AMEN stood for Apostolic Men Empowering the Nations, and it was Matthew Oluwasesin, the longest-standing Multiply partner and Apostolic Man for Nigeria and Ghana, who set the scene by saying: "If you are among those chosen to be an apostle, you have a vision to fulfil. Let's make sure it's fulfilled. We are here to equip ourselves. When we are equipped ourselves, we can equip others."

Such equipping took the form of the chance to discover more of the distinctives of Jesus Fellowship and the UK Multiply Network, to deepen relationships and to forge effective ways to develop Multiply worldwide. Over the 12 days, the group toured the UK from Yorkshire to Kent, stopping off for sessions on Christianity and brotherhood, setting up and running a community house, multiracial kingdom church, church-based business and church planting, and taking in a UK Multiply Partner, King's Church Chatham, to see how the Multiply vision is worked out in practice here.

Where possible, sessions linked directly to the location; for example, pioneering in Leeds led to a walk through the local park (stopping off to pray for a forthcoming campaign) and multicultural Beeston, where Matthew quickly made friends in the local African store.

Present for some or all of the time were Matthew Oluwasesin (Nigeria and Ghana); Desmond Thomas (Sierra Leone and Liberia); Gregory Wafulu (East Africa); Jan Ellis (South Africa); Lal Rodinga Colney (North-East India); Pascal Orome (Ivory Coast); Satish Chettri (North-West and Central India); and Stephen Mwakibinga (Zambia). Daniel Grimmer (U.A.E), who wasn't able to attend the conference, is also a designated Multiply Apostolic Leader.

Stephen, on his second visit, was challenged by the Jesus Centre vision: "What kind of church would Jesus have if He had a church? Would He be waiting six days for a person to come back on Sunday? I don't think so. If Christ would have pastured a church, people would have followed Him everywhere as He was preaching, healing, feeding, listening. That's what I've seen in Jesus Centres and that's what church needs to be."

In the midst of the hectic schedule (if it's Monday it must be Leeds!) Certain aspects were constant: thought-provoking devotionals, lively discussion, provocative questions, and refreshment in the form of 'skyjuice' (water) and an ever-flowing and deepening fellowship.

Multiply Director Huw Lewis noted: "The interaction and friendships that the leaders developed, such as Stephen linking up with Daniel soon after the conference, were very significant - the group themselves were building their own identity." One direct outcome was the cooperation over the forthcoming Pan African Conference, which is being shaped by the group rather than just one person.

"This week has been very inspiring and very challenging," said Gregory. "It is a week that has caused us to come out of our own shoes and into neutral shoes, where everyone else can fit because we have different leadership styles."

"A vision transfer conference" is how Desmond described it, and the traffic was very much two-way. As Huw said: "We were learning and receiving from them too, deepening our own understanding of what is happening in the nations."

"AMEN carried the spirit of openness and transparency among leadership which I think is absent among leaders today," concluded Desmond. "It explained servant leadership and the spirit of sacrifice to a common cause which is necessary for the fulfilment of every vision.

"And it demonstrated that the above is not only reachable in the UK but can also be reachable in the areas we all came from." Amen to that!