Conference Report (New Year 25/26)

For many, the New Year period is a time to reflect on the past year, and to plan and look ahead to the coming one. It's also when we hold one of IFB's regular prayer and Bible conferences, and a month ago we gathered once again to commit situations afresh to God and gain a fresh perspective from His word.

The talks focused on three particular topics: talents, unity and a storm to come. We've given a brief summary for each of these here, and you can visit our YouTube playlist to hear the talks in detail. At the end, we've described how we felt God leading and speaking in our prayer times too.

If you're interested to join us at a future conference for the full experience of prayer, preaching, fellowship and reflection, see our events page to find out more!

God-given Talents

Josh started the conference with a talk about the God-given talents we have and what we're doing with them, based on the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. A talent in Jesus's day represented 15-20 years of labourer’s wages (over £330,000 today based on the UK's minimum wage).

God has entrusted great things to us - things that differ for each one of us, according to His plan and our ability - and as He has invested significantly in us, He looks to see what we will do with His investment. Will we be like the two commended servants in Jesus's parable, and give ourselves fully to being fruitful and faithful with the resources, abilities and opportunities that He's given us to steward?

Surviving the Storm

Josh continued with two talks about "the storm that will surely come". In Talk 1, he spoke of the tide which can come in slowly or quickly at times but is always going in one direction, and the need for us to recognise the incoming tide in our situation today. He described how Paul was prepared for things he was going to face, and how we need to be prepared today, thinking of ourselves and those who are around us.

In Talk 2, Josh moved on to consider how we need to be not just ready for the storm but able to rejoice in the face of it. With examples from Scripture, he emphasised the importance of this, and how it's possible with the Spirit's help.

Unity, Humility and Glory (Views on Israel)

Ashley then gave three talks on the overall topic of unity, with different views on Israel within the church as a significant example and subtext.

In Talk 1, Ashley laid out some developments in the preceding months and years which had led him to study the church's attitudes to Israel in more detail. He described how the church today is riven with chasms and far from being united - and in response to this, he gave four ways we should pursue a right unity with other true believers and groups.

In Talk 2, Ashley zoomed in on the chasm between those who passionately support Israel and the Jewish people and those who don't. He then sought to present the views of "the other side" (i.e. those who don't hold to his and IFB's position on Israel and the Jews), helping us to see why others hold a different view from Scripture and what we can gain from them while disagreeing.

And in Talk 3, Ashley explained why he and IFB would disagree with some of the beliefs others hold on Israel. More importantly, he asked why people should care about the issue, and whether we support Israel for the right reasons - reasons which should help us find common ground with those who disagree.

Our Prayer Times

As we usually do, our first prayer time was one in which we asked for God to prepare our hearts and minds for the conference, and asked for Him to lead us and work powerfully during our time together.

One of the topics we prayed about was Tommy Robinson, who is known for his questionable past but has (according to trusted sources) come to know God. We prayed for Tommy to grow in his understanding and character, and also for God to work in the churches and leaders who are still denouncing him, recognising that if Tommy's work is at least partly being used by God, it may be wrongly be dismissed by some in the church like the Pharisees dismissed God's work in their day. We remembered how we and others have previously cried to God for Christians to be raised up who would be better public voices than (for example) the Archbishop of Canterbury, and were reminded that God sometimes chooses the foolish and unexpected to shame the wise.

In one session, we prayed about transgender issues and particularly the puberty blocker trial which is due to begin shortly, in which over 200 children will knowingly be given life-changing drugs which have had significant risks identified. As we prayed, we were reminded that the Philistines were persistent enemies who kept coming back to attack Israel, and that in the same way, the devil keeps coming back to attack our children in this area, despite some recent setbacks for his agenda in God's mercy. Recognising that our battle isn't against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces in the heavenly places, we focused our prayers not on human politicians and medics but on the enemy who is trying to use them.

Other prayer times were responses to the talks we heard. When praying following Josh's talk about being ready for the storm, one significant point which came out from people's prayers was the need to jettison things from our hearts and lives - not just what is clearly bad (e.g. sin), but also things (like the good grain thrown out of the ship in Acts 28) which may seem good but actually weigh us down and hold us back. We asked God to show us, individually and corporately, anything which He wanted us to jettison in preparation for the future.

And in prayer times responding to Ashley's talks on unity, various individuals confessed their pride, judgementalism and lack of love for other believers who they have disagreed with over secondary issues. We asked God to show us where we have put up wrong barriers between us and others, and prayed for help to love and work with others wherever we can for God's kingdom.