Well, Festival 2010 is over, everything is put away, the crowds have gone home, but the happy-smiley-buzzy-feeling still remains. Well over a thousand people shared in worship, praise, teaching, learning, dreaming, drumming, dancing, chilling, praying, and more – and went home having considered how the church might sing God songs in today’s ‘strange land’. Some met with God for the first time, others renewed their faith after years of drought, still others heard God’s call into ministry, and yet others found healing – in body, mind, spirit and relationships.

There was a ground swell amongst the youth work, with the new venue ‘The Pulse’ proving really popular. This generation enjoyed being given a seminar stream of their own, which aimed to help them in their discipleship and live in such a way that impacts the world around them. The Bible Studies for this age, led by Matt Summerfield were incredibly powerful, and lives were changed as young people stepped out in faith and embraced the challenge to live their faith now, and not just plan to in the future. In the evenings, the celebrations and preaching for the youth fed hungry hearts and commissioned willing feet and hands. With worship being led by Philipa Hanna and Doug Ross, this was a real treat – and the Pulse was kicking to a passionate rhythm. This age group have been targeted in our giving especially, and we are still receiving gifts towards making Festival even bigger and better for this age group in the future. If you can partner with us in this financially and prayerfully, please let us know.

Amongst adults the two streams of Bible Studies, by Howard Mellor and Jonathan Haigh also fed many, with the evening preachers in the Cliff Hall tent hitting the mark with their messages. Seminars too, gave a breadth of learning opportunities, with some having to be repeated due to their popularity. The worship being enjoyed across the site gave a breadth of opportunity too, for as well as the corporate times in the Cliff Hall tent, The Pulse, the College Chapel and the Children’s Work, there were reflective opportunities given through the Prayer Journey and the Labyrinth. These were really popular and visiting the Prayer Journey on the last night, Chris Blake and I were moved by the sense of holiness in a room where the interactive, creative ways to pray had been used by over 650 people. Their creative prayers responses showed powerfully the way that God had been encountered. Those of us who looked down onto the Grass Labyrinth over the weekend from offices above, all saw the popularity of this too – with a constant stream of people walking and praying – some silently, some alone, some with others, some barefoot; all moved. What a privilege to share in seeing God’s people at worship – in a variety of ways that reflect the diversity that exists within the body of Christ.

The very youngest members of God’s family were provided for through a well run crèche, and their big brothers and sisters loved the kids work. The all-age worship on the Sunday morning was an amazing time of joy, laughter and learning as we worshipped God together. Oh and drum workshop and the ceilidh were fantastic times of having fun together too!

In the late evenings the Fringe programme (known as the Edge) rocked to the music of the Temple Rhythms Gospel Choirs, participated in the performance of a scratch musical, laughed with Adrian Plass and enjoyed music and conversation from a range of guests.

What a great weekend – if you have photos, please do email them to me (p.lane@cliffcollege.ac.uk) – we may be able to use some for future publicity… which brings me to 2011. Next year the theme will be ‘Ask for the ancient paths’, when we’ll be looking at the place of spirituality and the bible in directing us on our walk with God. In the year that the King James Bible is 400 years old, we’ll be giving the national Biblefresh project a key place in the event. This will be another exciting weekend, and one which I believe will see growth – as so many went away buzzing with all that happened this year. If you are going to come, please register as soon as you can - it will help us to know that numbers are increasing as we plan. Contact our Receptionist, Veronica Evans to do this (v.evans@cliffcollege.ac.uk). If you’ve been before and you fancy joining our team of volunteers (stewarding, prayer team, children’s team, security etc) please contact the Festival Administrator, Alison Woodgate at Cliff College or via email (a.woodgate@cliffcollege.ac.uk) and she’ll be delighted! If you can use some publicity flyers for festival, please let Alison know, and we’ll have some sent out to you.

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who made this year’s event possible; you know who you are – a small army of people who worked tirelessly before, during and after the event – alongside students and staff. We couldn’t do it without you. Let’s pray for next year’s event – that God might pour out his blessing - big time.

OK – roll on 2011… ☺