Living the Kingdom

Our international leadership assembly got off to a good start on Friday, and we're now almost half way through our time together. The theme of the ILA is about linking the generations and together living out the kingdom of God in our daily lives. So, on Saturday we looked at what it means to live the kingdom of God as an individual, yesterday we considered how we can live for God as a whole family, and today we talked about how individuals and families can live the kingdom of God in the context of their local church fellowship. Tomorrow's theme is about how we can be a demonstration of God's kingdom in our own town or neighbourhood, and on Wednesday we'll be thinking about what it means to reach out and take the kingdom of God to the nations.

One of the fun aspects of the conference for me has been the opportunity to reconnect with different ethnic groups and language groups that I've worked with in the past. One day I was invited to join the Africans as they gathered together; another day I was invited to join a meeting of all the French speakers from around the world. One morning I translated the plenary speaker (from French to English) and one evening I translated someone leading a prayer time (from Spanish to English.) It's also been fun to join in worship together with different cultures from around the world - sometimes with the Brazilians leading us in Portuguese worship songs, and sometimes with the Africans leading us in enthusiastic and energetic dance.

As well as worshipping together, praying together, and listening to the words that different speakers have prepared, we've also had lots of time to process and apply these things in smaller groups, and to take part in a wide variety of workshops on different topics relating to the overall theme. There's a sense that God is moving among us, and we look forward to walking even further in this journey over the coming days.