Bournemouth Football Stadium
By Mike Frisby,
The Family Church, Christchurch, UK
Bournemouth was the first town to feel the impact of a mass evangelism event
this summer, when 550 delegates from some 60 local churches descended on the
town to invite people to ‘Meet Jesus’. Working alongside many Christians from
the locality itself, members of the Newfrontiers family from across the country
engaged in various forms of outreach, culminating each evening in the preaching
of the gospel of the kingdom in the football stadium.
For many delegates it was a step of obedience to the ‘Lets go!’ message at
the final Stoneleigh Bible Week and, although many came in ‘weakness and fear’,
they returned home with a fresh confidence in the power of the gospel to save
and transform lives. Challenged early in the week by the words of Ken Matthews
(Bournemouth, UK) that, ‘It is time for us to close the gap between what we know
and what we do!’, many took individual steps of faith and experienced the thrill
of God using them to effectively communicate the gospel to the unsaved.
The mission also provided an opportunity to pioneer a closer working together
of Ephesians 4 ministry gifts in the context of reaching the lost. Each morning
delegates received apostolic teaching to build into their lives a greater
understanding of the purposes of God for our generation. David Holden (Sidcup,
UK) reminded delegates of the universal authority of Christ, and that we are
part of an advancing kingdom. Availability to God was the order of the day, for
we are a people on the move following Jesus. Mobility does not necessarily mean
a geographical move but we must keep moving on in the purposes of God!
Guy Miller (Bournemouth, UK), who hosted the week, stressed on the second
morning the importance of preaching the word of God with urgency, relevance and
great patience. He challenged everyone present to obey the injunction of Paul to
Timothy to ‘do the work of an evangelist’, emphasising the point that we are not
fisherman unless we actually fish!
On the Saturday, I spoke from the story of Jonathan and his armour bearer in
1 Samuel 13 and 14, underlining the importance of taking risks for God in order
to see our nation turned back to Him. I emphasised that not only is our faith
enhanced by unity amongst the people of God but that when we ‘step out’ then God
‘steps in’ beyond our wildest dreams!
Following this word there was a spontaneous time of praying for church
leaders and their wives. Many people remarked at the end of the week that the
evident unity, love, trust and honour between the leaders had been an
outstanding feature of the mission. Indeed the sense of unity and God’s family
on the move together will remain long in people’s memory.
After apostolic teaching, people had a choice of optional seminars, tackling
topics such as how to have divine appointments, how to reach internationals, how
to reach and keep youth, how to make disciples, how to pray and how to serve our
schools and community. It was also good to have Roger Smith from CARE in
attendance, leading a lively session on how to change society and politics!
Wonderful Opportunities
t lunch time teams went out into local senior schools, performing concerts
and presenting the message of the cross. It was then the turn of the primary and
junior schools to visit the stadium for a fun-packed afternoon that included a
puppet theatre and, of course, the good news that Jesus loves them! In total,
some 1,000 children attended on both of the two schools afternoons, and the
feedback has been very encouraging.
The remaining delegates were bussed into the community for the afternoon to
take part in outreach activities. Some went door to door, and were amazed at the
welcome they received and the opportunities both to share the gospel with people
and pray for their healing. Others went into the centre of town, using
questionnaires to engage people in conversation. There was a separate team
working exclusively with international visitors. In the town square a number of
open-airs took place with delegates sharing in sketch board presentations, drama
and personal testimony.
Other delegates formed work parties engaged in practical projects in the
community such as rubbish clearance and gardening! Much to their surprise, many
had wonderful opportunities to share their faith with curious onlookers and
passers-by! Interestingly, the community work also added to people’s witness.
When a lady being visited on the doors complained of Christians being ‘all mouth
and no action’, the team member was delighted to tell her that if she just
stepped out of her house and looked down the road she would see some of the
‘Meet Jesus’ team doing just that – being active in her own backyard!
Another wonderful example of this was when a couple walked out onto their
first floor balcony to see what all the people in white T-shirts were doing in
their square picking up litter. At that precise moment one of the door-to-door
team rang their doorbell. When the couple questioned them about what was going
on in the square and were told about ‘Mission Jesus’ they there and then decided
they would go to the football stadium that night. This they did, responding that
evening to the gospel invitation! They have subsequently been invited to join a
cell group that meets in their area.
Throughout the few days many people were able to share the gospel message
with people, and some of those invited found their way to the evening meetings
at the football stadium. Each evening between 750 and 1,400 people gathered.
After a short time of worship a number of people shared their powerful
testimonies of how they had met Jesus, and the transformation He had brought
into their lives. From the local school head teacher who had found that money,
position and respectability had still left her empty, to the heroin addict
injecting himself in a desperate attempt to blot out the pain of childhood
abuse, Jesus and only Jesus had been the answer! All those who courageously told
their stories were warmly applauded, as people identified with their pain and
struggles.
Preaching the Gospel
Each night the central focus was the preaching of the gospel and the
invitation to respond and ‘meet Jesus’. Guy Miller, Ken Matthews, Nick Sharp
(Nottingham, UK) and Adrian Holloway (Birmingham, UK) served well, both by their
personal passion and devotion to Jesus and by their unique gifts of
communication. They unashamedly handled Biblical themes such as sin, final
judgement, the blood of Christ, the cross, new birth and the mercy and love of
God, with integrity and compassion. It was a joy to see both young and old
respond and walk forward to demonstrate their surrender to Christ.
At the end of each evening, time was given over to praying for the sick.
Faith for healing was encouraged by a number of words of knowledge, and the Lord
was wonderfully at work in people’s lives.
On the final Sunday many churches closed their normal morning services and
came to the stadium, swelling the numbers to almost 2,500. A KIDZ club operated
in another part of the stadium, and proved not only to be very popular with the
children but also a keen competitor in making more noise than the adult
meeting!
Sunday evening then completed the mission, seeing some 900 young people turn
up for a concert with Phatfish, supported by a local band Replenish. Adrian
Holloway shared the gospel and some thirteen young people made first-time
commitments to Christ and a further 54 made a recommitment.
So was it all worth the time, energy and money? Statistics show some 30
adults made first-time commitments to Christ and a further five did so on their
own doorstep! Twenty people were baptised in the Holy Spirit and sixteen adults
made recommitments. Some 31 people have intimated that they wish to know more
and go on an Alpha Course. But who can measure the overall impact on the people
of the town of Bournemouth?
Right at the beginning of the week on the Wednesday evening, when the
delegates and churches met at the stadium to pray together, a prophetic word was
brought that we should not despise the day of ‘small things’. Perhaps this
mission was a ‘small’ beginning and, like Churchill, we should say, ‘Now this is
not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the
end of the beginning.’ Certainly the conviction of those involved was that we
must build on these few days of ‘Meet Jesus’ and continue to mobilise as the
family of God to see our nation re-evangelised.
