| Lay Witness Movement |
“ You shall be my witnesses. " Acts 1:8 |
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LAY WITNESS MOVEMENT ‘LEARNING TOGETHER’ DAY Saturday 9 May 2009 Edgehill College Belfast This scenario pretty well sums up our Lay Witness Open Day at Edgehill College on 9th May. Our theme for the day was “Learning Together From Each Other” and we had two main sessions that were broken up by a delicious lunch from Audrey (Thank You!). Our morning session was led by Heather Boland who enabled us to consider reasons for being on a team other than giving a testimony. It took the format of different witnesses sharing their own experiences of how God had specifically used them or had spoken to them while on a team. We then were divided up into groups and we had deeper discussions and sharing of the various issues that were raised.
Melanie
Johnston started our thinking by sharing how she was personally challenged in
her walk with God by being part of a team. She was able to pinpoint the weekend
as a turning point in her Christian life for new challenges and opportunities
that were to lie ahead. Her testimony led to small group discussions on how do
we prepare ourselves for being on a team, how do we give ourselves a spiritual
MOT (or NCT if you’re from the South!), and who do we involve for prayer
back-up from our local church. Then Pat
Jameson movingly told us of how her own personal life experience had mirrored
almost exactly that of someone from the church at a weekend she was on. Pat was
able to privately minister into a very difficult and confidential situation that
just would not have been possible in the more public church arena. This opened
more heart searching for us all as we thought about how our hosts may feel
before the team member arrives, and we discussed how we can help put them at
their ease. It was a very busy day for Alan Hutchinson (or “Budgie” to those of us who have known and loved him for a while). Alan is usually found behind a guitar and in front of a microphone. While he was in those places on the day, he stepped out of his musical comfort zone and gave us an insight into the heart and pressures of a worship leader. He shared how, through a struggle to be obedient to God, he found himself in one of the most intimate and powerful worship times that he could recall.
We heard how someone discovered that God knew of their pain in a difficult family situation when Norma Mackey shared about bringing a prophetic word. This was followed by Heather Boland firing us all up about the 1859 Revival that spread from New York to Ireland. She gave us a taster of what can happen when Lay People get serious about their prayer life and devotion to God.
After lunch
(and a breath of fresh air for most people), the afternoon session was gently
led by Tom Wilson as we concentrated on “The Joys (trials!) of Leading and
Co-Leading a Team.” The Steering Group took this session in the hope that as
well as inviting the sharing of experience, it would give everyone a better
insight into what is involved in leadership. Allen McCartney began the journey
of what happens when a church contacts the steering group to say they may be
interested in having a Lay Witness Weekend.
Heather Boland shared how difficult it can be to get the right team
together, and the relief and joy to see a list of names on a page turn into real
people at the first team meeting. We were encouraged to look for the fruits of
the spirit in a church we are visiting rather than the obvious outward trappings
by David Blevins in his topic of “Assessing the spiritual temperature of a
church”. There was a lot of laughing and good humoured finger pointing when
Norma Mackey did her talk of “What happens when a witness goes on and on and
on….!” The last item of the day was teaching on how to conduct an appeal by Shirley Alexander who tried (unsuccessfully!) to adopt an American ‘Billy Graham’ accent! Apart from the elocution lesson, Shirley helped us to appreciate the wonderful gift and opportunity we are offering when we give people an opening to respond to God. She finished by persuading us all to be people who do respond when invitations are made in church to, for example, come forward for prayer ministry. In true Lay Witness style Tom picked up this challenged and encouraged us to pray for each other in our small discussion groups.
No Lay
Witness event would happen without time being set aside to meet face to face
with our Heavenly Father. It was our privilege to not only see into the heart of
Alan Hutchinson when he shared in his testimony time, but to be led into the
Holy of Holies by him. The presence of Almighty God was tangible in the room as
we lifted our voices, hearts and hands in worship. It is wonderful to think, in
the words of the hymn writer, that in heaven we will have “no less days to
sing God’s praise then when we first begun.” Family and
friends coming together with a common purpose. Tears of laughter and tears of
pain. Familiar stories re-told and new ones added to memory. Catching up with
well-loved allies, and the joy of being introduced to someone new. Prayers for
old friends who could not be there, and prayers for family members who were
heading off to something new. This was our Lay Witness Family Reunion, and this
is your invitation to join with us again next year. |
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