The prayer and more.

Today has been an exciting one, It is today that we get the best idea as to whether the people have understood the teaching and caught the vision for what it can mean for their church and local community.

We began every session (3 per day) with outstanding worship led by the students from the Normisjon dormitory pluss others. Something I don't often see in my church are elderly people bopping and dancing to the latest Christian song, as worship is loudly led by a very good and enthusiastic drummer, bass guitarist, accoustic guitar, keyboard and african drums. There were also up to 12 teenagers leading the worship. It was alive, vibrant and moving. Some of the songs we knew from English but by no means all of them, it didn't matter.

There was a lot of time allocated to group work today. When everyone had made plans for their church for the next six months it was time to present their ideas and vision to the other churches. This always takes some time so we divided into two groups in two seperate rooms. There will be another Agenda1 for these same leaders in six months time. The first session will then be self-assessment of what they planned and how it went. What are the successes and what are/were the challenges?

I have had to wear a "tag" so that people knew I was a member of the conference, this was especially important at meal times otherwise I risked not getting anything to eat! Those of you who have ever been with me to an event where we wear name labels will know that I HATE them. I was however happy to wear this one because I thought it was rather fun, my name was written in Khmer - how cool is that!

Talking of food, I generally like Khmer food but there was a couple of dishes which I passed over. One of them, chicken with ginger and noodles sounded very nice, I am fond of both chicken and ginger. It wasn't until it was passed to me that I realized that the chicken was chicken feet. So there I was with a problem, having been passed the plate to help myself I thought it would be too rude to say I had changed my mind but could not imagine eating the scaly toes of a chicken, whatever the sauce tasted like! My solution? I just took noodles and hoped nobody noticed.

Mealtime

During the worship both yesterday and today the sense of the presence of God was really powerful. I do not have prophet as my main area of gifting but sometimes, especially when singing and worshipping I feel Him telling me stuff. There was no exception yesterday when He showed me His plan for Agenda 1 and today he reminded me of His promises for the persecuted and the poor (Rev 7:9-end).

At the end of the conference each group is prayed for with the laying on of hands. In the west we pray for one another in turn and quietly. Not so in Cambodia! Here there is a huge enthusiasm to pray and to be prayed for. Everyone prays loudly and at once and these are by no means short prayers! As each group is prayed for, if anyone has as prophecy or word of knowledge they can write it down for the group to take home with them. There were lots and lots! Prayer like worship in Cambodia is authentic, active and loud. This picture does not do it justice but might give you an idea. I would love Norkirken's prayer ministry team to have been here today. Another time maybe?

Now I am back at the Goldiana Hotel in the centre of the city. There is internet and a swimming pool! Although I will be out and about doing stuff over the next couple of days, I will be staying here until Monday morning.