CF23 - Unshakeable Joy
“They read the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.” Nehemiah 8:8
We are not the first people to camp in a field under an ink black starry sky, to sing worship songs and give ears to leaders reading and explaining God’s word, and we won’t be the last! Festivals and the dreaded C word (camping) can be traced in our bibles all the way back to Abraham! They serve to remind every generation that we are connected, by faith, to a family of fellow pilgrims passing through this fallen world looking for our eternal home. Believers from the very beginning would have had cold feet and babies crying in the night, uninvited wasps at the picnic, and long queues at the toilets! The return to festivals in Ezra’s Restoration period had this amazing summary; “from the days of Joshua son of Nun, until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.” Nehemiah 8:17.
Commission Festival 2023 is not our first rodeo; indeed, Commission is but one branch of the NewFrontiers family tree that began with a summer festival called Downs in the 1980’s, later moving in the 1990’s to a site called Stoneleigh. When Commission started, we camped in the New Forest (Accelerate) which transitioned to the Westpoint Showground where for a decade we shared wonderful times of fellowship and worship. This year, 2023, after a frustrating three-year Covid break, the Commission Festival returns!
Stoneleigh International Bible Week, 1998
Westpoint, 2019
Our big theme is “UNSHAKEABLE: In a world where everything is shaking one thing stands unshakeable”. These are unprecedented times for our generation, a time when our Western world is being shaken like never before. With the war in Ukraine, identity politics, global warming, anti-Christian laws, Brexit, economic hardship, and immigration it does feel that daily our feet are sinking in quicksand.
This is why we need to gather as a family to be reminded to stand on the rock of our unshakable faith in an unshakeable God, who is building an unshakeable church that proclaims an unshakeable gospel to bring to birth an unshakable kingdom.
We are not planning and praying for a rehashed festival of yesteryear but very much believing in God for a new start, a fresh encounter, mighty preaching, and Holy Spirit anointing. So please join me in this short prayer:
“Lord may this Commission Festival 2023 be set apart as a time of encountering our unshakeable God and may all who gather know joy unspeakable in the presence of God”.
