Encountering God at Bible Weekends

As we look ahead to the Together @ Bible weekends in 2008, we gathered some testimonies of those affected by the 2007 gatherings. These testimonies are helpful in painting a picture of what God is doing in our different localities, and we hope you are inspired to get involved in your local event.

North 07

North 07 took place over the August bank holiday weekend. The youth meetings, for 11s-18s, were called Amplify, and Becky Hurd (York City Church) reports from their meetings.

'This year we had an awesome time meeting with God and receiving from Him. Teaching from Ephesians focused on our identity in Christ. On the first morning Phil Wilthew preached a gospel message to which many responded to give their lives to Jesus for the first time. The response was so great that we had to open the Amplify cafe to give people room to chat to the team leaders.

The 11-18s were exhorted to be passionate worshippers and encouraged to get involved in church planting in the UK and the nations. Many young people gave testimony to how their lives had been changed by encountering God afresh. One boy responded to a word of knowledge about an injured knee and was not only healed, but recommitted his life to Christ as well!
 
The Amplify detached team also saw several disinterested, disruptive teenagers make a response to the gospel. One girl said she had been running away from God for several years and was dragged to the meeting by her mates, but only stayed for the promise of hot chocolate in the cafe afterwards. During the ministry time, one of the team offered to pray for her and spoke prophetically about things in her life that she was struggling with. Tearfully she realised that God did care about her. An hour later she was dancing in the after-hours cafe having given her life to Christ!

Envision 2007

Christian Life Church in Hereford attended the Envision weekend earlier this year for the first time. The church leader, Tim Mitchell, and a member of the congregation, Heather, gave their feedback from the event.

Envision took place over the May Bank Holiday weekend in
Tim said ‘Going to Envision for the first time as a church was a fantastic experience. We felt totally included and part of the Newfrontiers family. God spoke prophetically to the Hereford church in a wonderful way about our spiritual journey so far and encouragement for the future. We were all blessed and inspired.’

Despite adverse weather conditions, and losing the use of the main marquee, Heather had nothing but positive comments about the weekend. She felt encouraged by the prophecies and full of faith for the new chapter ahead for the church. She also sensed God speaking to her personally and enjoyed the opportunity to find out more about Newfrontiers. As a church they felt very welcome and cared for.

South West Bible Weekend

The South West Bible Weekend took place over a very wet and windy May bank holiday weekend. Phill Brotheridge (King’s Arms Church, Torquay) writes about his family’s experience of a Bible weekend.

‘Debbie and I had only been members of The King’s Arms Church in Torquay for 6 months when we attended the South West Bible Weekend in May 2007.  We had been told that it was going to be a great weekend of worship and teaching, as well as a chance to spend three days with other members of our church and get to know everyone better. Our expectations of the weekend were high as we had only been Christians for a short while - we were really excited to be going.
We went to the first session in the main marquee expecting the worship to be just as good as we had at our church and looked forward to the teaching to follow.  We were not disappointed!  The intensity of the worship just blew us away, we were both in tears before the end of the first time of worship, and found the teaching uplifting, motivating and very informative. This set the tone for the whole weekend, we couldn’t wait to get to the next sessions, and the momentum kept building.  Our 2 children, Tasha and Kieran, thoroughly enjoyed the kids groups which really helped them to move on in their faith.

All weekend it hardly stopped raining, it was windy and everyone was cold and wet, but it didn’t seem to matter because we were there to worship and learn - everyone still seemed to remain positive and kept smiling despite the weather!

Dates for 2008 Together @ Bible Weekends can be found here