COCM’s South England Easter Conference (SEEC)

2007 is the second I went to SEEC. It was different and yet similar to 2006’s. So, why did I go in 2006? Well, this is mainly due to testimonies of sisters who went in previous years.  To be honest, the experience in my first year did fall short of my expectation.  This was in part due to the stress from taking up a group leading position, which in hindsight had in parts sinfully to do with my personal pride.  However, the Lord was gracious and guided me throughout SEEC2006, allowing me pick up and learn from things I never have done before, like leading a discussion group straight after each talk, with no guidance, for instance.  I remembered the sleepless nights and the tight schedules as well as the group leaders’ meetings that at times went through midnights. But I learnt:

1) I should be a humble servant

2) I grew in faith

3) SEEC is packed with strong teachings

4) A lot of people experienced God and converted to Christ there

5) SEEC is “exhausting”- full of Christians from all over the UK.

 So when the time came for 2007, you wonder what my responses were? 

1) I want to encourage (younger) fellowship members to go, so they can learn

2) I don’t want to go, because it is too exhausting and I am too old.  In the end, I did sign up to SEEC and also volunteered as a group leader, musician as well as first-aider, although they didn’t need my help with music. I only had one regret of not responding to the call to full time ministry! 

It really has been a truly enjoyable SEEC and it was such a privilege to lead such a wonderful group of 5 brothers and 5 sisters, where we had wonderful sharing.  My group is blessed to have a pastor from HK’s who is currently studying towards a PhD spending so much time with our group. I asked my group on the first day what they want out of SEEC, and frankly for me, there was not a lot other than wanting a good meditation on Good Friday, but God has graciously granted me more than that!. So this is what I got out besides reminders to STAND FIRM as Paul urged in his letter to the Ephesians:

1)     Reinforcing earlier learning about science and Christianity the Lord has planted in my life earlier this year.

2)     Learning from the boy/girl relationship workshop that we should always rejoice in the Lord whether single, dating or broken up.

3)     Open, deep and frank discussions on the subject of Holy Spirit and Evil Spirit with my group and also Pastor Li.

4)     I wanted a good meditation on Good Friday! I have never been ‘sentimental€, but the Lord has touched me at the Good Friday meditation:

l           The hymn The Servant King€ touched me and I want from then on to follow Him to be a humble, servant King.

l           Although I have heard This is the blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins€ many times, but I have not been truly touched by this until Good Friday, 2007.

l           I have grasped the theological meaning behind Jesus saying My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?€ on the cross is because he bore our sins, but again I have never felt so much that he bore my sins.    We were asked to write down the sins that are standing in between us and God and nail them onto the cross.  I knew that with the help of God, these sins would be killed off and I now pray for me to put on the full armour of God 24×7 and Stand Firm.

5)     Another group member and I at one of the group discussion shared that we often come out of these camps with ‘Spiritual high€ which subside, but Dr. William Ho pointed out that we don get the strength from the Lord like getting him to fill a fuel tank only to find it being used up, but we get it In Christ.  I pray that all of our spiritual lives will only grow but not die!

6)     4 of my group members responded to the calling to full time ministry

7)     A sister from St. Martins committed to Christ, and another truly touched by the Lord’s salvation.

8)     Totally exhausted- no doubt- in fact I had 2 nights sharing/praying till beyond 4am with less than 4 hours’ sleep, but with no regret! So, what happened with the calling?  Well, I do have an interest in missionary work and got a good insight from the Missionary workshop.  But my heart struggled when the time came for calling.  I was of the view that if I hear God’s calling, I will respond, but I wasn’t in a state to ‘volunteer€ as Isaiah responded ‘Here am I, send me€(Isaiah 6:8).  Satan was attacking me, saying ‘surely my biblical foundation is not strong€ and ‘you had hardly evangelised€.  So, my heart sank and I had no peace at all.  I was ‘shocked€ to see my 2 group-mates seating besides me stood up immediately upon the calling, but I didn’t have the urge/courage to stand up.  My peace were further disturbed when I saw another sister in my group stood up 5 minutes after the rest have done so, but still I had no courage to stand up.  At the end, I knew I need to speak to someone.  Thanks be to God that OMF’s Rev. Dick Dowsett kindly agreed to speak to me and pray with me.  I have regained my peace and now pray for the Lord’s guidance to stand firm to serve Him.

Photos taken at SEEC can be found at my photo gallery.