Vineyard national conference reportback
Several of us made the trip to the annual South African Vineyard conference held at the Gariep Dam. My feeling is that the week was definitely an intense one. The keynote speaker was Alexander Venter, and he spoke on Reconciliation.
He has just launched his latest book called
“Doing Reconciliation”, subtitled
“racism, reconciliation and transformation.” The subject of racism is really a deep and difficult one, but it is something that the church needs to tackle head on.
A really moving part of the week was a time of confession, where representatives of the various racial groups confessed the sins of our nation. This flowed into a more freeform time where individuals where able to confess their own sins. Both Phillip and Glenda had painful memories that needed to brought into the light. This process is definitely healing. For Phillip it was the first time that he was able to freely talk about some of the experiences he had as a medic in the Army. It was incredible to see God touching and healing so many people.
As usual the times of worship were wonderful, and it was great to catch up with old friends again. There seemed to be a real atmosphere of relational openness and the structured sharing of meals meant everyone got to meet some new people.
Our nation is a deeply wounded one, in need of the healing touch of Jesus and the church has a divine responsibility to be the healing agent. The feeling that I left the conference with, was that we can choose to be reactive and live in the past, or we can live into the future by chosing to be prophetic of the way things should be in the kingdom of God.
