Blowing away spiritual cobwebs

Blowing away
spiritual cobwebs
Connecting &
Bonding in Britain

By Hilary Reeve

DERBYSHIRE, England—The weekend of Oct. 25 to 27 saw the second ministers’ wives conference for Europe and the United Kingdom, sponsored by Jannice May and Connecting & Bonding ministries.

The venue this year was the Hayes Convention Centre in Derbyshire, central England, and the WCG elders’ wives were just one of several Christian groups using it that weekend. This led to one amusing comment in the dining hall when one table of women was asked if the WCG was made up entirely of women. With much mirth they were quickly able to inform the questioner that this certainly was not the case. Being in an overtly Christian center added to the peaceful and harmonious ambience of the conference.

Forty-two wives attended from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Holland and various Scandinavian countries as well as from the United States.

Our meeting place was the chapel, which was a lovely building of red brick with timbered roof and wooden beams. At the front of the hall hanging from roof to floor was a magnificent colorful tapestry whose center was a cross embroidered in gold.

The theme of this year’s conference was "Being Knit Together in Love," and the guest speaker was Jan Johnson, who gave several helpful sessions on how to be authentic Christians, both with God and with each other.

The "committee member" hats that Jan uses in her talks made the journey across the Atlantic and were a vivid reminder of how we can be tempted into trying to change and control people, when the only person we should be trying to change is ourselves. She encouraged us to connect first with God and surrender ourselves and situations to him. Everything before us becomes a prayer that connects us with God.

Jan’s final session focused on meditation and how we need not fear it if it is centered on Scripture. It is a tool that helps us hear God’s questions, not our own, and lets God speak to us. With a storm raging outside we were given the opportunity to try meditation while Jan read the passage about the woman with an issue of blood who touched Jesus’ garment. We were able to "sit" in the scriptures and live them.

Other speakers included Susie Dick of Church Administration in Pasadena, who introduced two "Let’s Talk" sessions, Shirley Henderson of South Africa, who spoke about her passion for quilting and used the analogy of the church being like a quilt. Helen Jackson, widow of longtime minister Harold Jackson, talked of how God places in each of us a navigational system called GHS (God’s Holy Spirit). Lorraine Pelley, who serves the Pasadena church with her husband, Dennis, was the worship organizer, and Barb Edwards of the Executive Office in Pasadena, presented worship dance.

The elders’ wives felt pampered during the weekend with gifts, excellent meals, conviviality, comfortable and spacious accommodations and a real feeling of God loving us. It was a love-in weekend. The love of Jesus was expressed in Lorraine’s singing, Barb’s dance, Susie’s exhortation, Helen’s determination, Jannice’s dedication and Jan’s leading us to have a deeper relationship with Jesus.

The raging of the storm outside the hall emphasized for me our safety and security in Christ and also pictured the blowing away of some spiritual cobwebs. I felt that this year’s conference, built on the foundation of last year’s, provided a safe environment for wives to be truly themselves.

LUNCH—Margaret Rose, Doreen Mcdonald
and Hilary Reeve. [Photos by Nancy Silcox]

TEA TIME—Gerrie Bayley (left), wife of Chris
Bayley, a pastor in Wales, and Sue Carion,
wife of Olivier Carion, North London pastor.

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