FAITH FILES

FESTIVALS are back! After a break for Covid, once again we have been able to enjoy music at the likes of Download and Y Not.

I have just returned from taking a group from our church to Limitless Festival at Stafford. This was far more than just music – although there was plenty of this and many other fun activities (well that is if you like a foam party, colour run, jump bag, silent disco or slip and slide…).

It was also an opportunity for them to celebrate and grow in their faith. And it was a privilege to see this happen.

We saw people being healed. God spoke directly to many. Hundreds made commitments of faith, and others nurtured an existing faith.

There can be a perception by some that Christianity is a relic from a bygone era, no longer relevant to today. That couldn’t be further from the truth, as this last week has shown.

There are many things in the world today that can entice our young people down a black hole in life – fed by social media, peer pressure and society at large.

Depression runs riot, drugs are an ever present temptation, there is pressure to conform, and an implicit philosophy that puts self at the centre, even at the expense of others.

Christian faith is an antidote to that. We don’t need approval from others but know that we are loved by God. Our identity isn’t in the career ladder but in being a child of our heavenly Father. We don’t need chemicals for a temporary high, but can know joy in any situation. It is an antidote to selfishness, as we learn the satisfaction coming from serving others.

That is quite countercultural, which is why many can’t get their heads round it. It upends much of our (post-)modern mindset. Sometimes it can even seem offensive.

But if we let our lives be transformed by Jesus, we will see that actually it puts things the right way up. Life now becomes much more fulfilling, and we have a hope going beyond this life.

With the festival over, our youth will still have to go back to school next month and face the same challenges they always have. But now they are equipped with a faith that will see them through.

Tim Gossling