Life Camp

This weekend we hosted our first ever Life Church camp - conveniently named Life Camp. No strenuous programmes or endless meetings, just a great time together, with God and hearing so clearly from Him. And it was really relaxing too!

If the first part of my summer was consumed with preparations for Global Cafe at Newday, the second half consisted of organisation for Life Camp. When we were praying for the church plant about a year ago at Winchester Family Church, we received a prophetic word from Marian Groves about the strength of our relationships being vitally important. We have since seen this brought to our attention by God again and again, and this weekend was an excellent step in the direction of strong relationships. It's a strange thing that at the beginning of a new church you find yourself working closely with people you don't know as well as you might like - how else could you get off to a good start when you all come from different places? But more and more we're finding ourselves drawn closer together - and already we're developing a history in God together. This weekend was key in that.

We had great fun, and we've decided to go for it again in 2008 in the May Bank Holiday. That way our students will be around (most of them are away over the summer and couldn't make it back this time, so with over 50% of the church falling in that category, timing affects us very much!). In the August Bank Holiday we'll be helping to run Wessex Bible Weekend (I don't think there's an official name yet?) which will also have a highly significant place in our calendar, albeit with a slightly different purpose.

It was a great privelege to have with us on Friday and Saturday Greg Haslam, my old Pastor from his Winchester Family Church days. Speaking on 'A Healthy-Souled Church' and 'The Church In The Power Of The Holy Spirit', we were greatly encouraged by everything God brought to us through him. I'll probably write about them under a separate heading, but the clear highlight for me was the way Greg got us all involved in using prophetic gifts, praying for one another, and his passionate call to a response to Jesus' command to believe, THEN be baptised. As a result, two people were baptised last night - our first ever Life Church baptisms!

It's brilliant to see God building His church in Southampton!

P.S. I'm looking forward to the release of 'Amazing God', this year's album from the Newfrontiers Together On A Mission conference in Brighton!