Roundtable.
It’s called
a roundtable because, in the early years of the RHP Europe gatherings, we were
small enough of a group to sit around an extended roundtable. The meetings were smaller (we were only 24
when I first attended an RHP roundtable in 2013 on the island of Malta). We each gave country reports, what was going
on in our specific ministry setting and in our country. And we had one refugee at the table.
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| RHP Malta 2013 ~ historically significant for a lot of reasons related to refugees, but also for those of us who follow Jesus, we know that Paul was capsized off the island of Malta |
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| Fellow participants at the RHP Malta roundtable, where I first heard about needing to uncover the leadership potential of every refugee that comes into your life |
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| Back in 2013, we were small enough that we could all go on an excursion ~ and we were offered one a day! |
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| Portrait painted on a wall in a ministry setting that served refugees ~ depicting the harrowing journey across water and looking for safety. Some things haven't changed 7 years later! |
Fastforward
to RHP Roundtable 2020 in Malmö, where 255 participants representing over 100 ministries
and 25 countries gathered for 4 days to focus on the theme of “Radical
Hospitality”. Our days were filled with
plenary sessions where our guest speaker, Pastor Niels Nymann Eriksen from Copenhagen, Denmark, challenged us to use our imagination and place
ourselves in the story of the good Samaritan.
He spoke each day from a different perspective: that of the good Samaritan, of the wounded
man, and of the innkeeper.
Our
location proved to be the best place in Malmö (perhaps even the best in all of
Scandinavia!) for hosting 255 people from across Europe and the US and other
corners of the world. People stayed at
the Good Morning Hotel, and after their first cup of coffee and breakfast
there, and after plenary teaching with Pastor Niels, it was time for fika: that
all important Swedish tradition of coffee break with some sweet pastry and
networking. And that’s what this
conference does best: networking, that
is (although the fika was pretty amazing as well!)
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| Such a great location ~ and their conference staff were amazing! |
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| Fika! |
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| Just so you get an idea of how important this Swedish tradition is....FIKA! |
Workshops
finished out our mornings, lunches and dinners were hosted at the Stadionmässan,
which during a week long conference like this, it’s the conference staff of the
Europaporten church that were our hosts.
During the rest of the time, when there isn’t a conference going on, it’s
just the Europaporten church, the largest Pentecostal church in Malmö. Great hosts!
Afternoon
excursions helped people get out of the building and see ministries that are
going on around Malmö. Our evenings
included great worship and teachings and workshops focusing on relational
health in teams, power balance between volunteers and refugees, and that all
important topic of trauma and how it relates to refugees and children and their
stories.
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| Plenary sessions and great worship really helped this group to connect. Plus we had some ice breakers that put us all at ease, and were so encouraged, yet again, to hear stories of God's provision from refugees who shared of their journeys |
You’ll have
to read our second blog post, Getting out into the city, in order to hear more
about excursions and how God really used the RHP to be a blessing to our city.
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