“Dr. Andrew” is a HeartCry-supported missionary from a protected country in the Eastern Mediterranean. Some months ago, HeartCry funded a conference for pastors in his home country. “Dr. Andrew” gave an encouraging report on the conference. Unfortunately, for security purposes we cannot show photos.
“I recently traveled to help lead a conference on the topic of ecclesiology. The conference was absolutely amazing and impactful! We were hoping for thirty church leaders, but we ended up with 55 adults and 12 kids. We discussed the questions, ‘What is the church?’ and ‘What is biblical eldership?’.
I opened the conference with a message answering the following question, “Why does biblical ecclesiology matter?”. The majority of people at the conference had never heard any sermon or information on this topic before. Following my sermon, two pastors from the States taught, as well as another Middle Eastern pastor. We had two Q&A sessions that were intended to last an hour each, but both went longer as the congregation was eager to understand and learn. The first Q&A session lasted two hours and the second for an hour and a half! One of the attendees wrote a note and left it in my Bible saying:
‘Thank you for such a great conference and important topic. I have never thought about the topic of ecclesiology and never realized the importance of the local church. We repent of our unbiblical view of the church and our lack of interest in it. We promise you to always strive in making our churches biblical churches.’
This is one of many comments from the attendees of the conference who were encouraged and left with a changed heart and mind on the topic of the church.
