In times of secularisation and confusion, the church needs to recover its integrity and a desire to proclaim the gospel boldly. These were the main messages heard at the 2023 European Leadership Forum (ELF) conference, in Wisla, Poland, recently.
‘Gospel integrity is a major need for the church now’, theologian Michael Reeves (England) told the 750 participants on the first evening. ‘The moral deficiencies and spiritual dryness that Christians bemoan, have roots’, he said. ‘We are astonished when evangelical leaders fail’, but this only shows that often evangelical leaders ‘minimise sin and offer shallow repentance’.
In a message that set the tone for the rest of the week, Reeves warned against ‘prioritising outward performance over inward reality’. ‘Friends’, he continued, ‘our need is not only for moral integrity but for a gospel integrity. There is no spiritual health without acknowledgement that we need mercy’.
The issue of spiritual dryness had already been put on the table by Dave Patty (Czech Republic) in a pre-conference seminar in which he called Christian leaders to identify ‘hidden idols’ that stop them from fully trusting God. Meanwhile, cultural analyst Andrew Fellows (England) addressed the failings in churches and organisations in his talk ‘Smuggling Jesus Back Into The Church’.
Participants said they enjoyed the lively worship times and the chances to listen to and pray for Christians from countries such as Ukraine and Belarus.
Conrad Mbewe (Zambia) expounded the book of Malachi. Under the theme of ‘The God Who Is There’, the Baptist pastor gave a powerful wake-up call to Christians in Europe who might be ‘tempted to think that it does not pay to serve God’. Instead, he called for a recovery of a glorious vision of God and not to give up on ‘pastoral and personal faithfulness’.
Adrian Reynolds of the FIEC, who attended ELF 2023, said ‘It was – as always – humbling to hear how men and women are serving in the church of Christ across Europe. But this year I was particularly moved to hear how churches across the continent, and especially in Eastern Europe, are growing and becoming stronger. There are obviously many challenges – not least the relative poverty in terms of resources and training. But this is more than compensated for by enthusiasm matched with godliness, which God seems pleased to bless.’
