347 people from 12 churches including 35 ministers and aspiring leaders came together at the Grace Fraternal Family and Ministers Bible Conference, April 11 – 15 at the MAS Fabric Park at Thulhiriya.
For the first session in the morning and evening all participants came together to listen to an exposition by Dr Gareth Crossley and then dispersed as families, students and ministers into various rooms. Pastors from each participating church ministered to families under topics such as: the Bible and money; a biblical approach to disciplining children; marks of a godly man and woman; and Obadiah, a man who testified from within. There were also training and consultation sessions.
Creation and burnout
The students gathered with Pastor Saji Pappu under the theme ‘God created’. In the evening ministers met with Dr Crossley who ably and efficiently dealt with issues such as pastoral burnout, and presented the ministers with a series on preaching. The main sessions were translated into Tamil by a very able translator Pastor Sritharan Calistus, who was flown in from South India for this very purpose. The discussion he led on writers and translators was also very helpful.
Overall the conference turned out to be more than what was expected. One brother said: 'I have been to many conferences before, but by far this has been the best and I am being truthful about it’. There was an excellent atmosphere and the prayers of various people and churches all around the world was evident right throughout the conference. A student said: ‘Pastor Saji gave a more technical approach towards the Bible and proved scientifically why theories such as the Big Bang are wrong’.
