Sun shines on large crowd at Ipswich churches joint service
 It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day for the combined churches’ service outside the Town Hall in central Ipswich on Pentecost Sunday morning. Many churches had cancelled their normal services so that hundreds could gather together on the Cornhill to jointly worship God and share the good news of what is happening in Ipswich.
Main organiser, Rev Antony Wilson, of St John the Baptist church, said that he was very pleased at the numbers who had come to the very first of these joint events, and Bishop Nigel, who gave the address, said that he was delighted with the turnout. 
The theme of the service was “Fire of Change” and presentations by CYM, Town Pastors, and other projects explained what Christians from various church traditions are doing together to serve the people of Ipswich.
Music was provided by a band representing several churches, led by Andrew Gosden, with a special contribution by the Ipswich International church gospel choir.
Pentecost Sunday was also the Global Day of Prayer and a highlight of the morning was a reading of prayers for the world in several different languages, spoken by different members of the Christian community in Ipswich. Bishop Nigel picked up on this in his address, referring to the time he spent in Papua New Guinea, and the way in which Christians there loved and cared for each other, with a challenge to us to do the same in our home town. 
What people said
“Fantastic – really moving, especially to see all the young people. Also delighted to see Sgt Neil Boast speaking about the Town Pastors. Great day – great experience” - Cllr Liz Harsant, Leader of Ipswich Borough Council
“A real feeling of community – more of these events would make the world a better place to live in” - Cllr David Goldsmith, Mayor of Ipswich
“I wasn’t anticipating this number of people – next time we will have the full speaker stacks out” - Dave Miller of Gofer Sound Reinforcement
“Really encouraged to see all the churches represented and to be reminded that Christ is alive in Ipswich” - George Woodward, Deanery DBF Member 
“Great, great! Should do more. God brings a blessing when Christians come together” - Pastor Harold Afflu, Ipswich International Church
“Delighted. People have come to genuine all age worship” - Rev David Cutts, St Margarets Church.
“Fantastic to see the church moving into the community with the message of Christ” - David Baker
“Wonderful to see so many people I didn’t know – and the sun shone” - Simon Barrington, Executive Director of Samaritan’s Purse.
“Really good – people enjoyed it” - John Cobbold
“Excellent!” - Karen
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