Hope Church, Cardiff

David with Marc Walter and Martin Chapman on the shore of Lac Leman in Lausanne

Church building in Orbe in the Canton de Vaud where the conference was held

I have just returned from speaking at a conference held by three small churches in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and organised by a Lausanne-based church called Joie Dans la Cité (Joy in the City) which is led by Marc Walter and my friend of many years, Martin Chapman. Hazel and I did a conference for these churches last year on the subject of prophecy, and it was great to be invited to go back again this year, and to see the progress the churches have made both individually and in their friendship together.

It was a fantastic weekend based around the theme ‘Servir le Royaume de Dieu dans la Puissance de L’Esprit’ (Serving the Kingdom of God in the Power of the Spirit). It was intended to encourage and equip those attending to know more their identity as sons and daughters of the King of Kings and to help them operate more effectively in the gifts of the Holy Spirit out of a relationship with God based on intimacy and living in His presence. About 80 people attended, of all ages ; and it was great to be able to catch up with people we met last year and get to know them better.

From the start there was a wonderful sense of God’s presence, and the worship times were especially powerful. It’s not hard to operate in the gifts of the Spirit when the people of God are hungry for more as these Swiss people were.

On the first evening there were three healings, including that of one of the church leaders who had suffered for some time with a sore elbow, being unable to rotate his forearm without signigficant pain. He was completely healed, and in his testimony the next morning was able to explain that he had tested his healing by holding a lump hammer at arms length and rotating his arm without any difficulty or discomfort whatsoever, something he had been unable to do for quite some time!

The encouragement of these testimonies encouraged others to press in further, and during the course of Saturday and Sunday there were a number of others healings, several of which came as conference delegates prayed for each other without any involvement by myself or other leaders, which was fantastic.

One woman was completely healed from a back problem which involved two herniated discs which had caused he much pain for several months. Another woman had a back problem which meant she was unable to sleep through the night without pain waking her. That night she slept right through the night without any discomfort. Several others were healed of headaches, painful feet, knees and shoulders. One man with a heart condition due to a partial arterial blockage in his aorta felt something pop in his chest as he was prayed for and felt much improved afterwards. Another old man whose legs had been crushed in a farming accident felt heat in his knees when he was prayed for and felt a greater measure of mobility afterwards. There were others who experienced some measure of healing also, perhaps 15 in all.

Many were freshly filled with the Spirit, and one man confessed to a new freedom to draw close to God as a blockage was released in him during a ministry time.

It was a real privilege to serve these lovely generous-hearted churches, and to be able to encourage them to keep seeking the kingdom of God, not just for themselves, but for the sake of those outside the churches also.