Last week I was at the NLI Eurosummit. I’ve been working with NLI for six years now so this was my fourth ES. In the past I’ve travelled to Bratislava, Krakow and Madrid, but this year just had to jump in the car and head down the road to Coventry. Actually, I seemed to spend quite a bit of time in the car, but then I was on the logistics team, helping to ‘ferry’ guests around. So, one week later and what is my take away from the event? Several things…
Firstly, Eurosummit was a celebration. We kicked things off with our 20th Anniversary Banquet. Around 120 people gathered from all parts of the globe including NLI staff past and present as well as guests from Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, France, Ukraine and Lithuania; many of our ministry partners from the last 20 years. Other guests included NLI ‘friends’ from around the UK. It was great to see so many familiar faces: we could have chatted the night away! The banquet provided a great opportunity to look back over the last 20 years and celebrate leaders equipped and empowered, churches planted and mission teams mobilised.
David Shearman, guest speaker at the banquet
If the banquet was about celebrating the past then Eurosummit was definitely about changing the future; about finding ways to bring real Kingdom transformation to the nations of Europe; about getting out of our church ghettos into the marketplaces, the schools, the workplaces; about being salt and light. Yes, we’ve heard it all before, but clearly radical steps are needed, because what we’re doing at the moment is just not enough.
And so Eurosummit was also an ‘agitant’. My spellchecker doesn’t like this word, but it sums up the mood of many of the ES delegates, especially NLI founder/leader, Ian Green. Far from patting ourselves on the back for the past 20 years, there was a sense of dissatisfaction: why haven’t more leaders been equipped and empowered, more churches planted and more mission teams mobilised? We are agitated, unable to rest until we see real spiritual, economical and social transformation across Europe.
Ian Green
The pre-event blurb said: ‘Eurosummit is not a conference, it is a connecting point, a relational event, a sharing of effective ideas and resources so that we can achieve more together than we could alone.’ And so ES was not so much, “here’s what NLI is doing in Europe, what can you do to partner with us?” Rather, “here’s what people like Billy Kennedy, Murray Cornelius, Brian Burton, Michelle Balverde and many others are doing to see transformation in their communities. Now, how can we partner together to impact Europe? Come on, “where is your heart?!”
So, that was my Eurosummit take away. Even though this was my last ES as an NLI-er, there was still plenty to agitate me, and everyone else, to do what I can to bring about spiritual, economical and social transformation in my own community, as well as Europe.
Where is your heart?
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Uncategorized | Judith | 
March 18, 2012 8:28 pm | 
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