My mother-in-law, Nancy Hutmire, was known for her humor. People who met her just once or who knew her well frequently reminded us. Typically it was witty humor, delivered with little expression except perhaps a twinkle in her eye and a slight upturn of her mouth.

While on an adventure with friends or family—and often with grandchildren—if things started to get boisterous, she would say, “We’re not here to have fun.” She didn’t want people to stop having fun. In part she wanted them to pause and appreciate that they were out to have fun and, indeed, they were having lots of it. Even from a young age, my children understood that this sentence indicated she was feeling joyful.

Because Nancy knew good literature, she knew that the sentence could have multiple meanings, including, “Let’s not have so much fun that we leave our good sense behind.” And she very well knew that we as humans are here to have fun, but not as an end in itself. Fun is part of a good life lived to the glory of God.

As we look ahead to the first RP International Conference since 2016, I too would say, we’re not going there to have fun. We will have a lot of fun, and we will experience joy from it—perhaps more joy than we thought we would experience there, if we’re new to the conference. But we will experience that fun in the broader context of heavenly focused worship, sweet fellowship, a relaxed environment, and calls to growth.

If you already know what I mean, talk to someone else in your congregation who hasn’t experienced RP International. Every four years there are people who don’t go because they won’t know anyone, or because they don’t see the benefits outweighing other options, or because they can’t afford to go. Perhaps what they need is your testimony and encouragement. If funds are the problem, many congregations have fundraisers or a conference fund or generous donors to help keep the conference affordable for everyone. But people need that one-on-one encouragement.

Truly, a lot has happened in the eight years since the last RP International. We need to see our RP brothers and sisters from around the world, face to face, and they need to see us. We’re not here to have fun.