We offer MPC schools and retreats to provide pastoral care to the body of Christ.
What is Pastoral Care?
Jesus described it at the start of His ministry when He stood in the synagogue in Nazareth and read these words from the scroll of Isaiah. It is His care for us as our Good Shepard, and something His followers do in His name.
proclaim good news to the poor,
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Pastoral care is for everyone. Our God stands ready to heal even the most unbearable and long-standing diseases of our souls. Pastors, counselors, and Christian caregivers and leaders also.
need this sort of care - by receiving from God we become more effective in caring for others.
What happens at MPC events?
Our retreats and schools weave together worship , singing, teaching, and personal prayer ministry. We serve as a team, using music, lectures, testimonies, and prayer to proclaim the gospel that brings freedom, healing, and restoration.
We share meals together and enjoy the special fellowship shared among those who are leaving all behind to follow Jesus.
Our aim is to help Christians grow into the living union that our God desires to have with us. We use each session at our events to remove barriers that hold us back from this union, and look to God who sets His life-giving, everlasting truths deep into our beings.
What do we teach?
We believe every follower of Christ can lay hold of the maturity and freedom He offers. Our teachings are based on the ministry and writings of Leanne Payne, particularly The Healing Presence and Restoring the Christian Soul through Union with Christ. Here are some common needs that we see the Lord address at MPC events:
- to accept ourselves as God has accepted us, becoming affirmed and unconscious persons who are channels of His love;
- to experience healing of the wounds at the root of disordered sexual desire and distorted personal identity;
- to genuinely receive forgiveness for our sins and trust in Christ’s righteousness;
- to forgive those who’ve sinned against us so that we are released from the power of even the most grievous and life-shaping trespasses.
“It has been a joy, a priviledge, a time of awe, as I see the Lord minister through the faithful team by the power of the Holy Spirit...”
For myself, coming in hope but no expectation, but wanting to put myself in the way of the Lord in case there should be a blessing for me too, I have been blessed over and over again. First the warm welcome by Denise, then meeting new people over dinner, and compline, and then the start of the week’s work. Powerful truths, and clear delivery, and the wonderful testimonies, all different. All grace, all encouraging.
And the climaxes of the time of ministry which incorporate grief and joy, as you move from revealing hidden burdens to a brother or sister and offering them in broken ways to Jesus on the Cross, and letting the reality of forgiveness and freedom be ministered to you and accepting those and leaving the burden behind as you return to your seat. For me, the biggest lessons have been about self acceptance – MPC elicits truths that have otherwise largely escaped my understanding – and I have had reinforced last year’s lesson on the value of confession and repentance – this gift of the Cross worth everything but I shrink from going there, from pride and shame.So, I thank you all with all my heart for your willingness to come and serve me and us this week, and the musicians too who help usher in a foretaste of heaven for us. We have been built up, and I will practice and share these truths.”