Passion for Life: Events Reports
Paella, Puddings and Jazz
By Linda Pepper
On Thursday evening 140 people met at St John the Baptist Church, Cauldwell Hall Road, to eat paella, listen to jazz and hear Stephen Gaukroger offer a light and entertaining introduction to the relational nature of the Christian faith. It was a great evening! Many guests stayed until 11pm, chatting away with their friends. It was un-hurried, fun and delicious!
IGNITE Youth Event
By Emily Hannah
Epic, amazing, great atmosphere, and LOUD. That was the youth passion for life event IGNITE.
With Mission Transition hitting the stage first, they brought an amazing set that built the crowd and really set the place on fire. DJ Dave and Kingsley, continued the flow with some popular tunes, and then PS:95 brought the climax to the event.
It was a great night with a great atmosphere, and churched and unchurched young people alike left with the sense that life and life to the full can be found in a Christian community. One young person said “so many of my friends who laugh at me when I mention church said it was the best night they’ve ever had, and it was amazing”
For so many young people, having fun is often portrayed as a night out in town, with alcohol involved. Ignite showed them that there’s more to life than that. An event that had the place jumping, showed through it’s very existence as a live music event, with great bands, great music, great testimonies and a great atmosphere that being a Christian isn’t about being boring, or irrelevant, it’s about living life to the full, with a purpose
And obviously the purpose of Ignite was to start that conversation. The one about God, about how and why He is relevant or important. And through the testimonies that were given by Ady, Ellie and Richard, through the conversations that the team had throughout the evening with young people, through the set that PS:95 so brilliantly brought at the end of the night, I believe God had a conversation.
PS:95 take their name from Psalm 95, and our hope and prayer as a team that served at the event last night is that this Psalm was lived out through everything that we did and said at Ignite, and that verse 8 is the place that we left the young people …. a place that’s more open to God.
Psalm 95
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the LORD is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
…..Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts
Men's Breakfast - Food for thought!
By Simon Robinson
 The men's breakfast was really encouraging. Around 100 men joined us as we took over "The Robert Ransome" on Saturday morning and enjoyed the kind of breakfast many of us would like to eat every Saturday [but know that we shouldn't!]
There was a good atmosphere and it was exciting to look around, sensing the opportunity as men ate, talked and then listened. Steve Gaukroger's talk was a helpful mix of humour, insight and challenge, encouraging men to take a fresh look at Christianity but recognising that it takes courage to follow Christ in the 21st century.
 The vast majority of the men who attended took away the "follow-up bags" [which contained a gospel, evangelistic DVD and a Christian men's magazine]. In addition, 15 copies of Steve's book "It makes sense" were taken.
Please pray that God will be working in the hearts of the men who came this morning and that it will prove to be a significant step on the journey to faith for many of them. Finally, a special thank you to the staff at The Robert Ransome, who gave us a great breakfast and great service!
| 
