So Leslie and I were gone for 15 days without the kids to attend a global mission summit in the old city of Antioch, where the first lay-established, missionary-sending church was born [and to vacation a bit before and after in Istanbul and London].
Here is 
a photo of St. Peter’s Grotto: the alleged place where Acts 13 happened: 1In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. 4The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.
Our meeting place for the summit was technically in Seleucia, about 200 meters from the Mediterranean Sea! And right behind our meeting place was this: 
This was the original Roman port where people would set off to sea in Seleucia, which means that Paul and Barnabas left for Cyprus and Galatia from these very rocks! And that means we were meeting in the very location where global mission in the N.T. church was born!
There are other reports that you can find here (Guy Muse – pt 1) and here (Guy Muse – pt 2) or here (Linda Muse has three posts on it),
or here (Wolf and Mercy Simson’s blog). The last one is the longer one that unifies a lot of the general content that was shared. Anyhow, there is a truckload of stuff we came away with, so all accounts should be referenced!
So what were the main things that the Lord was sharing with us all? If I could narrow it down, it would be these two things:
1.) What we learned from experience: WAIT AND LISTEN! It is of utmost importance for us to humble ourselves, lay down our organizational agendas and personal kingdom-building, and just listen to God. That’s the M.O. of the missionary journeys in the book of Acts, but, strangely enough, it’s not the way most mission/ministry is [or even has been] done. So there in Antioch/Seleucia where N.T. mission all started, God brought us back to the importance of corporate listening.
But corporate listening was and is difficult — especially when people don’t know each other well or when there is immaturity in our midst. We learned from experience that week just how difficult it really is with 72 some people all listening to God for an entire group. Each person earnestly sought God, but not all of us knew what was for us only or what was to be shared later. As a result, there were some real times of chaos. Sometimes we were really close but it didn’t take much to derail us or to distract us from a fuller hearing from the Spirit.
All this chaos, however, was part of the message, underscoring the fact that WE NEED TO LISTEN TO GOD… and then LISTEN SOME MORE. As much as books and conferences would lead us to believe otherwise, there is no “silver bullet” in ministry: that plug-and-chug answer-giving formula that will yield instant solutions or success. But I have come to see that IF there is a “laser scope” on that alleged “ministry gun,” it would be this: hear what God has to say, feel or do on the matter first before you go about pulling the trigger! In a unique and real-life way, God reminded us all in Antioch that opening ourselves to HIS way and listening together is of utmost importance.
2.) What we learned from revelation as we labored and listened together: The Holy Spirit has begun his final journey back to Jerusalem, and, like a whistling train, invites all people to join in. With very basic 101 training, we took turns listening within smaller groups, evaluating and sharing what God was revealing to the whole group for that very moment. One fellow from DAWN Europe had a nice succinct summary of what each small group/table put together. It went like this:
The spirit of the Lord waits on us to yield to him so he can send us forth with urgency to bear fruit – a fruit that is manifold.
The reasons why he wants to send us with urgency is b/c we have much to cover and b/c the time is short. There’s something going on in the heavenlies and on earth that we have not anticipated. We sense it. And the prophetic helps us to grasp this reality. It began in Jerusalem, came there to Seleucia/Antioch, and then launched out into the world. And now, God is bringing it back to Jerusalem (which matches what missiological researchers Todd Johnson and David Barrett, have discovered: in the last century or so, the global “center” of Christianity has been and is going from the West RAPIDLY back to Jerusalem [showing the southern and eastern movement of the gospel]). The Holy Spirit is RAPIDLY going back, and the Spirit revealed this “last descent” to us.
The funny thing was that it was not at all about us: it was about GOD (another message people got as the Transfiguration message figured prominently in). We were meant to provide a clearing space for this; and this meant that who we were/are was not as important as what we represented. We as a group of 72 from 18 different nations represented what the Spirit has done in the world: clearing away and pushing back the old outdated ways as well as some of the demonic covering in Asia Minor, where mission began. The “ark” has been out to sea, but the Spirit is now wanting to do something new: to bring the whole thing home to Jerusalem where a dove or olive branch awaits. It’s not about us or about now; it’s about God and eternity and His absolute conquest over evil as one prophetic friend, Dezi Baker, aptly put it.
So for all of us who were waiting for the silver bullet, it didn’t come. For all of us who thought we were specially selected as apostolically or prophetically gifted people, God showed us that we were just representatives! He has always been King, and He has always had His sovereign plan. He wants to tell us what it is — if we’ll listen. And He wants to bring the [proverbial] ship home. How’s that for a message from God!
So here we are: on the last leg of the journey — longing for Jesus to bring the ship home. The Spirit is waiting to descend on all who want to go on that journey of personal and global transformation.
what does this mean? the Spirit is shifting the bringing in of believers to Jerusalem, an outporing possibly.
just a little further insight would be much appreciated. thank you.
[Mrs.] Chris, this is a good question, and we’ll write more when we have some time. In the middle of a move now, so a bit tied down now.
Chris, excellent question.
I’m not entirely sure if it is a Premillennial statement about the inclusion of more Jews (a literal Jerusalem) into the Kingdom, so much as it is a statement about where missions today is and where it is going. Jerusalem represents a return to where it started, a system reset, if you will. But it’s not just starting over; it’s also a bringing to a close.
Where it is now is in the “last days” or the final stretch. The task of the Great Commission is getting closer to completion within a generation. Even the latest Frontier Mission journal from the U.S. Center for World Missions speaks of the advances God has made in just the last 40 years where we’re seeing unprecedented progress — especially in the Global South and East.
Jerusalem is important. We only have to read the news and watch the conflicts to see that it is the case. It is the epicenter of the Global South and East where most productive mission is happening. How it will be important is still to be revealed. And this is in concert with what some of the original Antioch planners heard and felt about having a meeting in Jerusalem in 2010.
Here are some of Wolfgang Simson’s thoughts taken from the link I had above that also address your question:
III. Outlook into the future of “Missions” Ideally, all of us wishing to participate in Missions will need to accept that the Holy Spirit is not only the head and CEO of Missions, but we are to accept and respect each other as “commissioned agents” in the same Kingdom Mission. He still speaks and is in control, we follow his orders and are not in control. The prophetic scriptures of the Bible even speak of a time “in the last days” where “the word of the Lord will go forth from Zion” (Isa 2; Micha 4), where Jesus gives directives to those that want to hear them in order to complete the task. In practical terms this means that, for the final leg of the missionary initiative of God, our human Missions headquarters are going to fade in their significance, while the center of Missions will wander back to Jerusalem that becomes, yet again, the final place of commissioning, the last epicenter of Missions. This will not mean that Mt. Zion, a hill west of Jerusalem, will see the construction of an impressive Missions complex, but that God choose and foretold to reveal himself and his directives in Zion “in the last days”. Some of us sensed that very soon God might be calling those from among the nations that he wants to come to Jerusalem to hear and implement his final decrees in regards to finalizing the apostolic Mission of the Kingdom. …
Can the dove land somewhere? God spoke to us about the prophetic significance of the dove landing on Noahs arc, bringing in the first fruit (an olive branch) after a time of judgement. Could it be that the age of Missions made by man is being graciously covered by the waters of God, and he is wanting to bless and therefore multiply the new fruits of a Kingdom shaped Mission? Just as Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on two donkeys, the mother donkey and her colt (representing the old religious system and the new wineskins?), the new moves of God seem to currently receive unprecedented anointing and blessing from God to multiply and “carry Jesus” into his destination.
Hope this helps.