UK Local Church Visit

Perry & Debbie McQueen from Nottinghamshire, U.K.

"Thank you for such a wonderful conference! Our hearts are full to exploding with all that the Lord has done in us.

For years we have been searching, looking for a place to worship as a family where our hearts are connected together in relationship with the Lord and each other. We sensed this connection during the conference. We have been to many conferences, and attended a large church and have been caught up in the hype of performance and ‘ministry of excellence’, believing we were seeing the fruits of the Spirit in that. But we lost sight of really loving one another, and serving together kindly with compassion and commitment to care for one another. It just became function.

We went to the conference in Ringwood with hearts full of great excitement to see old friends from Africa, but not without a measure of hesitation at what we would find in this church’s doctrine. What a joy to experience! We connected in a way we have dreamed of for so long. You loved us and welcomed us and laughed with us and gave your hearts to us and, without any manipulation, our hearts have been drawn together.

There is so much we could say on all we heard: Miki shared on walking free from legalism; I thought I was free having come out of a traditional Catholic upbringing into a radical new faith, but as he continued I began to realise how bound up I was. Bound in “religious thinking”, bound up in performance and function, not growing in the Lord, but serving in the church more out of obligation and seeking man’s favour rather than the Lord’s.

As we entered into worship, I could sense the real tangible presence of God and my heart broke before the Lord and I wept. I had not experienced this kind of touch for so long. Although I had sung the songs before and knew all the words, God continued to work in my heart and I wept more as God began to woo me to come closer and not hold back anything because of past disappointment and a wounded spirit.

As Miki began to share the word again, God continued to pull on my heart. Yes, I had read the scripture before, heard it preached before, but it was fresh revelation for me. He shared from Mat 26; how Peter had followed Jesus from afar to watch what would happen, and I felt that is what I had been doing - watching things from afar off – but God was calling for me to come closer into real fellowship with him."

Debbie shared the following:

"A few days before the onference, I said that I would give up all that we have worked for, sell up and move to an island and live in a hammock if it only meant that we found the centre of God’s will for our lives. It was a desperate cry to God for help.

My heart is so grateful and I cannot stop feeling overwhelmed with a sense of God taking our wounded hearts in His hands and bringing healing. I can sing again with a new found freedom in my soul and I can walk free in areas that I have been in bondage to for years. I don’t have to be anything like anyone else. God has called me, but, I am letting go of my own perceptions of what that might be to allow His grace to work deep in my heart so that the real fruits of the Spirit become evident in my life.

As the meeting drew to a close, and Miki prayed for us, we felt God stirring our hearts to step out in faith and believe to see His hand move on our behalf. We sense the “suddenly” of God is now upon us. There will be a time of restoration and we believe a time to separate ourselves fully from the past and practice a new type of walk with Him.

We have returned home to put our house on the market and prepare for a season in a new place, before continuing on to what and to wherever the Lord plans for our family. We begin to home-school our children as we believe God directed our hearts to do so six months ago. We can only smile that the Mauritius church has the exact programme in operation that we believe God directed us to use!

Perry & Debbie McQueen from Nottinghamshire, U.K