Faith Fest – Pentecost Circuit Service

Our circuit service, on May 28th (Pentecost) was held at Menston Methodist and took the form of 'Faith Fest'. It was amazing to see so many people, of all ages, worshipping together and connecting with others in a meaningful way. If you couldn't make it or don't know what Faith Fest is, the church was divided into several areas with different styles of worship in each.

After a brief period together to start, people could then move freely around, and join in with activities as they wished
From the outside of the building, there was the wonderful smell of marshmallows being toasted over a fire and the sound of people praising God by singing together in the open air. That, coupled with the sound of children, (and some adults) laughing while jumping on the bouncy castle made the whole atmosphere joyous.

The inside of the church continued the festival feel with face painting and glitter tattoos, as well as manicures. In fact, some of the young people had more than one tattoo on leaving the church, which seems a strange thing to report, but they were thrilled, There were wonderful craft activities, a Lego table and of course drinks and sweet treats, a vital ingredient in any event.

For more contemplative worship, the sanctuary and quiet areas gave space to just be with our thoughts, which really balanced out the busyness in the hall. In a separate room there was a Bible study to join allowing us to really delve into what scripture tells us about Pentecost. Once we had moved around the various areas we gathered as one in the Sanctuary. We sang together, prayed together, and were challenged to respond by making specific promises (with action points) to be sustainable, missional and transformational. As part of this the young people released paper aeroplanes from the balcony which was symbolic but also a lot of fun.

Someone said after the event 'We had a great time, and let me know what you do another service like this' so I believe this says it all.