Islamic World school of leadership      

Conference 2007 Ozdere, Turkey

By Alastair Gregory
Dartford, UK

‘What a great conference!’ ‘One of the best conferences I have been to.’ These were comments coming from the 200 delegates who attended the Islamic World School of Leadership in Turkey last year.

Strangely enough, these comments were not because of the good hotel accommodation and food, nor even the glorious weather, swimming pools and adjacent beach! The things I heard repeatedly were: how much they appreciated the strong sense of family – even though they came from over twenty different nations and many had not met each other before; teaching on topics relevant to the work people were involved in; and the quality of leadership given from David Devenish (Bedford, UK) and his team.

Twenty nations, one family

It is always a blessing to be with Christian brothers and sisters from other nations and cultures, and to experience the oneness of God’s family. There was a good balance of meetings and free time, which enabled people to make new friendships and share with others in similar situations. We were all put into pre-arranged ‘cell groups’ and encouraged to meet three times during the week, to get to know new people, pray for one another and give support. The groups were deliberately structured to mix people from different nations and many found them really helpful.

Worldview

The teaching covered things such as ‘Worldview’ and the importance of understanding the different worldviews of those we work with. The gospel should change people’s worldview rather than simply change their outward behaviour. David Devenish and Dave Nunn (London, UK) also taught on how to teach in an oral culture. 67% of the world is functionally illiterate and are therefore ‘oral learners’. They are not helped by our tightly structured, three-point sermons; they learn by stories. David demonstrated this by teaching ‘the big story’ of the Bible in one session, which was very powerful. Colin Baron (Manchester, UK) took a session on ‘Pioneering Faith’, Martyn Dunsford (Southampton, UK) inspired us with his sessions on ‘Enjoying the presence of God’, and Andy Martin (Bedford, UK) did a superb session on ‘Our new identity in Christ’. There were also seminars on handling pressure, application of our values, protecting your marriage in ministry, understanding a particular worldview, and the challenge of folk superstitions. During every session there was a constant background noise of interpretation into Russian, Turkish and Arabic.

Comments from different nationalities:

‘The teaching on orality and worldviews has been really helpful. Been good to meet with people with the same hearts; this is what we dream about. There has been a good balance of new things and inspirational things’ (Kjetil and Samar Rygg, working in Malmo, Sweden amongst 29 nationalities).

‘The topics have been helpful, especially Worldview and Identity. Have enjoyed the atmosphere of love, family and friendship. Hearing people’s stories and sharing together has been very encouraging. The leadership of David, with Andy and Ian has held it all together very well and been a great example’ (Karen, Armenia).

‘This is my first time in this conference and I have enjoyed every part. The variety has been very exciting. The prophetic word I received during one of the ministry times was the same as a word I had received two weeks ago in a Filipino church. The teaching has been very helpful, especially on oral learning and worldview’ (Pyn Shabong, Oman).

‘The teaching has opened up new horizons. There is a great sense of fellowship and I hope for deeper relationship with the Newfrontiers family’ (John Bent, Kusadasi, Turkey).

‘It was good to meet people from other situations and hear stories similar to ours. It relieves the sense of isolation. There was a real sense of the presence of God in the worship and the teaching was outstanding’ (Dave and Sue White, Tajikistan).

‘We appreciated the family atmosphere and the small groups worked really well. We were very encouraged by the prayer time we had there. Although we are not from Newfrontiers we have not felt like outsiders’ (Daryl & Debbie Snyder, Albania).

‘It was my first time and I didn’t know what to expect but it has been wonderful. The teaching has been very helpful. In the prophecy and healing time I felt the presence of the Lord in my heart strongly’ (Abdullah, Izmir, Turkey).

‘Most useful teaching and a real sense of family. Very well planned. Good mix of meetings and time for fellowship’ (Colin & Jane Hill, Neil and Paula Lawrence, Cyprus).

As I listened to some of the stories of hardship and danger where some of the people were working, I thought of that verse about those heroes of faith, ‘…the world was not worthy of them,’ (Heb. 11:38). Like those in Hebrews 11, none of these people would make that claim for themselves. They were happy and positive, despite the hardships many of them faced, because they were playing a part in taking the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth.