Two months have passed since the gathering in Toronto of over 200 people, including EMCC missionaries, pastors, and church delegates. What lingers may be different for each person, but there are probably some commonalities.
I celebrate the delegate representation from 80 of our 137 churches. These delegates and guests tasted of the following six elements and experiences:
Anointed Worship! David Wilkinson of Waterloo, ON and team were catalysts in celebrating the beauty and goodness of our God.
Authoritative prayer! Dr. Pastor Deborah Olukoju of Immanuel Church in Winnipeg MB facilitated prayer through a variety of invited pray-ers throughout the weekend and through designated prayer times including early morning prayer.
Hunger for a new beginning! Mr. Ryan Stockert of Thunder and Light Studios and three others shared testimonies at the Friday Celebration Dinner, illustrating what “Be a Neighbour” could look like for us EMCC-ers. Hunger drives us to satisfy our appetite!
EMCC as a turnaround organization! An important conversation happened on Saturday with reports from the EMCC National Office and an afternoon of discussing the question, “What does it mean to Follow Jesus Together?” The emphasis was on what togetherness looks like. Lively round table conversation brought to light behavioural concerns and ideas about how we might be able to cause an “upturn in our togetherness rating.” The best is yet to come!
A Spirit released shift! The Sunday morning Sacred Prayer Gathering gave opportunity for us to hear the voice of Jesus speak about, “What He wants us to turn from and what He wants us to turn toward.” Dozens of delegates responded by writing what they heard from Jesus on two large billboards. Throughout the 3.5 hours, we gave ourselves to worship, prayer, remembering our Lord in communion, scripture reading and hearing prophetic words of blessing. The shift happened at the end of the morning as credentialed ministers were anointed and commissioned for service when Regional Minister Claran Martin felt led of the Spirit to anoint ALL in the room. The scene was reminiscent of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on “ALL PEOPLE”. Anointed people become power-filled people who become “Good neighbours”. Thank you, Jesus, we are anointed unto a new beginning!
We like each other! How hard was it to get people to stop visiting during our “I See You Breaks.” We like being together!
Thanks to the 200+ people who were present in Toronto and thanks to you who participated in the live streaming of the Saturday sessions. Many are praying the lingering effect of Assembly will inspire all our EMCC-ers and our churches into new expressions of imitating Jesus’ way of being a good neighbour!