General Conference Recap
In the late 1960s, the Charismatic Renewal began to sweep through many Christian churches and groups, as God poured his Holy Spirit out on his people. The Sword of the Spirit is one of the many lasting groups and ministries that grew out of this renewal, as prayer groups, ministries, and churches responded to God’s work in their own unique ways.
As the North American Region of the Sword of the Spirit, we were blessed and grateful to be able to hold our region-wide General Member Conference this past July in one of the cradles of the Charismatic Renewal in North America: East Lansing, Michigan, where the conference was hosted by the Work of Christ Community.
From the early days of prayer groups and retreats, to the founding of Covenant Communities and the formation of the Sword of the Spirit, to where we are today is a long journey. Today the North American Region has twenty-two member communities from across the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Twenty-one of these communities were represented in the over 350 members of the region who attended the conference. We were also joined by members of two communities from the Ibero-Americana Region: La Nueva Jerusalén in Miami, Florida, and El Camino, in Westfield, Massachusetts.
In addition to the wonderful fellowship with these brothers and sisters from around the region, we were able to experience the blessing of a lead speaker from outside the region, Anton Colella. Anton is a coordinator in the Risen Christ Community in Scotland, and gave a series of talks focusing on our human community and renewing our love of the Lord Jesus. In addition to Anton’s wonderful talks, we heard from David Williamson, from the Light of Christ in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the topic of One Spirit, and from Brendan Murray, leader of the Lexington, Kentucky community plant, who led us in a Sunday morning exhortation and scripture study.
We also had David Graham, one of the Regional Young Professionals leaders, from Triump of the Cross in Maryland, lead a Legacy track for many of the young adult leaders who came to the conference. This track offered resources, support, and encouragement in growing the Young Professionals mission within the region.
The Grandly team gave a wonderful presentation on how they are working to form our community members who find themselves in the season of Grandparenting, by helping them see their opportunities to contribute to the missionary work of their community and region, while also identifying several resources that have been developed to aid them in this transformation of mission. Grandparents are in a unique position to point their grandchildren toward Christ, and Grandly is an amazing resource in helping them to do that.
As if all this wonderful support from within and without the region wasn’t enough, we also had guests from outside the Sword of the Spirit. These brothers and sisters from other networks and ministries are an encouraging reminder that we are, as the well-known Bulwark Prophecy stated, “a part, and not the whole.” We had brothers and sisters from communities outside the SOS, including City of the Lord Community in Phoenix, Christian Community of God’s Delight in Dallas, and the Word of God in Michigan, as well as representatives from the International Partnership of Ecumenical Charismatic Communities (IPECC) and the North American Network of Charismatic Covenant Communties (NAN). Steve and Emily Barth, from the Pennsylvania branch of the Bruderhof Community, the newest protestant member of IPECC, joined us and shared what the Lord is doing in their movement, and Ralph Martin, who helped to found the very prayer group which grew into the Work of Christ Community, was able to attend on Saturday evening with his Renewal Ministries team.
We also had Michael Havercamp of Young Life and Alicia Hartel from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in North America, Pentecost Today USA. Alicia invited us all to join in praying for an outpouring of the Spirit in Covenant Communities and Prayer Networks, which is the focus of the second (and current) year of Pentecost Today’s Nine Year Novena—which is focused on interceding for a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit in many different areas.
We thank God for his work both inside and outside the Sword of the Spirit, and especially for the blessing of brothers and sisters working alongside us as we seek to live out the call he has given us.
We are planning to hold our next Regional General Conference in 2027 in St. Paul, Minnesota, so keep an eye out for our Save-the-Date flyer! We hope many of you will be able to attend and experience the amazing blessing of fellowship and unity that we were able to enjoy at this conference.