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Worship in Wellies (North 2011)
I’m rather proud of my northern roots. I was blessed to grow up surrounded by the beautiful countryside of Northumberland and then to study for four years in the lively, quirky city of Manchester. So moving to Derby in the East Midlands almost three years ago felt like a step south for me. Fortunately, Derby is classed as being in the north by Newfrontiers standards, enabling me to set out on an annual trip to the North Yorkshire Dales to attend Together at North with other Newfrontiers churches in the “north” of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Norway, Canada…
Whilst getting my pre-North2011 hair cut my hairdresser asked if I had any plans for the weekend. I told him that I’d be going camping in North Yorkshire with several churches for a big conference. “Oh… more than just a few friends then?” was his reply. Indeed it was more than just a few friends; I was there with around two and half thousand of them.
Borrowing a phrase from the Newfrontiers North “distinctives”, the whole weekend was very much a group of many friends enjoying God together. This was evident throughout the entire site. From the Thursday evening barn dance, to meandering around the campsite listening to acoustic guitars and youthful games of “Big Booty”, to seeing your church elders chipping in with mop and bucket to help clean the toilets, the sense of fellowship was obvious. The aptly named “Hub” was a nucleus of activity during the free times providing an opportunity to gather, share food, and generally avoid the rain. And God was certainly enjoyed together with times of worship that were difficult to bring to an end, thought-provoking and encouraging biblical teaching, and relevant seminars.
This year, I had the privilege of popping my head in on the various kids’ and youth activities going on around the site. I have to admit, I am incredibly jealous of these children receiving such great education as this is a part of my life that seemingly passed me by. I am also very excited about the generations that will one day become the leaders, preachers, prophets, and worship leaders of the church. In MiniKidz I saw children being taught biblical foundations. In Going Bananas I witnessed great times of worship and heard inspiring testimonies of children responding to God’s Word. We were even informed that the 8-10 year olds had raised £120 in offerings to go towards the Vancouver church plant. In Amplify I was impressed with the boldness of some solid gospel preaching that confronted some challenging and significant topics that youth are faced with today. Testimonies of healing and the passionate worship left me in awe of God and how He is working in the younger generations.
As I have alluded to, the weather this year was typically northern (or is rain a Britain-wide trait?), presenting the opportunity to don all kinds of marvellous wellies. Never before have I seen such an array of wellington boot designs. Yet despite the rain and squelchy mud that ensued, the atmosphere around the site was never “dampened”. In fact, the conditions only seemed to fuel the mood that North2011 had turned from a holiday camp into a boot camp, preparing us all for a battle looming. This was another theme throughout the weekend and came across through many of the preaches and prophetic visions. “From the North to the Nations” is a well-heard prophesy and amongst other visions shared this week (of which my favourite has to be “God is invading the baked beans of life”) one that stood out for me was a vision that the campsite would become a massive international airport, transporting Christians in the north all around the world to reach nations and advance the Kingdom. As an engineer in the aerospace industry, this vision particularly excited me – it appears I have a job for eternity! But seriously, a heart for the nations and overseas church planting really was a major theme of the weekend with even many of the youth feeling God’s call to the nations. This theme was reflected in the fantastic times of looking into God’s Word brought excellently by Jeremy Simpkins, Guy Miller, and Terry Virgo, whom we were very blessed to have with us.
On the final evening Jeremy shared with us from the book of Joshua and taught that we must be aligned with God, with worship before mission, and be unified together to go into battle. The trumpet is most certainly sounding here in the north. Can you hear it?Read Graham Pyman’s report from North 2011 including downloads of talks & videos
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About the author
Adam grew up in Northumberland before studying at uni in Manchester. After graduating in 2008, he was called to work as an engineer in Derby, which was handy since Jesus had plans for him there. He has a heart to serve, eat custard, and refer to himself in the third person. Adam is part of Jubilee Church Derby.
Comments
By Graham Pyman on 05/09/2011 at 13:14
Great article Adam - well done!
By Catherine Winters on 06/09/2011 at 09:17
Well done Mr Ramsay. I especially like ‘about the Author!’
By Matt Cernik on 06/09/2011 at 15:04
Ad - well done for proving that Northerners can be both good looking and perfectly literate. I thank you!
By Jeremy Simpkins on 06/09/2011 at 19:44
Great article about a great event - “North 2011” - our best yet!!