In April, many leaders from our International Salt & Light family gathered in Kenya. Nine from our C2C family were able to attend. The reports from our C2C family, as well as many others, were that it was one of the most impactful leader’s gatherings we have ever had. There were over 350 delegates from 30 nations represented which included about 200 from our African family. You can see pictures and read accounts of the conference here.
Three words that kept coming up in people’s reports are God’s Presence, Family, and Clarity.
God’s Presence
It was great being with our African brothers and sisters as their families helped us in leading various corporate meetings and prayer meetings. It wasn’t so much any cultural or style differences but their genuineness of faith. They inspired us with their approach to God to pray more expectantly and worship more eagerly and authentically. They are such great men and women of God. Many of the delegates were able to stay over and attend as well as speak in many of the Kenyan churches. For us that did, we felt humbled and stirred to be a part of such a great Kenyan family.
There was also a great prophetic flow, and our own C2C family was in the mix of it as Tom Bedford did a great job hearing from God. There was a significant word by one of our international senior prophets that called our African family to “step up” further and be even stronger in our Salt & Light family in leadership, prayer, faith, and mission. You can read the word here.
Ngwiza MnKandla used a phrase “the empire strikes back” as African churches have planted back in the UK and other places (Ngwiza recently moved to London to help in this process with a couple of Zimbabwean churches).
One of the messages also encouraged the sub-Saharan churches to move north in the predominately Islamic contexts. There has already been work in those areas but the call was to increase.
Family
One of our Salt & Light Values is that “Everything in the body of Christ is relational and family is the foundation and launching pad for all we do.” There was an amazing sense of being joined with our family all around the world. People were real in their connection with each other, some meeting for the first time, that revealed a sense of family that God birthed among the Salt & Light family years ago. Some of our C2C members were “blown away” by the sense of family among everyone there.
Clarity
Our greater Salt & Light family has been in a review process over the last eighteen months of the core commitments and values God has revealed over the past 40 years. These are not words written on a piece of paper, but, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:1-4, they are “word’s written by the Spirit of God on the tablets of our hearts.” There was a stirring of the Spirit and a rising of faith as the International team rehearsed the refreshed core commitments prior to the leaders’ gathering, and these core commitments were expressed in many of the public sessions throughout the conference. You can read these documents here. The rallying cry “This is who we are and this is our mission” seemed to echo out of the hearts and faith of all the attendees.
- Videos are not uploaded for viewing on our Youtube channel here.
- Some of the corporate sessions are available to listen to here, and more are coming.
It is great to be a part of our International Salt & Light family!