The Hope churches in Asia 3 (A3) region came together for our annual conference . A3 region includes Southern Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, India and others. With the theme “Multiply”, the conference was truly a life transforming experience with obvious moves of God throughout the process. Before the conference, God opened the way in enabling different people / speakers to come whom we initially thought was not possible. His grace is also evident upon the new team who was chosen to organise the conference this year.
We kicked off the first day of the camp with an event called “Homecoming”, whereby our brothers and sisters personally prepared some of their best delicacies to bless one another. Besides that, we also enjoyed the various snacks and cakes that were brought over by delegates from different churches. Indeed, there is nothing like coming together as a family to enjoy good food. As a family of churches, we treasured the time of reunion with one another. Apart from food, the Homecoming event was followed by drama and song presentations. The various performances aimed to tell the pioneering stories of our churches in the A3 region during their early years, with a hope that the message would further strengthen our conviction towards God’s vision. Many people were reminded of our humble beginnings and how God hadworked through our churches throughout these years.
In regards to the teachings, we were blessed by our pastors from Hope Malaysia this year. Ps Moses for example, encouraged us to step out from the four walls of the church to bring the Gospel “intentionally” to the needy people around us. We were challenged by his own testimonies and examples in reaching out to the people where he stays. Notwithstanding, Ps Denis and Ps Kwong Lie shared about vital ingredients for the church to be multiplied.
We also had the privilege of having Rev. Jeff Yuen and his team from Soakability Church to minister to us on the second day. His sharing concerning identity in Christ and the authority that God has given His people, impacted our understanding towards God. During the course of the sharing, many were stirred by the awesome work of God when Rev. Jeff recounted the various testimonies of God’s miraculous healing through his ministry in Singapore and a few other countries. The climax of the day was the healing service in the evening. Since it was open to public, some of our brothers and sisters took the opportunity to invite friends and relatives with sickness or physical disabilities to come. God was truly at work as we witnessed people being healed. One of our sisters from Hope Bangalore who couldn’t smell before this could begin to identify the different smells directed to her after a few rounds of prayer! Also, another lady with hearing difficulties also began to hear clearly after the prayer. In fact, even after the A3 conference, we continued to receive report of healing from our brothers and sisters. Indeed, God is awesome!
Different workshops were held on the third day, led by our regional pastors and leaders. The workshop “Conflict Management” taught by Ps. Denis had the largest number of participants. We were blessed by his insightful yet humorous way of sharing on working together and relating to others, especially those with different characters and background.
Finally, the final night of the conference was set apart wholly for a time of praise and worship. There was great excitement in singing, dancing and worshipping before the Lord! The congregation also responded to God for mission work during the ministering time. All in all, throughout the four days of the conference, we experienced how God changed the spiritual atmosphere of the church and witnessed many changed lives as they experienced the power of God tangibly.
Written by Ethan Yong