It’s the UK’s fastest-growing Christian event and it’s also a lot of fun! Here, founder TIM JUPP gives a sneak preview of this year’s event
For those of you who haven’t heard of the BigChurchDayOut before, here is a little re-cap of the vision behind the event from when we chatted to Tim Jupp last year.
“The BigChurchDayOut has a multi-layered vision,” says Tim. “For me personally, one of the things I love is creating an environment where many of the new Christians in our own local church who have often had no church background whatsoever, can come together and often for the first time realise that the Church is a massive and exciting movement of people, which stretches so much further than any one of our smaller local congregations.”
Tim adds: “I think it is important that we understand that we’re not alone when it comes to wanting to influence our nation and see Jesus made known.
“We can so often read in our press rather discouraging stories about the Church being in decline, but my experience is that it is very much alive and stepping up more than ever to take a place back in communities, both by being light in the dark places and by being the hands and feet of Jesus to those where we live, and large events can play their part in helping paint this picture.”
With 20,000 people attending in 2012 and even more expected to come in 2013, what does Tim think makes this event so popular?
“Right now we have an incredible sense of God smiling over the BigChurchDayOut,” he says. “There’s something very simple about saying to the whole church, whatever denomination, and whatever your age, ‘Lets get together and have one huge picnic and celebrate Jesus’. It’s simple but also seems so profound as we don’t do this very often!
“Our heart has always been to try our hardest to make the event as inclusive to as many as possible. I think that remains one of the key things which has meant we have seen growth every year.”
There are so many fantastic artists playing this year, it’s hard to know where to start. You’ve got local boy Matt Redman, who won two Grammys in the USA back in February and whose song 10,000 Reasons is sung in churches around the world every week.
Then there’s the ridiculously talented Hillsong Live who have written some of the church’s most exciting songs. Plus, 80s chart toppers, Amy Grant and Yazz will be sending people down Memory Lane with their iconic songs. New boys Phil Wickham, The City Harmonic, Gungor and Rend Collective will be unleashing their fresh energy on the crowd. This only begins to scratch the surface of the amazing talent that is on offer at this year’s event! Head to the BigChurchDayOut website to see the full line-up and plan your day.
As well as bringing in new and exciting artists each year, how does Tim keep the BigChurchDayOut original?
“There’s a sense where we try and do new and fresh things in the event every year, but also a sense where we don’t want to change a whole lot because celebrating Jesus just never gets boring! As long as we can help create a great, relaxed atmosphere for people to be free in worship, and also a high quality event that people feel proud to bring their un-churched friends too, then that’s what we really try and focus on.
“As the numbers continue to grow we like to pop in a couple of surprises each year, so you’ll just have to come along to find out.”
There is so much going on over the weekend it must be hard to relax, but we asked Tim what he was most excited about this year: “Funnily enough I’m very excited about seeing the campsite double in size, it means more church groups can come and hopefully more friends with them too.”
He adds: “I get really excited about the dynamic of seeing so many worship together and love that moment at the end of each night when everyone is together joining in one massive celebration. Having new artists like Amy Grant and Jason Upton with us for the first time will also be amazing, and I always get excited by the ‘God stories’ we hear after each event.
“For example, we had a story from a lady last year that said she came with her husband who wasn’t a Christian and, by the end of the weekend, he had given his life to Jesus. She went on to say how it had completely transformed her and their children’s lives.”
With a broad smile he says “these stories make all the hard work so rewarding”.
The event is still growing year on year, but what Tim feels the future holds for the BigChurchDayOut?
He says: “We’ve got some big plans, and would love to see another BCDO somewhere in the North of England but that is only a conversation at this stage.
“We’re in this for the long haul and want to make good decisions that help BCDO become a long-term sustainable low-key evangelistic event that can touch many thousands of lives over the coming years.
“We will also be developing a lot more BigChurchNightIn tours to help create a vibrant scene of regional celebration events, as well as helping the annual event to keep growing.”
“With all that said, we just want to see where God takes this river and make sure we do our part in staying immersed in it.”
The BigChurchDayOut takes place at Wiston House in West Sussex on May 25th & 26th.
