Open Doors Annual Conference 2004

As some of you will know, Open Doors is an organisation set up to help and support persecuted Christians around the world. On 29th October several members of N:Courage as well as other members of QBC went up to Swanwick in Derbyshire for the annual conference.

On the Friday night we all went to the main hall to hear David de Vinetea speak. David had been in prison in Peru for eight years for no reason other than he is a Christian. His wife Chely and three children were only allowed to see him once a week, but never all together. In a magnificent answer to prayer David was released and he and his wife were able to attend this night of the conference before rushing off to Manchester airport. His testimony was amazing. His faith in God remained strong even though he suffered so much.

The final part of the evening was the part that touched us the most, the members of Underground (the youth division of Open Doors) gathered together in the woods for a candlelit worship session. We wrapped up warm, stood under the trees and accompanied by a guitar we sang and prayed.

On Saturday four volunteers took part in some Chinese food tasting, Sam Gibb being one of them. They had the delights of being blindfolded, trying chilli sauce, salted turnip and pickled garlic…lovely! Eric then came to speak to us in our Underground group; he works in China helping to train youth workers and ministers. As well as teaching us a song in Chinese he told us about his work and told us some amazing testimonies.

One that particularly touched us was one about a Christian woman and her son who travelled around telling people the good news. One day they were attacked and the son was stabbed and killed. The murderer was caught and sent to prison. The punishment for murder in China is death but the mother of the young man who had been killed went to the judge and said, ‘Please don’t sentence him to death, one young man has already died I don’t want another to die.’ So instead of the death sentence, he was given so many years imprisonment. In a Chinese prison you have to pay for your food, but this young man didn’t have any money so the mother sent food for him. At first he didn’t eat it because he thought it might be poisoned, but in the end he had to because he was so hungry. The mother also visited him and he became a Christian. When he was released from prison they travelled around, like mother and son, spreading the good news. This mother showed a true Christian spirit, to forgive the man who killed her son, to relieve him of the death penalty and to make sure he was looked after in prison is unbelievable. As much as we would love to think that this is what we would do, I‘m sure that for many of us this would be extremely difficult, but she did it without a second thought.

After dinner on Saturday evening we all dressed up smart and went to the main hall again, this time to watch the premiere of Open Door’s new film ‘The Eastern Bride’. In the film a young, Christian, Middle Eastern man was getting married. During the wedding reception some men came and arrested him for being a Christian. Whilst in prison he was beaten and his new wife was only allowed to speak to him through the bars of his cell. A white friend of his with the help of a young female reporter persisted in trying to free him from prison. She originally did not believe that Christians were persecuted until, whilst making a documentary in China, she discovered the truth. She agreed to make a program about the persecution of Christians and they managed to get the Middle Eastern man out of prison. He became the pastor of his church and continued to spread the good news about Jesus.

The film was amazing, it really made us think about how other people suffer for their faith, about how powerful prayer is and about how much our prayer means to them. Seen as it was a “film premiere” we had an after-show party (hence the smart clothes) combined with a party for Hannah as it was her 18th birthday on the Friday. This was great fun with lots of crisps, chocolate, cake and party poppers! We even saw a slide show of ‘Hannah’s Life’, (an embarrassed Hannah), and played pass the parcel, with some very strange forfeits - including someone drinking a can of Coke through a sock! And it wasn’t even a clean sock…

We also did some more light hearted things, such as staying up until 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning and only getting 5 hours sleep in the whole 48 hours! Yes, we were very tired when we came home, but we still had good fun, and managed to get up and be ready for the prayer meetings at 8 o’clock in the morning! It was great fun meeting all the other Undergrounders and getting to know them.

The conference was one of the best weekends of our lives! We learnt so much about how powerful God really is and the amazing results praying produces. We have made so many new friends and encourage more of you to go next time, but book quickly because places go fast!

By Eleanor Blower and Katherine Andrews

If anyone would like more information about Open Doors or how to get involved and receive the monthly magazine you can talk to Hannah Shipway or the following:
Phone: 01993 885400 Website: www.opendoorsuk.org E-mail: info@opendoorsuk.org

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