Clear waters, golden beaches, and hot days – sounds like some tropical island in the pacific. Sure, Convergence Camp 2024 didn’t have any coconuts with mini umbrellas to drink from, but it had everything else, as well as family and collective worship of our good God.
Guest speaker, Sam Harvey, delivered a message that, at first glance, seemed like we were only drinking theological coconut milk instead of eating some tropical island food that makes this analogy work alongside Hebrews 5:13.
Yet it was vey timely as we, the diocese, enter into the next phase of “Revitalise {Nelson}”. It was a message about prayer.
As we look at the world changing rapidly around us, in these post-Christian, post-Covid times, Sam spoke hope. Without denying life is crazy, with a generous splattering of tough times, he spoke of it as an opportunity to go deeper with Christ.
The beauty of a shrinking church is that we can stop and look at what we are, or are not, doing. How are we doing with prayer? Individually, how have our quiet times been? For some of us, we may have quiet times every morning, or for others, it maybe a few days or weeks between prayer with God.
As someone who likes an idea that is also practical, I appreciated when Sam coupled his message with the practical idea of growing a group of people deeper with Christ. If we truly want to go deeper, Sam offered the idea of journeying with people to do it.
For example, as a small group, we could ask each other what going deeper looks like for them, individually, this coming week, and gently follow up on them the following week. Accountability and journeying with others is far more effective than soloing it. As we learn to discipline ourselves to spend time with Jesus, we begin to desire it more which will lead to delighting in him.
I felt a big gulp when Sam described the attitude of the church he used to be a part of as “we can do more on a shovel than on our knees”.
I love the idea that we are partnering with Christ in his mission to restore all things back to him, but it is so easy to get caught up doing, forgetting that all we can do is plant and water the seed and it is our God that grows things. This has to start with me. My individual quiet time needs to be fought for and prioritised over everything else. My life shouldn’t be separated into spiritual growth and everyday chores, but intertwined. Passionate, radical prayer is essential.
If you missed camp, but want to go deeper with Christ – or “up a click” in the words of Sam – who could you do this with?
I’m sure it will be awkward to start with, to be vulnerable about our personal spiritual journey with others. But, to quote G.K. Chesterton, “if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly”.
Sure, alongside the challenging and encouraging message at camp was swimming, good food, reconnecting or meeting new people, times to let the extrovert in me run free, and other times to let the introvert in me recover.
Would I go to camp again? Absolutely, as it is a fantastic time. Yet the takeaway for me was: let's support each other, building a culture in our church of discipleship and prayer as we hunger after the God who loves. Let’s individually and communally reach out to the one who has done everything to reach us.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
Clear waters, golden beaches, and hot days – sounds like some tropical island in the pacific. Sure, Convergence Camp 2024 didn’t have any coconuts with mini umbrellas to drink from, but it had everything else, as well as family and collective worship of our good God.
Guest speaker, Sam Harvey, delivered a message that, at first glance, seemed like we were only drinking theological coconut milk instead of eating some tropical island food that makes this analogy work alongside Hebrews 5:13.
Yet it was vey timely as we, the diocese, enter into the next phase of “Revitalise {Nelson}”. It was a message about prayer.
As we look at the world changing rapidly around us, in these post-Christian, post-Covid times, Sam spoke hope. Without denying life is crazy, with a generous splattering of tough times, he spoke of it as an opportunity to go deeper with Christ.
The beauty of a shrinking church is that we can stop and look at what we are, or are not, doing. How are we doing with prayer? Individually, how have our quiet times been? For some of us, we may have quiet times every morning, or for others, it maybe a few days or weeks between prayer with God.
As someone who likes an idea that is also practical, I appreciated when Sam coupled his message with the practical idea of growing a group of people deeper with Christ. If we truly want to go deeper, Sam offered the idea of journeying with people to do it.
For example, as a small group, we could ask each other what going deeper looks like for them, individually, this coming week, and gently follow up on them the following week. Accountability and journeying with others is far more effective than soloing it. As we learn to discipline ourselves to spend time with Jesus, we begin to desire it more which will lead to delighting in him.
I felt a big gulp when Sam described the attitude of the church he used to be a part of as “we can do more on a shovel than on our knees”.
I love the idea that we are partnering with Christ in his mission to restore all things back to him, but it is so easy to get caught up doing, forgetting that all we can do is plant and water the seed and it is our God that grows things. This has to start with me. My individual quiet time needs to be fought for and prioritised over everything else. My life shouldn’t be separated into spiritual growth and everyday chores, but intertwined. Passionate, radical prayer is essential.
If you missed camp, but want to go deeper with Christ – or “up a click” in the words of Sam – who could you do this with?
I’m sure it will be awkward to start with, to be vulnerable about our personal spiritual journey with others. But, to quote G.K. Chesterton, “if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly”.
Sure, alongside the challenging and encouraging message at camp was swimming, good food, reconnecting or meeting new people, times to let the extrovert in me run free, and other times to let the introvert in me recover.
Would I go to camp again? Absolutely, as it is a fantastic time. Yet the takeaway for me was: let's support each other, building a culture in our church of discipleship and prayer as we hunger after the God who loves. Let’s individually and communally reach out to the one who has done everything to reach us.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
