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Bethel leaders encourage atmosphere shift in Norfolk 

On Friday senior leaders from Bethel Church in California kicked off a two day conference in Norwich called 'Shifting Atmospheres' with an inspiring morning of teaching designed to equip and empower delegates to change the spiritual atmosphere of the city and the county, reports Jenny Seal.

A two day conference called ‘Shifting Atmospheres’ is taking place on Friday, September 16 to Saturday, September 17 organised by Global Legacy East Anglia, held at Norwich Central Baptist Church with teaching from a team of senior leaders from Bethel Church in California.

On Friday morning the conference began with powerful worship from a 7 piece band before Dave and Holly Elverson of Global Legacy East Anglia and Kingdom Life Church, Norwich welcomed delegates, declaring the meeting “hungry for a greater revelation of who God is and who we are”.

Around half the 150 attendees of the morning session had come from within Norwich and Norfolk with the rest travelling from further afield.

Dawna De Silva, the Founder and Co-Leader of Sozo Ministry, the international healing and deliverance ministry birthed at Bethel Church, led the first teaching session setting the scene on the conference’s theme.

Dawna (main photo) talked about finding the right balance of spiritual discernment, avoiding the two extremes that are often adopted of being overly fearful or simply blind to spiritual warfare.  She encouraged and prayed for delegates to have a greater understanding of what was going on spiritually and how to take authority over it.

She said: “We should be shifting the atmospheres all around us, because we are the light and we are salt.  And if you are not shifting the atmospheres to bring His Kingdom you are really not doing your job.”

Dawna described and gave examples of various ways to discern spiritual atmospheres such as through dreams, smells, headaches and physical sensations, and then talked about how to positively shift that atmosphere through worship, prayer, speaking in tongues and speaking the truth opposite to what is seen.

She said: “You will start to see things shift because you are in the room.  You have authority”

Bethel Conference 1Faith Blatchford, a Bethel minister and Regional Director of Sozo Ministry (pictured right with Dave Elverson), then led a session in ‘Shifting Atmospheres through Prophetic Revelation’.  With a gift for comic delivery and a passion for revival, Faith highlighted the power that our words and our thoughts have in the role of shifting atmospheres.

Faith pointed to the power of the words that Jesus spoke when he calmed the sea, when he raised Lazarus to life and when he blessed the five loaves and two fishes. 

She then testified to her awe inspiring experience of putting this model of prophetic declaration into practice.  She told of how, before moving to Redding, California she had lived on an island in the Atlantic Ocean which acted as a barrier protecting mainland America from hurricanes. One day during a tornado warning she decided that she had nothing to lose but to speak to the storm. She commanded the storm to lift up and leave the area.  Almost immediately it did just that. 

Faith said: “It wasn’t that there weren’t other people praying but that was God’s exclamation point to me that that your words have authority. So after that I began to use that same principle with hurricanes.  Now it’s been over 13 years and there has never been a hurricane that has touched that island.”

Speaking about storms more figuratively she said: “We have a lot of storms in the world – not just tornadoes and hurricanes.  And we, as believers, have a responsibility, an opportunity and the equipment to stop storms.  And as more of us join together in doing this in faith the world is going to change”.  

Faith encouraged the delegates to search their hearts for any self-harboured condemnation that could be making words powerless and causing a dilution of faith. 

She said: “All that we are teaching you in Shifting Atmospheres is not just for you. It is for you, but then to flow through you for the sake of the world. We are not just shifting it so we can breathe better and not have demons around us.  We want all of Norwich, all of Norfolk, all of the UK to experience God’s healing”.

Speaking to the conference along with Dawna De Silva and Faith Blatchford is Steve De Silva the retired Chief Financial Officer of Bethel Church.    

The three conference speakers are also staying in Norwich on Sunday, September 18 and will be speaking at three local churches: Gateway Vineyard Norwich, Fakenham Baptist Church and Kingdom Life.