The Pan-African Vineyard Leaders’ Conference 2009 took place from September 14th to 18th at CYARA Conference centre at Hekpoort, near Magaliesberg. For the first time in several years we moved the conference there to make access easier and less costly for delegates from the other nations who would attend. We wondered how the move would affect attendance, and also set about asking for sponsorship to help us cover the costs and keep the conference affordable for as many as possible to attend. We needn’t have worried! Pre-conference sign up was the biggest ever, from the highest number of nations (22) ever, and our sponsorship goals were reached to make it very affordable indeed. I want to thank them again, from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of all who attended. Materials, transport costs for leaders, registration subsidies, books and even the final night’s dinner were paid for by these wonderful people who are gifts of God to us.

The other factor that gave some concern was that our invited keynote speaker, Tracy Evans, was forced by a family medical emergency to withdraw, necessitating a last-minute invitation to speakers from the Pan African Vineyard Leaders’ Network (PAVLN) to speak in her place. The theme was “Train our Hands for War”, taken from Psalm 18:34. And so, we gathered, to be welcomed in the North West Province of South Africa by the staff of CYARA and the “registration and logistics” team of the conference, made up of the great people of the Centurion Vineyard. A traditional Highveld welcome, accompanied by hospitality packs, cool water, warm beds and exceptional food, was extended to us, and the PAVLN leadership team met over the Sunday night and Monday before the conference began. As we prayed we were filled with expectation, that God would meet us, that healing would be poured out, and that strategies would unfold for our conduct of mission. I don’t want to give a “blow by blow” account, but highlight what God did and said, and ask you to consider, pray through and do what you hear. And watch out for the meaning of the caption/title I’ve put at the top of the page…

 The opening session of our conference is not easy. People are just arriving, can be distracted, are definitely tired, hungry, grumpy and unsanctified (and that’s just me! Add all of you with worse attitudes, and it becomes a circus to make any sense of! ;)) But God met us from the opening bell, we worshipped, we connected, we prayed and we slept (most in that order, although some, like Sam and Brett, were asleep before the session ended, and before they went to bed!)

 The prayer meetings were the best we’ve ever had, with facilitators directing us into the practice of “Prayer as Spiritual Warfare”. We had prayer meetings with almost as many participants as in the plenary sessions! And we prayed, and God touched us, and strongholds were addressed and pulled down.

 Our worship teams did us proud all the way through, leading us strongly (the Vineyard CAN do proclamation/celebration/warfare songs, boet!) and creating a tapestry of cultures from Burundi to Bellville, and from Namaland to Nairobi.

 The Bible Hour delivered Derek Morphew at his best, blending Biblical theology, humour, self-disclosure (who will EVER be able to watch women’s tennis again without praying for Morphew?) and engagement with God’s Power. There was almost as much ministry in the Bible Hour slot as in the plenaries!

 There were two kinds of Plenary Sessions: The general sessions where we had great teaching/preaching from Bubba and Sam, with powerful prophetic and power ministry; and the Partnership Celebrations where two partnerships we hadn’t heard from at Gariep previously, led us. Peter Msigwa (Tanzania) spoke on Tuesday, Rob Lloyd on Wednesday (Youth Night) and Ananie Munana (Burundi, Great Lakes) on Thursday. They all did us proud!

 My impression of not only the quality of ministry, but also the level of ownership and visionary leadership by the emerging PAVLN team, was that God was promoting and upgrading it before our eyes.

And it was in the context of the report by the Tanzania partnership that we heard how Peter uses his own version of an Americanism when greeting the team members who visit him. Americans say “Hey – what’s happening?” when they mean anything from “Hello” to “How are you?” to “What’s up?” Peter has changed this to “What’s not happening?” – a beautiful blend of Kingdom theology, African charm and American slang, if you think about it!

I hear it as a catch-all phrase, which invites us to hear not just on the surface of things, but to hear the meaning behind obvious human expression and experience. For instance, several “words” came out at times in the conference, to say “Costa, the Lord wants you to…” In African culture, when I greet a man in his home, he hears my greeting as a corporate word. Whatever I say to him is for his family. He hears my “Unjani?” as an enquiry into not only his own, but also his family’s well-being. So, when Jesus said “Costa, listen up!”, I think He was speaking to us all. He may have addressed me, but who did He have in mind? In my view, it was the whole African Vineyard Family! So, as I listened for “What’s not happening?” I hear “what’s NOT being said here?”, and I hear the Lord saying “All of y’all, listen up! What’s your role?”

In another application, when I ask “What’s not happening?” during ministry time, I become aware of the “now-not yet” dilemma of the Kingdom, as we were taught by Derek. I hear the Lord calling us to look for those who are NOT being ministered to, who are still waiting for their moment of breakthrough. I need to love them and seek their well-being, as much as I participate in the “easy” ones – where God is very evidently at work, and power is being imparted in spite of us. We are also to fight for the unseen, “not-yet”, breakthrough of the Kingdom, where it must be wrestled into being (what Jesus calls “taken by force” – Matthew 11:12).

David, in Psalm 18, says God “saved me because He loved me” (unconditional favour – vs.19), but He “blessed me because I do right” (earned blessing – vs. 20). His Word to me, before and during the conference, was “Costa, I am going to unleash weapons of deliverance and great power among you, when your obedience is complete” (when you-all take obeying seriously, and fight/surrender your way to blessing – II Corinthians 10:4-6). At CYARA, there were words about a new baby needing care, and about a butterfly struggling out of its cocoon. These words remind us to fight for God’s good in ourselves and in our sphere of influence, to look beyond the strong and the independent, to consider the young, the weak, and the not-yet mature. This was, for me, the Word of the Lord to the conference, and to us all.

Work with this for yourself, and for the movement. What are your obedience issues? What does God want of you in this phase of your life and ministry?

What’s not happening, that needs to start happening?

Agape
Costa