Why not throw your camping gear in the car and head down South to join in this incredible celebration?
Tickets on sale now at www.BigChurchDayOut.com
For those of you who haven’t heard of the BigChurchDayOut before, here is a little re-cap of the vision behind the event from when we chatted to Tim Jupp last year.
“The BigChurchDayOut has a multi-layered vision,” says Tim. “For me personally, one of the things I love is creating an environment where many of the new Christians in our own local church who have often had no church background whatsoever, can come together and often for the first time realise that the Church is a massive and exciting movement of people, which stretches so much further than any one of our smaller local congregations.”
Tim adds: “I think it is important that we understand that we’re not alone when it comes to wanting to influence our nation and see Jesus made known.
“We can so often read in our press rather discouraging stories about the Church being in decline, but my experience is that it is very much alive and stepping up more than ever to take a place back in communities, both by being light in the dark places and by being the hands and feet of Jesus to those where we live, and large events can play their part in helping paint this picture.”
With 20,000 people attending in 2012 and even more expected to come in 2013, what does Tim think makes this event so popular?
“Right now we have an incredible sense of God smiling over the BigChurchDayOut,” he says. “There’s something very simple about saying to the whole church, whatever denomination, and whatever your age, ‘Lets get together and have one huge picnic and celebrate Jesus’. It’s simple but also seems so profound as we don’t do this very often!
“Our heart has always been to try our hardest to make the event as inclusive to as many as possible. I think that remains one of the key things which has meant we have seen growth every year.”
There are so many fantastic artists playing this year, it’s hard to know where to start. You’ve got local boy Matt Redman, who won two Grammys in the USA back in February and whose song 10,000 Reasons is sung in churches around the world every week.
Then there’s the ridiculously talented Hillsong Live who have written some of the church’s most exciting songs. Plus, 80s chart toppers, Amy Grant and Yazz will be sending people down Memory Lane with their iconic songs. New boys Phil Wickham, The City Harmonic, Gungor and Rend Collective will be unleashing their fresh energy on the crowd. This only begins to scratch the surface of the amazing talent that is on offer at this year’s event! Head to the BigChurchDayOut website to see the full line-up and plan your day.
As well as bringing in new and exciting artists each year, how does Tim keep the BigChurchDayOut original?
“There’s a sense where we try and do new and fresh things in the event every year, but also a sense where we don’t want to change a whole lot because celebrating Jesus just never gets boring! As long as we can help create a great, relaxed atmosphere for people to be free in worship, and also a high quality event that people feel proud to bring their un-churched friends too, then that’s what we really try and focus on.
“As the numbers continue to grow we like to pop in a couple of surprises each year, so you’ll just have to come along to find out.”
There is so much going on over the weekend it must be hard to relax, but we asked Tim what he was most excited about this year: “Funnily enough I’m very excited about seeing the campsite double in size, it means more church groups can come and hopefully more friends with them too.”
He adds: “I get really excited about the dynamic of seeing so many worship together and love that moment at the end of each night when everyone is together joining in one massive celebration. Having new artists like Amy Grant and Jason Upton with us for the first time will also be amazing, and I always get excited by the ‘God stories’ we hear after each event.
“For example, we had a story from a lady last year that said she came with her husband who wasn’t a Christian and, by the end of the weekend, he had given his life to Jesus. She went on to say how it had completely transformed her and their children’s lives.”
With a broad smile he says “these stories make all the hard work so rewarding”.
The event is still growing year on year, but what Tim feels the future holds for the BigChurchDayOut?
He says: “We’ve got some big plans, and would love to see another BCDO somewhere in the North of England but that is only a conversation at this stage.
“We’re in this for the long haul and want to make good decisions that help BCDO become a long-term sustainable low-key evangelistic event that can touch many thousands of lives over the coming years.
“We will also be developing a lot more BigChurchNightIn tours to help create a vibrant scene of regional celebration events, as well as helping the annual event to keep growing.”
“With all that said, we just want to see where God takes this river and make sure we do our part in staying immersed in it.”
The BigChurchDayOut takes place at Wiston House in West Sussex on May 25th & 26th.
Why not throw your camping gear in the car and head down South to join in this incredible celebration?
