Lack of Joy III: Rejuvenation

I think that sometimes one thing we need in order to recapture true Christian joy is a little rejuvenation. Have you noticed how you feel after going to a Christian conference or camp for the weekend. I know that whenever I go to MTS Challenge or the Tasmanian Leadership Conference, I come back keen, eager, and joyful.

Why is this? Well I think it's putting aside some time to really focus on Christian issues, surrounded by other serious Christians who also want to learn. These kind of conferences tend to weed out the semi-committed who are only doing as much as is convenient for them. What's there instead are lots of people who want to glorify God, and it's being surrounded by those people that is a real encouragement.

Also, I think that it's great to be challenged every now and then. The speakers at a conference can be relatively sure that their audience is a Christian one, and so they seem to be prepared to be much more interested in challenging preconceived notions and really pushing you to live for Christ's glory, more so than you might get away with in church. I know if I said some of the stuff I've heard at a conference talk in front of church on a Sunday, people might get angry because they don't want to be challenged like that. I know that shouldn't stop us as preachers, but we need to be able to guide lovingly as well without driving people away.

So there's one solution anyway. It would be great if we could come away from church and growth group feeling like this every week. I think that's probably how we should be coming away from church and growth group. But unfortunately that's not always happening (maybe because of a lack of the above).