The International Churches of Christ held the International Leadership conference (ILC) in Singapore from 27th to 29th August 2014. The conference drawing leaders from different corners of the world was themed BUILD with all the messages geared into helping the leaders to once again focus on building God’s house (Kingdom). This is through building their individual personal relationship with God (the temple of God, their relationship with each other – in the church and with the leadership and finally build Unity through conflict resolution.
The East Africa Churches of Christ were represented by several leaders, both full time ministers and lay leaders who sacrificed to experience the ILC and bring the lessons back home. A total of 26 leaders travelled from East Africa, 1 from Dar es Salaam, 2 each from Kigali and Luwero, 5 from Nairobi and 16 from Kampala. They were able to reconnect with leaders from around the world who have been instrumental in the original planting of the Nairobi church and subsequent growth expansion all over East Africa. These included the likes of Jim Brown, Richard and Sarah Alawaye, Mike and Anne Brigitte Taliaferro, among others.
The team praises God for enabling them to make it for the conference and come back safely. They are also grateful to all those brothers and sisters in East Africa who did not travel but joyfully supported them financially.
The East Africa team got to fellowship with brothers and sisters from parts of the world they had never imagined had Christians!
We are truly a worldwide family of churches. We are immensely grateful to the disciples in the Central Christian Church in Singapore for their love and hospitality. For everyone arriving they had someone assigned to pick them up at the airport, to show them where they will be putting up, and to guide them around the city. Over 200 disciples took time off from work during the one-week conference period to take care of the visitors!
The messages were equally scintillating! Recapping our history as a movement was great. The church faced a setback in 2003, and funding for missions went down as a result. However, the church growth worldwide is on the rise again. For the 1st time in 6 years 24 out of the 31 world regions have experienced positive growth in the 1st six months of 2014. We currently have 650 churches in 151 countries with a total membership of 103,730 as at June 2014. May God continue to bless his church as each of us gets down to the business of building God’s house, remaining rooted in his word and get to see many added to his family.
Leader after leader reiterated that the conference was a success and they look forward to going back into their churches and start rebuilding God’s kingdom. Singapore is a great city and state that has risen from 3rd world levels to first world status in a short 49 years. It indeed has a great history. By Evangelist William Auki
