Fanning the flames

In a few weeks’ time it will be Pentecost and a new way to celebrate starts this year: Pentecost Festival - www.pentecostfestival.co.uk - organized by Share Jesus International. Over the weekend 9th-11th May 2008 this high energy missional festival will be hitting the streets of Central London – a fitting place for this particular celebration given the wonderfully cosmopolitan make-up of 21st century London.

This weekend-long party is a visible celebration by the people of the Christian faith, but is open to all faiths and cultures. Two years in the making, Pentecost Festival will celebrate cohesion, collaboration and service to society, and deliver 100+ free events from urban-dance performances, theatre productions and graffiti artists through to speed-dating and more! The idea is to break misconceptions about Church as boring, cold and with no life or creativity, by bringing the Church body out of the building and into the streets to celebrate.

This fits nicely with the ethos of Hope 2008 to which the festival is linked. Hope ‘08 aims to celebrate at Pentecost too, by getting Christians all over the country joining together to give one million hours of practical help to their communities.

This theme of ‘living the Gospel’ will also be picked up by www.hopeinfo.co.uk – the online public face of Hope ‘08. The website will feature a new film highlighting Christians making a difference in the lives of others, based around the parable of the sheep and the goats from Matthew 25: 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'