British Conference Report
by Meryl Langley

The ninth British Fall Conference took place the weekend of October 17-19 at the Hollowford Training Centre in the beautiful Peak District area of Castleton, Derbyshire. Members of our fellowship gathered together from the USA, Scotland, Ireland, and England. People arrived throughout the evening and exchanged the usual enthusiastic greetings-some of us not having met up since Summer Camp.

As various individuals shared what was going on in their lives, we came to see in one instance how something as simple as being inconsiderate can be traced to unbelief-wanting "our" way at the expense of others. If we do not heed the advice of God through His body and His Word, we inevitably walk through the consequences of a self-for-self (Satan) choice. But if we confess our sins and receive His forgiveness, thank God, as we go on again God will work it all together for our good (Rom. 8:28).

Saturday morning the youth joined us in a team effort of editing an article Page was preparing for The Intercessor. It was a pleasure to watch Page’s obvious enjoyment of using her new "friend," the laptop computer, which made many of the difficulties of writing a thing of the past. Breda, our specialist Irish/English teacher served as advisor on the grammatical aspects of the article.

While the youth carried on with their activities, the adults spent the remainder of Saturday afternoon in group discussions clarifying some of the subtle ways Satan can misuse us. One point made was that there is no such thing as "dipping" in and out of right believing-at all times either Christ or Satan is going on in and through us. It was also evident how often, in spite of not wanting to be like our parents, we can he tricked by Satan in exactly the same way he misused them. We were reminded the terrible toll of Satan’s years of misusing us-how rotten to the core (like an apple can be) and that no amount of cutting out the had bits will make us right.

We saw how pride is often a major stumbling block to our being honest and open to see the truth about ourselves. C. S. Lewis described pride as "the total anti-God state of mind." Our only hope of living a right life is a total spirit-replacement, e.g. Christ living out His life through us. And, thank God, this is available if we believe what God says about us in Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 1:27. Then we see life from God’s perspective and He lives out His life of responsibility and accountability through us. Had you "dropped in" on Sunday morning, you would have found a hive of activity, like small workshops going on. The editing team (Sanda, Page, Marian, and Breda) worked on the article while other small groups were talking; from upstairs you could hear the singing of the young folks.

For me, the conference under-scored how vital it is to keep to the basics of what we believe: as I live moment by moment, I am either Christ going on (trusting that it is He living His life out by me) or, if I believe Satan’s lie, I am giving him temporary control to live out by me. It is so necessary to see this as situations arise. I loved, too, seeing how scripture-based our teaching is. As the Bible says about God’s words in Jeremiah 15:16, "I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart."