By Maria Zandra Senar
Who would have imagined that a simple prayer asking for a word would result in organising An Archippus Awakening (AAA) Conference in the United Arab Emirates?
2019 – 2020: A Year of Awakening
A Divine Intervention. This is how I describe my journey for more than 3 years.
In 2019, I began to seek for a word for the year 2020, then went on to a search of who Archippus is and his ministry after being caught up with the verse in Colossians 4:17 – And say to Archippus, ”Take heed of the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfil it.” I thank God for technology, I was able to find who Archippus is on YouTube, shared by none other than, the founder of Archippus Awakening himself, Ps Henson Lim, who is based in Singapore.
In January 2020, I sent an email to Archippus Awakening, and shared my interest to attend if there might be any conference or seminar in Dubai. Thankfully Ps Henson replied, and he said, there were no plans to go to Dubai for AA, and he encouraged me with this message, “If you feel this is a message for believers in Dubai, pray and see if the Lord is leading you to organise an AAA Seminar in Dubai; or how you can share these videos and resources with your community there. Let’s see how the Lord leads.”
Since there were no plans yet in Dubai, I planned to travel to Singapore to know more about this movement, but I couldn’t as the Covid-19 pandemic hit globally; airports and borders were closed, and consequently the online platforms opened up. I was given the opportunity to know different initiatives of AA through FB Live & joined Zoom meetings to connect with kingdom-minded people both in Singapore and from different nations.
As I further grasped the message of Archippus Awakening, I felt the need to bring this message here in UAE. The Holy Spirit started to put in my heart to pray for those who, I think, needed to hear this. I also thought that this might be my assignment.
By this time, I was well aware that after an awakening comes an aligning. I knew right there and then; I needed to align to Jesus Christ as my King. So, I signed up to join Mentoring Aligning Process (MAP). The Lord has been so gracious to let me realise my misalignments; it humbled me more, and I am thankful to go through this process with mentors and fellow MAPpers.
2021- 2022: A Year of Aligning
Now with a better understanding of God-given kingdom assignments, the Lord began to align my life as well as our marriage. My husband, Steve, also decided to join MAP.
Subsequently, he also sensed that is not just my assignment but our assignment. We continued to trust the Lord and journeyed along with fellow Archippuses from different nations, our Archippus Awakening Kingdom Outpost (AAKO) partners, praying and encouraging one another.
In addition to this, the Lord also awakened our 3 children and all of them decided to join MAP too. Thus, the alignment extends beyond our marriage and throughout our family.
By 3rd quarter of 2022, our friends and other family members responded to our invitation and expressed interest in learning more about AA. Few of them joined the Walkthrough Say To Archippus (which is now referred to as Say To Archippus Processing or STAP) to process the message more personally and deeply.
And on December 29, 2022, exactly 3 years after I received Colossians 4:17, the initial meeting took place, between with Ps Henson and our local church pastor, Ps Evan Tagana.
2023: A Year of Assignment
After that first meeting, we went back to pray and seek for wisdom as we carried out this assignment. Finally, last April 15 & 16, 2023, AAA Conference happened here in UAE. Remembering Ps Henson’s email to me, indeed we prayed and we saw how the Lord has been so intricately involved in every facet of this event. We are still amazed of the way the Lord has met all of our needs. And how He has sent fellow Archippuses to assist us in setting up and managing the conference both from AASG and AAKO-UAE.
AAKO-UAE Core Team got an opportunity to have a face-to-face STAP Facilitators’ Training on April 12 & 13. We were also able to organise a Meet & Greet with Ps Henson and the team, as we invited a few selected guests to hear directly from Ps Henson, what is this Archippus all about and what to expect at the conference. I could say, everyone was already awakened by the Lord and got even more interested to attend the conference.
On the day of the conference, there was so much of excitement and joy in the atmosphere. The participants were also expectant for what the Lord was about to do in this event, and indeed the Lord exceeded all expectations.
Throughout the conference, many were able to identify themselves as Archippus, as fellow soldiers in the Lord’s Army. Many were awakened to their present condition in their walk with God, and this message has brought each one of us to a realisation that we need to align back to Christ.
After the conference, I knew that our assignment has been extended beyond our area of influence now. As an Archippus Awakening Kingdom Outpost (AAKO), may our journey bring an encouragement to other kingdom outposts and other Archippuses.
As Ps Henson mentioned in his book, Say To Archippus, “I suppose it’s a good start that Archippus Awakening has a vision, a mission, a process of sorts and some strategic points to move on. That said, I still don’t know what’s up ahead! But please don’t be too hard on me.” p153
And so, our journey has just begun, I may also not know what’s up ahead, but I am more than willing to take one step at a time, knowing that I am not alone. Join us on this journey of awakening the saints… awakening Archippus.
