There is something special about gathering together with men and women of like-mind to worship God and be equipped by Bible exposition. This has always been an important part of our life together so in the next blogs I will share some of the memories and blessings from such events.
Downs Bible Week
From before Newfrontiers[see footnote] was a recognised family of churches we had organised the Downs Bible Week, beginning in 1979. 2,900 people came with tents and caravans from all over the nation to join us at Plumpton Racecourse beside the South Downs in Sussex for a week of teaching, worship, fellowship and fun for all ages. Meeting in a circus Big Top (erected by a committed set up team in pre-week) and using marquees for all the breakout seminars, we modelled the week on the Dales Bible Week pioneered by Bryn Jones and his Harvestime team at the Harrogate Showground. I was so grateful for the way Bryn’s team ‘hand held’ us on that first occasion, Mike Stevens guiding us through the necessary administration (long before there were computers!) and Joff Day leading the children’s ministry which included leading my own children to the Lord.
Worship and Teaching
These weeks were memorable for many reasons: Wonderful worship with new scripturally based songs led by David Fellingham, Phil Rogers and orchestra (who can forget Pam Haworth on the cymbals!), Bible teaching led by Terry Virgo often with other visiting speakers – Larry Tomczak, CJ Mahaney, Mike Bickle, Charles Simpson, Bryn Jones, Arthur Wallis, to name a few – who became part of our ‘family’ for the week, and ministry with the children, the fruit of which we enjoy decades later as many of those saved and baptised in the Spirit are now church leaders or Kingdom-advancers in other walks of life.
Terry’s teaching lives on through his website and elsewhere. For instance the teaching from Joseph’s life from Downs 81 and Nehemiah from Downs 83.
Drowns 85
One particularly memorable year was 1985. Growth had led us to have two successive weeks from 1984, each running from Saturday evening to Friday mid-day. As people arrived for Week 1 it began to rain. This continued virtually non-stop until the Friday of Week 2! Indeed, the second Sunday meeting was cancelled as the water flowing through the main venue nearly topped my boots around the stage area! For good reason it became known as Drowns 85. But I recall the amazing tenacity of people who got washed out, went home and then returned for more. I would also like to pay tribute to the amazing team who worked hard to help people dry out and move their tents etc, a team that in some cases served at every Bible Week and Leaders Conference for over thirty years!
In many respects the Downs Bible Week (click here for video) laid the foundations for Newfrontiers as Terry and others taught on themes of restoration, the place of the church in God’s purposes, mission into other nations and so on, as well as many seminars which equipped people in their day to day lives at home and in the workplace. At that time there was little generally available teaching on many relevant topics and we were able to reproduce both the ministry sessions and worship on cassettes. These fed people for years after the event long before the internet was part of our everyday lives.
Next time I will share about some of the other conferences we were able to hold during the 80s, including our strong friendship with John Wimber.
[1] In this series I will use ‘Newfrontiers’ throughout despite the fact that at different times we were titled Coastlands, New Frontiers, New Frontiers International (NFI) before taking the name Newfrontiers in 2002, rebranding following the end of the Stoneleigh Bible Week.