|PIC1|Christians and churches of all denominations were called to action last week at Sydney’s Acer Arena in Australia, where the Hillsong Conference was celebrating 20 years of “championing the cause of the local church”.

Delegates from 71 nations, representing 21 denominations from around Australia and all over the world attended the five-day conference that concluded on Friday night.

Guest speaker at the opening rally on 3rd July, Rick Warren, challenged the delegates to discover the higher purpose.

“It’s not about you,” he said, in the words of his best-selling book “Purpose Driven Life” which has sold over 30 million hard copies worldwide.

Speaking on the area of ‘Stewardship of Affluence and Influence’, Warren encouraged people to recognise that with God’s blessing comes great responsibility to live lives focused on benefiting others.

|AD|In the first morning rally, he continued to encourage believers to see the purpose of the local church.

“You cannot grow as a Christian without the Church. You need the Church. To say you love Jesus and not the Church is an insult to God. If you don’t like local church, you won’t like heaven,” said Warren.

This year, the Hillsong Conference brought together some of the world’s finest church leaders including renowned evangelists: Reinhard Bonnke, Bill Hybels, Jentenzen Franklin, and UK group Delirious?.

From humble beginnings of just 150 delegates at the first Hillsong, the local church conference has grown to become the largest annual conference in Australia.

“The vision and heartbeat has never changed. The Conference exists to 'champion the cause of the local church’ and make God’s name known around the earth,” said Hillsong’s founder and Senior Pastor, Brian Houston.

Rick Warren is currently in Seoul, South Korea, where today he spoke of his plans to bring his message of finding hope in life through faith to communist North Korea. Warren will visit North Korea on 17th July 2006.