Reflections From the Summit

We had an excellent time at the Apostolic Summit & Sons' Retreat this year. I'm still processing all of the experiences, but my overall feeling is that it was the best ever. There were some topics that had been flagged as being addressed in the Summit, but all the speakers said they felt a very clear direction from the Holy Spirit to address a completely different area.

Chuck Clayton from the U.S. spoke of 7 areas the church needs to recapture. This was an analysis first done over 40 years ago by John Sanford and Bill Bright as they could see the rising tide of humanism washing away the church's effectiveness. The seven areas are

• Religion-- the church is "allowed" to operate in this area, but is increasingly having to make way for Islam, New Age etc.
• Family
• Education
• Business
• Government
• Media
• Arts

It is an interesting exercise to think about the ways the church is working to reclaim these various areas back. For example, under Education we have the School Ministry and Community Centre. I will be reflecting on these things shortly and try to put some real examples of where we are succeeding and where we are falling down in Narrabri.

Here are some photos of lunch at the Retreat. The first is Heather Drayson (from Adelaide) with Hazel Alley




Don Drayson talks with Greg Tull's wife (Myrtleford, Victoria)


Kent is truly a master chef on the barbecue


Here is a very orderly group of lunchers. Back row: Margaret Bates, Maurie O'Connell (Queanbeyan, NSW).
Front row: Carolyn Ponicke, Marie & David Alley, Tony Ponicke


Joel is a pastor from Uganda.