Rediscovering Family

Welcome back to the Father's house!

Summer conference in the Czech Republic

Hotel Medlov, 4-10 August, 2012 (Saturday evening start. Finishes after breakfast on Friday 10th)

With special guests Gordon and Rachel Hickson

Despite the growth of communication and networking technologies, there is an increasing sense of isolation and alienation in many people's lives. Relationships are often strained, and the sense of belonging - to family, church, or to society - seems to be a foreign concept, as is the idea of 'community'. And yet we were made for this - to be part of one-another: interconnected, related, and mutually-supporting. It's in our nature to enjoy being with friends and to feel part of something bigger than ourselves. And so I'd like to invite you to a week exploring what it means to be in God's family - I'd like to invite you back to the Father's House! To explore practically how we can foster a sense of belonging; what it really means to be a son or a daughter of God; and how we can repair the damage of broken relationships.

As always, prayer and worship will be a key focus: this is essentially exploring the 'vertical' relationship with God. But how does this work out 'horizontally'? With this in mind we are offering teaching sessions and practical workshops (with Greg and Ruth Dollerson - see below) to help us develop more 'real' relationships, and to explore the whole subject of community. We believe that during this weekend God is going to heal many broken hearts, and bring us into a deaper relationship with Him and with each other. For some of you, perhaps for the first time.

We welcome some very talented special guests! Rachel Hickson is married to Gordon, an associate minister at St Aldgate's Anglican church in Oxford, England, and was a guest speaker for our recent School of Worship and Leadership. The daughter of missionaries, she grew up in India; once married, she and Gordon were much involved in mission work in Africa and Asia. Rachel still travels extensively through her 'Heartcry' ministry and has the rare ability to combine a passionate and 'prophetic' approach to ministry with a very practical and common-sense teaching style.

Greg and Ruth Dollerson

Also joining us this summer are Greg and Ruth Dollerson who will help us explore the subject of relationship. Greg writes:

‘Family life in the UK is in great turmoil and we believe that Christians can be instruments to change this culture.  To that end, together with like-minded friends, we have set up a small Christian charity, – the Mars Trust - to input the lives of our local young people.  Our aim is simply to give students a glimpse of God’s way of doing relationship, to present a real alternative to the world’s model and to cause them to think about the choices they will make in life.’

Greg and Ruth are involved in a church in the West Country of England where they teach marriage preparation, marriage enrichment and mentoring, but - believeing that God's principles are relevant to any relationship - often find themselves ministering outside the context of the church. Their work is having a major impact on the lives of many young people, and it’s great they can join us. They will be teaching from the main stage as well as offering an optional three-part seminar during the week. This will not only help us to develop healthy relationship, but will give us the tools and wisdom to help others.

The AMM team, including musicians and Trustees from the Czech Republic and the UK, will - as always - be there to serve you.

I hope to see you there!

John de Jong

More Information

Cost

Adults Kč 3,980 (about £140/€160), children Kč 2,980 (about £100/€120). This includes your hotel accommodation and all meals (6 days) and your conference fee.

Accommodation

Medlov Hotel *** (www.hotelmedlov.cz) is a modern hotel in a beautiful location next to the Medlov Lake (a 29-hectar fishing lake) in one of the best preserved national park areas of the Czech-Moravian Highlands. And it has been refurbished, so accommodation has improved!
Accommodation is provided in doubles, triples and four-bed rooms with their own facilities (WC, shower, wash basin), each with a phone, a satellite TV and a balcony. If there are particular people you would like to share with, please let us know well in advance and we will do our best to make it happen.
Accommodation in two or three-bed chalets in the hotel grounds is another alternative. This, however is rather a basic “hiking” type of accommodation with chalets furnished with simple furniture (bed, wardrobe, shelves), a wash basin and a WC. Showers are shared in an adjacent building. Prices for chalets is Kc 3,200 for adults.
Catering includes full board (breakfast, lunch, dinner), with vegetarian dishes upon request. Special diets can be arranged but need to be discussed with us first - please email Petr Studnicka:  petr@angelmountain.net.
There is plenty of parking at the hotel car park.
Leisure time services include a fitness centre, sauna, massages, whirlpool, mini-golf, snooker, table tennis, 2 multi-purpose sports grounds, balls, mountain bikes, boats, a children’s corner, swimming and sunbathing at the hotel’s own lakeside beach, darts, table football, volleyball,  basketball, etc.

Programme

The event will start with a 6 o’clock dinner on 4 August and the evening programme will start at 7:30. The event will finish with breakfast on Friday 10 August.
Main sessions take place morning and evening, with optional workshops and seminars during some of the afternoons. On the whole afternoons are free so you can relax and enjoy the great location.

Booking and Registration

For Czech residents, please visit the Czech part of this website for full registration instructions.

Booking and Payments for non-Czech nationals

To register for this event, please email petr@angelmountain.net. It would help us if you included your full name, postal address, email address, mobile number and date of birth. Your place will only become firm when this is confirmed to you in writing (by email).
We do not require a deposit, but would very much appreciate you honouring your commitment to come as places are limited, and we would like to offer unused places to those on the waiting list.

Registration will take place at the hotel reception on Saturday 4 August, from 1 p.m. Participants from abroad should pay on arrival (in cash, Czech Crowns).

Travel to the Hotel Medlov

The nearest airports are Prague or Brno, and from there you will need to get a train to Nové Město na Moravě or Žďár n.Sázavou. You should allow 4 hours (from Prague airport) or 2 1/2 hours from Brno.
If travelling from the UK we will try and connect you with  others travelling at the same time. Ground transport will be arranged from Nové Město na Moravě or Žďár n.Sázavou train stations. You can check your train connection on the Czech Railways website, www.idos.cz (available in English).

Any questions?

If you have any questions, or if we can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact the conference administrator, Petr Studnicka at petr@angelmountain.net, or you can call John on 07974 778936 (in the UK) for general information about the event.