clark and our keynote speakers Malcolm and Debbie Duncan. It was such a blessing to have Malcolm and Debbie with us for the week. They spoke to us on the theme ‘Rooted and Established’, about how to build healthy rhythms of abiding with Christ in the midst of ministry challenges.

Malcolm and Debbie Duncan were keynote speakers at the conference

The beauty of Malcolm and Debbie ministering together was the way that they each brought a valuable perspective: Malcolm from the position of theology and church leadership and Debbie applying theology to her expertise as a nurse and speaking on physical and mental wellbeing.

Alongside speaking across three of our five days, Malcolm and Debbie also made time to meet one-on-one with several of our missionaries to offer pastoral support, advice and prayer.

We are so grateful to them both for all that they brought to our missionaries. In planning the conference, the Missions team felt strongly that we wanted to create space for the missionaries to use however they needed, rather than filling the whole week with talks and seminars.

Taking time to pray together was a highlight of the Missionary Conference

The Covid-19 pandemic was hard on all of us, but for our missionaries overseas it brought very different challenges along with the isolation we all experienced. It was important to us that there was opportunity to reconnect as friends, to pray, to listen to God, or simply to be together. Several of the missionaries fed back to us that this was really valuable to them.

Being a missionary overseas is not just a call for an individual but often for a whole family. Neville and Kay Walker are part of our Member Care team, and Kay pays particular attention to the children of our missionaries.

Throughout the year she regularly gathers them on Zoom to help them connect with each other, which is incredibly valuable. Kay and her team, Mandie and Rebecca, led a full programme for the children for the week of the conference. The importance and value of this cannot be overstated, and we (along with the missionary parents) are so grateful to Kay and her team. The parents were able to be part of the whole conference, knowing that their children were not just being entertained but they were being ministered to and ministering to one another too.

As our missionaries have returned to their contexts now, please join us in praying for them, that what God has sown into them during the Missionary Conference will bear fruit as they continue to serve him where they are.

Jack Skett is Comms and Content Creator at Elim Missions

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.