With more and more Christian festivals every year one of the friendliest has to be Gorsley Festival, near Ross-on-Wye, on the Gloucestershire and Herefordshire border.
Gorsley Chapel Baptist Church, which is only half a mile from junction one of the M50, again provided a top line-up for five days over the August Bank Holiday.
Jan and I ranthe European Christian Mission stand (pictured below) for the third year running and we were given a brilliant welcome.
Senior Minister John Lewis and his team at the Baptist Church, which has an average weekly congregation of more than 450, put on a well-run festival.
It ranged from a stunning flower display in the church to an in-flight simulator provided by Mission Aviation Fellowship as well as a first class worship and teaching session for all ages.
Groups attending were as diverse as Gloucester Christian Motorcyclist Association, Newent Choir plus the Good News Centre, also from nearby Newent.
The leadership was a family effort as the Rev Dr Clive Calver, now senior pastor at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, Connecticut, USA, and his son Gavin gave the teaching on the Good News and the Kingdom while Clive’s wife, Ruth, led some of the seminars.
On Saturday night the main marquee was packed to overflowing for an evening concert with Graham Kendrick.
The whole site was buzzing as coach parties arrived on a day trip from South Wales to see the flowers while the campsite was packed with those staying for the whole festival.
I confess we weren’t braved enough to camp, preferring to stay at the nearby 19th century Malswick Mill, a first class bed and breakfast location complete with its own carp lake.
There were many visitors to the mission tent and for a break there was always the food area nearby where tables were heaving with home-made cakes, cream teas and local produce.
It was a great success for us in that we almost ran out of literature on the ECM stand handing out more than 120 magazines.
One day it was good to meet up with some old friends from Shrewsbury when a coachload came to the festival and I managed to sell them some copies of Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel.
But we were there mainly to promote ECM and to sell copies of God’s Secret Listener, published by the Monarch Division of Lion Hudson in Oxford, of which I am delighted to say I sold a festival record of 126 books.
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