The Church that Jesus Prayed for

I spent the last week of August in Zimbabwe with my friends from our Synod global partner in the Presbytery of Zimbabwe.  The main purpose of the visit was to be at their first all-church conference, held at Mhondoro.  What an exciting time, even if somewhat exhausting.  We must have spent over 24 hours worshipping in a period that ran from late afternoon Thursday to mid morning Sunday. Much of the worship was exuberant - I can't remember the last time, if ever, that I danced so much!

The theme of the conference - 'the Church that Jesus Prayed for' was taken from John 17, and the emphasis was on unity.  It was a timely reminder that Jesus prayed for us and, in so doing, called us to be one.

I learned much about unity, much about enthusiasm in worship, and much about commitment to walking the way of Jesus.  It is really difficult to capture the sheer engagement with worship and with all that we were doing in words.  We were so well looked after.  We felt so much part of it.