|
The 2011 MoD Retreat was an amazing experience in which we put aside all life’s distractions to spend time seeking God. It was my first time and I craved a life-changing encounter with God. Upon arrival, the men formed a line and passed the luggage to one another from the coach to the foyer. This brotherly camaraderie would be a recurrent theme throughout the Retreat. Afterwards, we were shown to our rooms, and discovered the teams we'd been allocated to. I was part of Team Malachi, an extraordinarily co-operative team who were extremely fun to work with.
One thing that struck me throughout the week was how wonderful it was to hear men gathered together singing praise and giving worship to God in one accord. Usually the men's voices get drowned out by the women's, but here our voices were in full throng and we hardly missed them.
The information-packed sessions were run by Pastors: Douglas Goodman, Chris Bennett, and Tim English; with the central theme that we were God's image-bearers. Pastor Douglas's sessions focused on our purpose as men of destiny, drawing parallels between us and the depressed, indebted men who joined David in the cave and who would later go on to become mighty men. Pastor Chris's sessions mainly focused on the dysfunctional home, our role as men in the home, and how to treat our wives and children. We learnt that children are like arrows and our job as men is to shoot them in the right direction so they fulfil their purpose in life. Pastor Tim's sessions covered topics such as our propensity for sin (what behaviours we default to), the fear of the Lord, and another discussed God's original plan and how we measured up to it.
Someone once said: "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear". After almost two days of searching for my Blackberry mobile case, I decided to pray in the main hall by myself. I prayed earnestly to God, telling Him how I’d rejected the counsel of my mind and trusted in Him alone. I told him no matter what, I didn’t want to go back still relying on my own strength. Immediately after finishing my prayer, I went to my room and the Holy Spirit directed me to where the case was located. From that encounter with God, I knew I’d leave the MoD Retreat a changed man.
MY EXPERIENCE
My decision to go on the 2011 Men’s Retreat took some courage and a lot of faith. I hadn’t been attending the men’s mentoring regularly so I wasn’t really acquainted with many of the men of the church. Between services, the people that I hung around with were either my brothers or some ‘sisters-in-Christ’ from my area in South East London. This was one of the reasons why I felt it important to go on the retreat. If I was to ever be the man God called me to be, I needed to fellowship with the men that God had put in the church - I needed to take myself out of my comfort zone and away from the familiar faces I fellowship with week in and week out. No doubt, the prospect of an awkward four days of fellowship brought anticipated intimidation in the preceding weeks.
Most people didn’t know that I was going to the retreat and when they did some were oddly surprised- I remember Pastor Douglas preaching a message about discouragement and having to deal with someone dishing me disheartening words about the level of time and money invested into such things like retreats. Yet the retreat taught me that learning how to be a man meant learning how to not be moved by the accolades of other men and the opinions of the world- plus the time and money spent was well worth it. Sitting in those sessions, I’ve gleaned so much from just having to listen to the struggles people faced growing up and starting their own family. It allowed me to look at the men through new eyes- I don’t only seeing them as wells of wisdom and teachers of experience but as brothers in God’s grace and saints with a past which allow us to relate to each other through a shared humility.
I was so inspired by Rev. Tim English and Bishop Eddie Bennett, whose messages were powerful, anointed, sincere and dynamic - I couldn’t stop scribbling down notes in my notepad! The type of topics we covered were relevant and wide-ranging. We talked of relationships and about having dominion in the household, rediscovering our identity and purpose as God’s image and going back to basics with the two greatest commandments - love God with all your mind heart strength and soul, and love your neighbour as yourself. Themes that came up, either by speaker or listener were broken down and incorporated into everyday scenarios to give us men instruction we can actually apply. At times I and my brother questioned whether these sessions were sermons from a preacher because of the high level of intimacy and openness from all the men - the phrase ‘what is said amongst us, stays amongst us’ springs to mind.
I was also touched by how much Pastor Douglas made himself available to the men both in and out of the sessions. Sitting next to him during dinner time and hearing him talk of courtship, politics, cars, families and the type of Christians of this and previous generations made me realise that I actually don’t really know it all and showed me how certain situations in our individual lives encourage us to be so self-focused. Stuff that I didn’t even know was inside me manifested during our time in the house.
I needed to learn how to stop being a hypocrite and understand that although I’m young, my decisions still have the power to determine my destiny. Operating in teams also made me realise that I’m pretty arrogant and I resent a little where people I don’t have much of a relationship with tell me what to do. This lead to me being offended on a number of occasions and having to forgive and let go- love in action.
Overall, the retreat was incredible in an irreplaceable kind of way. It taught me to accept the reality that sacrifices is a necessity- that a price needs to be paid in order to encounter God and seek His will for our lives. In essence, £420 and the time spent fellowshipping with the men and with God was the price paid. Yet I also realised that it meant having to sacrifice the pleasures and the ways of the world which are continually offered to us- the coming of age. A lot of retreat-goers refer to Rev. Tim English’s ‘Breaking the Mould’ message as a night of real change. For me, it was also a night of ‘No More Tears’ - I am sick and tired of being sick and tired and want a change of heart and head that is tangible and produces good fruit for not only my generation but the ones yet to come. We laughed. We ate. We prayed. We trained. We worshiped. We played. And we ate some more- we had so much fun. The retreat is redefining me as a young man of destiny and for that, I am truly grateful.
Kelechi Iwumene |
