New Wine!!!

Hi guys!

This last week I went to New Wine United National Gathering. I went last year but it was amazing once again to be quite frank. So, I went with my church and family. We arrived on Saturday and left on Friday, so we stayed for a week. Each was such a wakeup call and spiritual blessing. As teen, I would encourage all to go. You can gain so much knowledge and learn from the many others who are there with you (roughly 12,000!).

Before I tell you what I found was most beneficial and why I love New Wine, I’m going to explain how it works.

So, anyone can go, from little babies, to old grandmas, the physically fit to the disabled, its accessible to all. There are many venues which hold seminars and activities. There are many workshops to go to and they had a market where many charities had their stalls and a huge Christian bookstore was set up. There was a food court where you could buy many types of foods (the chips are amazing). Many of the venues which had a charity running it had café’s as well, so there was always somewhere to buy a snack and a cup of tea.  The adults had multiple venues’ they could choose to go to throughout the day, with main ‘celebrations’ in the morning and evening. There was also after hours which meant you weren’t restricted to going to bed at 9pm.

Whilst the adults were off doing their thing, the kids were divided into different groups. Each had their own venue where they had their own leaders, worship team and team of helpers. They all had their own schedule and activities in the morning and evenings. Whilst in the afternoon they could go to their own fun filled venues. The youth (12-18) have two venue’s, Club One (12-13) and Thirst (14-18). I was in the older group. We had a completely different timetable to that of everyone else. We also had venues just for us. So the average day went a little like this…

•  9:30-10:30am Interactive breakfast or rise up session
• 11:00-12:30am bible study (or formally known as the morning celebration)
• 2:30-3:30pm worship and relationship seminars
• 4-5pm 358 and big questions seminars
• Sports, Flava café and Vibe were open throughout the afternoon.
• 7-9pm evening celebration
• 9-11pm Flava Café and Vibe

Vibe and Flava Café are the youth hang outs. They both individually held their own activities and were basically the social hubs for us. You could also choose what things you wanted to go to. There was also the option of going to the adult venues. In all the youth venues there was a team of helpers who were always around to talk to, you could even ask for prayer. Each day there was different speakers who brought an amazing message. The best thing was that each day at each of the sessions followed a certain series which was easy to follow as well as do random drop in's.

Everyone had a day off on Tuesday, but there was still a few sessions being held. All the evening sessions were on. So that’s the basic run down, here’s what I loved the most.

Firstly, the worship. I don’t know if my words will do the worship any justice. It was just amazing, mind-blowing. You could really feel the presence of the Spirit every day. Each song had such depth to the meaning that they touched your heart each and every time. To add to it all, the whole venue was captivated in worshiping God. It was amazing to have teenagers being so in touch with the Lord. But I have to warn you, not all worship is like this all the time. You have to remember that this is a conference where they literally have state of the art everything and there are thousands worshipping and being in the spirit all at once.

Secondly, the message. Each and every session stayed true to the theme of the conference, staying united in Christ. I felt a sense of sticking to what god has given me at the end of each session, to stay united in my family, friendships and Church. Through being united, miracles can happen, change can happen. This really touched my heart, and each time I heard a new message, I decided I was going to change something about my life, to improve by coming closer to God and His Church.

Thirdly, the sense of community. Though I didn’t know everyone (how could you? There were too many people!), I felt a sense of community. You could feel the love as everyone was there was the same reason, to come closer to God. You could easily talk to those around you and make new friends. We were all in it together.

Lastly, prayer. The prayer was INTENSE. There was constant prayer and a want, a need, a yearning to get closer to God. The prayer wasn’t just for yourself, but for others, for the larger community. To be united through prayer, to become one body in Christ who cared for others, even the non-religious. The want to care for God’s creation, because that’s how much we love Him. For our hearts to be broken for what breaks His.

My New Wine experience last year was amazing, this year, incredible. I didn’t want to leave yet again because I yearned to stay in the presence of the Lord. I would encourage you to go, but do your research, don’t just take my word for it.

Ellah xxx