New Wine Festival sets us up for the year
Our friends from New Wine put on another smashing festival this Wellington Anniversary Weekend, with over 1,000 people gathering to camp at Kāpiti College for fun, worship and teaching for all the family. New Wine Festival has been running for over 25 years and serves as our annual diocesan family camp, where hundreds of us gather to share life in the summer sun together for five years.
Despite the programme of concerts, worship spaces, teaching and youth zones, Rev. Ben Johnson-Frow tells us that it's the camping that is the highlight from his point of view. "If there was a new church leader wondering whether they should take their parish to New Wine, I'd tell them that it's the best way to start the year on a good note. You get to live together in community for five days, growing your relationships with each other, with God, and with the whole diocesan family. I always have heaps of conversations with others from across the diocese, it's a great way to remind people that we're part of one big church family." Ben tells us that members of his church look forward to the event every year, and that their kids come away from the festival closer to Jesus, and with great memories.
This year's teaching programme was slightly different, with no international speakers present thanks to the pandemic. However that just showed us all how top class our local teaching talent is. Ben said that Dr Sam Bloore was his favourite: "he's just such a great communicator," he said. Along with Sam's teaching on slowing down the pace of life in order to connect more with God, many others offered teaching that was directly applicable to life in this time of COVID-19, and how we as Christians might respond. Another difference campers noted was the lack of a central gathering spot. Instead of large corporate gatherings in the school gymnasium, the teaching and worship was held in multiple locations across the college campus, and had a more intimate workshop vibe. Some people missed the large corporate gatherings, but others enjoyed being able to "pick and mix" from a large selection of content. The sessions were held at least twice, meaning there wasn't much of a chance of missing out. Then on Sunday, the whole festival came together for an outdoor Eucharist led by Bishop Justin.
Over in Firewire, the zone dedicated to high school-age attendees of the Festival, the transformation across the five days of the festival was incredible. Rev. Luke Paynter, one of our outgoing AYM Co-ordinators, was one of the overall leaders in Firewire. "We spent the first two days of the festival reflecting on 2020," he said. For some, that was the first time they were able to be open and vulnerable about their disappointments with the uncertainty that last year brought, and Luke tells us that was freeing for many. "We designed the programme to give us that space. That way, we could spend the next three days in our small groups and our large gatherings equipping the young people with tools to cope with the uncertainty that may come," Luke said. Tama Bucknell, our incoming diocesan AYM co-ordinator, was one of the speakers. Luke told us that Tama spoke about the things that influence who we are - not just the truths, but the lies we tell ourselves. The whole team gave practical teaching that helped attendees to walk out of the festival knowing how to hold on to peace in the midst of turmoil. "It was just so good," Luke said, "We had teenagers tell us how excited they were to come away with practical tools."
Jakob Johnson-Frow, from our Johnsonville parish whānau, practices the drums for a New Wine worship session.
Serving at the festival is another key opportunity to grow. Ben noted that his son Jakob had stepped into a small group leadership role this year after several festivals leading worship, and this offers the chance to take back to his church what he has learned. Luke observed that most of the Firewire leaders this year were first-time New Wine leaders, but by the end of the festival Luke was able to step back and observe and let the team take charge.
Whilst there are several hundred tired and sunbaked Christians this side of the long weekend, we suspect there will already be planning underway for attending New Wine 2022. As Ben said, "it's just part of the church calendar."
