For several years now, Pastor Dale has been encouraging us to take it upon ourselves as a church body to understand and incarnate the idea of conference. What is conference? That’s a wonderful question! Conference is a spiritual discipline that involves two to ten people getting together to discuss a variety of spiritual topics. If you are interested, type the word Conference into the search box on our website. There are a plethora of articles that Pastor Dale has written on this most important topic.
I want to acknowledge that it might be tempting to think of this as your academic pastors trying to revive an old puritan mode of spirituality. If you have gotten that impression, you are correct. But it is important that you don’t stop there. If you do, you are missing out on a part of the life of a church body that God has given for your edification. You read that correctly. You are missing out on what God has for you. When Christians engage in conference, they are challenging each other to live lives that think deeply about the deepest things in life. When Christians engage in conference, they are being vulnerable with each other about what is really going on in their lives. When Christians engage in conference, they are unpacking the truths of the gospel for the realities of their everyday lives.
In sum, conference is the kind of vulnerable, real, open relationships that this insta-culture has stolen from this new generation. So, I want to challenge you afresh. When the sermon ends and the music fades, don’t immediately jump to conversations about what is light and transient in our lives as believers. Rather, seek out a conversation that goes deep into the gospel truths that have just been preached and sung. Seek out conference.
In Christ Alone,
Pastor Charles
